Harmony Biosciences Names COO Peter Anastasiou Next CEO

Harmony Biosciences named Peter Anastasiou its next chief executive on Monday, Oct. 12, 193 days after he gave up his board seat to become chief operating officer, by TradeFlock's count. In the same span, two chief financial officers left the company, and an interim finance chief has held the role since July. The filings so far disclose no new pay package for Anastasiou as CEO.

What Harmony Announced Monday

In its press release, Harmony said Anastasiou, its senior executive vice president and COO, will become president, CEO and a director on Friday, Jan. 1, 2027. He succeeds Jeffrey M. Dayno, M.D., who will retire and leave the board on Thursday, Dec. 31, "following a nine-year tenure at the Company, including as Chief Medical Officer." Dayno will serve as a non-executive advisor through 2027.

"Peter is the right leader for Harmony's next phase of growth," said founder and chairman Jeffrey S. Aronin. "He has a deep understanding of our business and has been an important contributor to our strategy, pipeline and business development efforts."

The Plymouth Meeting, Pa., company reaffirmed its 2026 guidance for WAKIX net revenue of $1.0 billion to $1.04 billion. It said it remains on track to report data from the multiple ascending dose study of BP-205, its orexin agonist, in the fourth quarter.

From Director to CEO in Nine Months

Anastasiou sat on Harmony's board from November 2023 until Thursday, April 2, 2026, when he resigned as a director to become COO, according to a Form 8-K filed that day. Before Harmony, he was CEO of Capsida Biotherapeutics from January 2022 to October 2025, and earlier spent 12 years at Lundbeck, finally as president of North America.

By TradeFlock's count, April 2 to Oct. 12 is 193 days. By his Jan. 1 start date as CEO, he will have been COO for 274 days.

His COO employment agreement, described in the April 2 filing, set:

• An annual base salary of $600,000.
• A target bonus of 55% of salary, or $330,000 (TradeFlock's math: $600,000 x 0.55).
• An option award with a grant date fair value of $3.7 million, vesting 25% on the first anniversary of the grant and the rest quarterly over the following three years.

On that schedule, none of the COO options will have vested when he becomes CEO on Jan. 1. The first 25% vests on the first anniversary of the grant date, in 2027.

The Form 8-K for the CEO change, filed Tuesday, Oct. 13, says only that Anastasiou "will not receive any additional compensation for his service as a director." It discloses no new CEO salary, bonus target or equity award.

Two CFOs Out in Three Months

The succession comes after turnover in the finance chair. Sandip Kapadia stepped down as CFO on Tuesday, April 14, with severance under his employment agreement, according to a Form 8-K filed that day. His replacement, Glenn Reicin, started the same day at a $500,000 salary with a 50% bonus target.

Reicin stepped down on Thursday, July 16, with severance and a pro-rated target bonus, a later 8-K says. That was 93 days after he started, by TradeFlock's count. Controller Stephen Mollichella has been interim principal financial officer since then, 88 days as of Oct. 12. Neither Monday's release nor the 8-K names a permanent CFO.

What Dayno Leaves Behind

Harmony's 2026 proxy statement put Dayno's 2025 total compensation at $7,899,535, including $743,600 in salary, $4,599,000 in option awards and $1,976,520 in stock awards. His target bonus was 75% of salary, compared with 55% in Anastasiou's COO agreement. The filings do not yet say what Dayno will be paid as an advisor in 2027.

Investors marked the stock down. Shares closed at $38.23 on Monday, down 5.1% from Friday's $40.28, and at $37.03 on Tuesday, according to Yahoo Finance chart data. That is a two-day drop of 8.1%, our math from the $40.28 Friday close.

Open Questions for the Next Filings

Harmony still has to disclose the CEO pay package, any advisory agreement with Dayno, and whether it will name a permanent CFO before Anastasiou takes over on Jan. 1.

For more on leadership changes, read how CSX left its COO job open after Mike Cory retired and how Stryker picked insider Spencer Stiles to succeed Kevin Lobo.

Cover image: White tablets, by Pascal from Heidelberg, Germany, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped).