Biography

Christopher Farina is Chief Executive Officer of Abcentra, a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of new targeted medicines for cardiovascular disease. With more 13 years of experience in biotechnology leadership, drug development, and operations, he has played has played an instrumental role in advancing Abcentra’s innovative therapeutic programs and shaping the company’s clinical and corporate strategy.

Since joining Abcentra in 2013, Mr. Farina has held progressively senior leadership positions spanning research and development, program management, operations, and corporate strategy. Throughout his tenure, he has helped guide orticumab’s development from its early scientific foundations through clinical proof of activity and into multinational Phase 2 development. His contributions have included shaping the program’s translational and clinical strategy, advancing its scientific rationale, and leading the organizational and financial initiatives necessary to support its continued development. Under his leadership, Abcentra reported the first clinical proof of activity with orticumab, published its findings in Cardiovascular Research, secured $50 million in follow-on financing, scaled Abcentra, and launched a multinational randomized-controlled Phase 2b clinical trial (FORTIFY).

Mr. Farina is leading an innovative approach to cardiovascular drug development through FORTIFY, which uses artificial intelligence-enabled coronary imaging to identify patients with high inflammation in their coronary arteries and directly measure their response to treatment. This strategy to identify high-risk patients with coronary inflammation represents a potentially transformative departure from conventional approaches that rely on systemic biomarkers to identify patients as candidates for cardiovascular therapies.

The significance of this innovation was showcased at the 2026 European Society of Cardiology Congress, where Mr. Farina and co-authors presented findings highlighting persistent coronary inflammation in patients following myocardial infarction. The approach subsequently gained international attention when renowned cardiologist Eric Topol highlighted FORTIFY in a discussion of the recent Phase 3 ZEUS and HORIZON trial results. Against the backdrop of these trials, FORTIFY offers a potentially important new paradigm for identifying patients most likely to benefit from targeted therapies and reducing the scientific and financial risks of cardiovascular drug development.

Mr. Farina is a published scientific author and inventor on multiple patent applications related to orticumab. He holds a Master of Science in Management of Drug Development and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Southern California, as well as Regulatory Affairs Certification (RAC). He is currently pursuing a PhD in Medical Science at Lund University in Sweden, further extending his work in cardiovascular research and translational medicine.

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