About Us: Leadership Team
Decades of Expertise. One Shared Mission.
CELYSTRA Pharma was founded by Paul Lévesque, John Leasure and Philippe Dubuc, three executives with extensive pharmaceutical industry experience, particularly in drug development, commercialization and financing.
The Founders
Paul Lévesque
President, Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder
Paul brings more than 40 years of experience in the research-based pharmaceutical industry. Before co-founding CELYSTRA Pharma Paul served as President and CEO of Theratechnologies Inc. from 2020 to 2025.
Previously
Paul spent 28 years at Pfizer taking on various marketing and general management roles in Canada, Europe, Asia, and the United States, culminating in the lead of the Global Rare Disease Business Unit based in New York City. Along with Pfizer’s Global Head of Research and Development, he was responsible for driving the commercial success and pipeline of the unit. Paul carries a passion for bringing therapies to patients in areas of unmet medical needs.
Education
BSc in Biochemistry from Laval University; Diploma in Management from McGill University.
John Leasure
Chief Commercial Officer & Co-founder
John brings extensive experience in Sales, Marketing, Operations, and General Management both in the U.S. and internationally. He has expertise managing brands across multiple stages of the product life cycle and has launched numerous products in a variety of therapeutic areas. Most recently John served as the Global Commercial Officer at Theratechnologies Inc.
Previously
John spent 30 years at Pfizer where he led teams in Anti-infectives, Inflammation, Immunology and Oncology. Most recently, John led the Oncology business in Canada where, under his leadership, the business experienced unprecedented growth and launched over 10 new products.
Education
B.A. Business from Gettysburg College
Philippe Dubuc
MBA | Chief Financial Officer & Co-founder
Philippe brings more than 25 years of experience in investment banking in the healthcare sector and in management. Most recently Philippe served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Theratechnologies Inc.
Previously
Philippe started his career as a management consultant at Groupe Secor, a well-known Quebec-based consulting firm which is now part of KPMG. He then served as Managing Director, Investment Banking at National Bank Financial. In this role, he headed the healthcare group and was involved in numerous financing and M&A transactions. He later founded a manufacturing company which he sold after seven years of successful operations.
Education
MBA from McGill University; BComm from Concordia University
Partnerships
Accelerating access to patients.
We bring the know-how to effectively navigate partnered medicines through regulatory approval and Canada’s complex market access environment with a focus on commercial availability.