Achieve Life Sciences has appointed Benjamin Halladay as Chief Financial Officer, effective October 5, 2026, as the late-stage specialty pharmaceutical company prepares for the potential commercialization of cytisinicline.
Halladay will oversee Achieve’s financial strategy, accounting, investor relations, information technology and other key administrative functions.
He joins Achieve from Esperion Therapeutics, where he served as CFO from November 2022 through July 2026. Esperion is a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company that generated more than $400 million in annual revenue.
During Halladay’s tenure, Esperion deleveraged its balance sheet and acquired Corstasis Therapeutics and its Enbumyst product. Halladay also led the finance workstream associated with Esperion’s sale to ARCHIMED for up to $1.1 billion.
The upfront cash consideration in that transaction represented a 58% premium to Esperion’s April 30, 2026 closing share price, according to Esperion.
Halladay has more than 15 years of financial management experience spanning commercial pharmaceutical businesses and product-launch environments.
Earlier in his career, he held positions at Pfizer, where he worked on Lipitor and Chantix in the company’s Primary Care business unit, and at National Oilwell Varco.
Halladay holds an MBA from Fordham University and a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University. He is also an inactive Certified Public Accountant.
He succeeds Mark Oki, who will step down as CFO on October 5. Oki served as CFO through Achieve’s Phase 3 program and New Drug Application submission for cytisinicline.
Achieve is developing cytisinicline as a treatment for nicotine dependence. Its NDA for cytisinicline for adult smoking cessation is supported by two completed Phase 3 studies and a long-term open-label safety study.
The company has also completed a Phase 2 study evaluating cytisinicline for nicotine e-cigarette cessation and has received FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation for the vaping cessation indication.
KEY QUOTES:
“Ben has helped scale a commercial pharma organization and expand its portfolio through business development within its existing capital structure. He has run the finance function as a public company CFO, and began his biopharma finance career in large-cap pharma. As we move toward potential commercialization of cytisinicline, that combination of capital efficiency and operating experience is exactly what this stage demands.”
Andrew D. Goldberg, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Achieve Life Sciences
“The discipline that determines how a launch goes is put in place long before the first prescription is written. That is the work I’m excited to do. Achieve is developing a medicine that could change what quitting looks like for millions of people, and my job is to build the financial and operating foundation that supports it, on schedule and on plan.”
Benjamin Halladay, Incoming Chief Financial Officer of Achieve Life Sciences
