Babar Ghias
BIOCRYST PHARMACEUTICALSAbout Babar Ghias
BioCryst appointed Babar Ghias, age 46, as Chief Financial Officer, Principal Accounting Officer, and Head of Corporate Development effective July 7, 2025; he joined from AvenCell Therapeutics, with prior roles at Paragon Biosciences, Marathon Pharmaceuticals, and over a decade as a senior M&A banker at Credit Suisse; he holds an MBA (Washington University in St. Louis) and a B.S. in Economics (LUMS) . As context on pay-for-performance alignment at BioCryst, the company’s 2024 pay-versus-performance table shows cumulative TSR value of $217.97 for a $100 investment and ORLADEYO sales of $434,090 thousand in 2024, with “ORLADEYO sales” designated as the company-selected performance measure linking compensation and performance .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| AvenCell Therapeutics | Chief Financial Officer | 2022–2025 | CFO at clinical-stage CAR-T company focused on hematologic malignancies |
| Paragon Biosciences | EVP, Investments & Portfolio Management; also CFO/COO for portfolio companies | 2017–2022 | Launched four rare-disease biotech companies from early clinical to commercial launch |
| Marathon Pharmaceuticals | CFO & Head of Corporate Development | 2014–2017 | Prepared for commercial launch and led successful sale of the firm |
| Credit Suisse | Senior M&A banker (Healthcare/Life Sciences) | Over a decade (prior to 2014) | Advised boards; closed over $80B in transactions |
External Roles
- No public company directorships or committee roles disclosed in the cited materials. (No disclosure found in 2024–2025 DEF 14A)
Fixed Compensation
| Component | Detail |
|---|---|
| Base salary | $560,000 per year (effective upon appointment) |
| Target annual bonus (AIP) | 70% of base salary; 2025 AIP payout not prorated despite mid-year start |
| Sign-on cash | One-time $160,000 cash bonus, payable within 30 days of July 7, 2025, subject to offset/repayment terms |
Performance Compensation
Annual Incentive Plan (AIP) Structure and 2024 Outcomes (Program context)
| Metric | Weighting (points at target) | Target levels disclosed? | Committee assessment (2024) | Points awarded | Payout result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORLADEYO (patients, net revenue, lifecycle mgmt.) | 35 | Target levels not disclosed (competitive harm) | Exceeds | 67.5 | 2024 AIP paid at 150% of target for recipients (Jan 2025) |
| Complement-mediated diseases (Factor D and other programs) | 15 | Target levels not disclosed | Exceeds | 17.5 | 2024 AIP paid at 150% of target |
| Product portfolio (BCX17725, avoralstat) | 30 | Target levels not disclosed | Met | 30 | 2024 AIP paid at 150% of target |
| Organization (talent/succession, culture, audits, ops discipline) | 20 | Target levels not disclosed | Exceeds | 35 | 2024 AIP paid at 150% of target |
| Total | 100 | — | — | 150 | 150% of target |
- Note: The company-selected financial measure linking compensation to performance is ORLADEYO sales (used for Item 402(v) “pay versus performance”) .
Equity Inducement Awards (upon appointment)
| Award type | Amount | Grant/filing timing | Vesting | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restricted stock units (RSUs) | 147,000 | To be granted July 31, 2025 (inducement); Form 4 filed July 28, 2025 reflects inducement awards | Vests in four equal annual installments beginning on the one-year anniversary of grant, subject to continued employment | |
| Stock options | 305,000 (to purchase up to 305,000 shares) | To be granted July 31, 2025 (inducement); Form 4 filed July 28, 2025 reflects inducement awards | Vests in four equal annual installments beginning on the one-year anniversary of grant, subject to continued employment |
- Equity plan practices: options granted at fair market value; minimum one-year vesting; no discounted options; no repricings without shareholder approval; awards subject to clawback; double-trigger change-of-control vesting if awards assumed; full vesting if not assumed .
Equity Ownership & Alignment
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Beneficial holdings on onboarding | Inducement awards of 147,000 RSUs (unvested) and 305,000 options (unvested); no additional direct ownership disclosed in cited filings |
| Vested vs. unvested | All inducement RSUs and options unvested at grant; vest 25% annually over 4 years subject to service |
| Ownership guidelines | Leadership Team members must hold Company securities ≥1x base salary within 5 years of becoming subject to guidelines; measurement annually; unvested RSUs count; options do not |
| Anti-hedging | Policy prohibits hedging, short sales, and certain derivatives that hedge decreases in value of Company equity |
| Clawback | Dodd-Frank compliant clawback for incentive-based compensation upon accounting restatement; applies to covered executives (3 prior fiscal years) |
| Pledging | No pledging policy disclosure found in the cited sections; no pledging by Ghias disclosed |
| Related party transactions | 8-K states Ghias has no Item 404(a) related party transactions; Company disclosed none since Jan 1, 2024 in proxy |
Employment Terms
- Effective date and roles: CFO, Principal Accounting Officer, and Head of Corporate Development effective July 7, 2025 .
- Employment letter terms: $560,000 base salary; AIP target 70% of base; 2025 AIP not prorated; $160,000 sign-on cash bonus with offset/repayment provisions .
- Severance/change-of-control: Specific CFO severance multiples not disclosed in the appointment 8-K; equity plan features include double-trigger acceleration on change in control if awards are assumed; if not assumed, awards fully vest on change in control .
- Insider/trading policies: Anti-hedging policy in place; insider trading policy enforced .
Performance & Track Record
- Capital formation and M&A: Raised over $1 billion in capital across companies; previously a senior healthcare M&A banker at Credit Suisse with over $80 billion in closed transactions .
- Company performance context: 2024 cumulative TSR value of $217.97 (from a $100 base at 12/31/2019); 2024 ORLADEYO sales $434,090 thousand; company-selected measure for pay alignment is ORLADEYO sales .
- AIP program signals: 2024 AIP paid at 150% of target based on exceeding goals in ORLADEYO commercialization, complement pipeline, and organizational initiatives .
Compensation Governance and Shareholder Feedback
- Say-on-pay: >95% approval at June 2024 annual meeting, signaling strong shareholder support for compensation approach .
- Consultant/peer data: Aon provides peer market data for AIP targets; committee maintained 2024 AIP targets for NEOs (context setting) .
- Plan safeguards: No evergreen; minimum one-year vesting; no discounted options; no gross-ups in plan; no repricings without shareholder approval; awards subject to clawback; double-trigger CoC vesting .
Investment Implications
- Alignment and retention: Four-year, time-vested inducement RSUs and options create retention hooks and align upside with stock price appreciation; near-term selling pressure from Ghias is limited given unvested equity and vesting schedule .
- Incentive mix: 70% AIP target and equity-heavy inducement grants skew pay toward performance/stock outcomes; program emphasizes ORLADEYO commercial execution and pipeline progress, consistent with 2024 AIP results and the company-selected pay metric (ORLADEYO sales) .
- Governance risk mitigants: Clawback policy, anti-hedging, stock ownership guidelines, and double-trigger CoC terms reduce governance and compensation-structure risk; no related-party transactions disclosed for Ghias .
- Transition/execution risk: New CFO onboarding mid-2025 during leadership changes can carry execution risk, but prior CFO/Corp Dev experience across rare disease and substantial deal-making background may be supportive of capital deployment and strategic initiatives .