Candel Therapeutics has appointed Mark Sims as Chief Commercial Officer, effective 6 July 2026. Sims is a seasoned oncology commercial leader with more than 25 years of experience building and advancing global and US cancer franchises.
Most recently, Sims served as Vice President and Global Franchise Head for EGFRm Lung Cancer at AstraZeneca, where he led global commercial strategy for one of the company’s largest business franchises. During his eight-year tenure at AstraZeneca, he also served as Global Commercial Head – Lung Cancer, Head of Oncology Business Unit – Canada, and US Business Franchise Head – DDR/Women’s Cancer.
Prior to AstraZeneca, Sims spent a decade at Novartis in various senior oncology leadership roles, including Vice President and Global Disease Lead for Breast Cancer and Business Franchise Head for Hematology in Canada. Earlier in his career, he held commercial positions at Idenix Pharmaceuticals and Merck.
Sims will lead Candel’s commercial strategy and launch readiness for aglatimagene besadenovec (aglatimagene or CAN-2409) in intermediate- to high-risk localised prostate cancer.
Sims commented: “Aglatimagene has the potential to establish a new treatment paradigm in localised prostate cancer by combining a differentiated mechanism of action with a practical treatment approach that can be readily integrated into existing radiotherapy workflows. The strength of the phase 3 data, together with Candel’s thoughtful and capital-efficient commercialisation strategy, creates a compelling opportunity to deliver meaningful value for patients, physicians and shareholders.”
Paul Peter Tak, President and CEO of Candel, said: “We believe that intermediate- to high-risk localised prostate cancer represents a large and well-defined market opportunity, with approximately 65,000 patients diagnosed annually in the United States who are candidates for radiotherapy-based treatment approaches with curative intent.
“Mark Sims has led and scaled some of oncology’s most significant franchises, and we believe his deep experience bringing innovative therapies to market will be instrumental to making aglatimagene, if approved, available to patients.”
Candel Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing multimodal immunotherapies to improve disease outcomes for patients with cancer.