[ portrait · Alma Abou Samra ]
Credentials
  • PhD · Medicinal Chemistry
  • Advanced Training · AI & Drug Sciences
  • Languages · English, French, German
The Founder

Alma
Abou Samra, PhD

Founder & Principal Advisor

Alma has worked across the full drug development value chain. She began her career in early drug discovery and immuno-oncology research, moving into clinical trial management at Johnson & Johnson, where she contributed to CAR-T cell therapy programs through some of their most operationally complex phases.

At Surge, she led the build-out of a translational research laboratory end-to-end — from site selection and platform implementation through to procurement, supplier qualification, and supply chain management. That experience — running the function rather than advising on it — shapes how every Nexaura engagement is structured.

What she kept encountering, regardless of company size or program stage, was the same gap: early-stage biotech teams making high-stakes decisions about suppliers, manufacturing partners, and supply chains with incomplete information and no dedicated operational capacity to manage the consequences.

Nexaura exists to close that gap.

In her own words
The best operational decisions in biotech are made quietly, early, and by people who have lived with the consequences. That is the standard I want Nexaura to hold.
A Decade in Practice

Career across the full
drug development value chain.

2014 – 2017

Drug Discovery

Early-stage medicinal chemistry and immuno-oncology research. PhD-level technical foundation in how molecules move from concept to clinic.

2017 – 2021

Clinical & Pharmacovigilance

Johnson & Johnson — clinical trial management across CAR-T cell therapy programs and pharmacovigilance operations.

2021 – 2025

R&D Operations Lead

Surge — led the build of a translational research laboratory, end-to-end procurement, supplier qualification, and platform implementation.

2026 — Present

Nexaura Biopharma Advisory

Founder & Principal Advisor. Bringing a decade of operational practice to the biotech teams who most need it.

The Firm

A boutique practice
by design.

Nexaura is intentionally small. Every engagement is led directly by a principal — not handed down to a junior team. That constraint is deliberate. It keeps the standard high and the accountability clear.

Founded
2026
Structure
Independent
Advisory Firm
Based
Europe
Working globally
Model
Fixed-fee
Project-based