dera Pharmaceuticals IDRA, a clinical stage
biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics for orphan patient
populations with B-cell lymphomas and autoimmune diseases, today announced
the addition of three new management team members to support the Company's
progress in its development pipeline. The Company has appointed Kathryn
Haviland, Vice President Rare Diseases; Joseph Lobacki, General Manager of
Oncology; and Walter Strapps, Ph.D., Executive Director of RNA Therapeutics.
"Kate, Joe and Walter will play a critical role as we continue to advance
and expand our pipeline of oncology and orphan therapeutics derived from our
proprietary nucleic acid technology platforms," said Sudhir Agrawal, D.
Phil., Chief Executive Officer of Idera Pharmaceuticals. "Each of these
individuals bring a breadth of biopharmaceutical industry expertise in
orphan disease product development and global commercial strategy."
Kathryn Haviland has joined the Company as Vice President Rare Diseases and
will be focusing on advancing Idera's orphan autoimmune and rare diseases
programs through clinical development to commercialization. Ms. Haviland
joins Idera from Sarepta Therapeutics, where she served as Head of
Commercial Development and was responsible for strategic product development
and commercial planning of Sarepta's lead investigational product,
eteplirsen, for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. As part of
establishing a commercial plan at Sarepta, Ms. Haviland built and maintained
relationships with key opinion leaders and patient advocacy groups and
collaborated with the orphan disease community. Prior to Sarepta, Ms.
Haviland was Executive Director of Commercial Development at PTC
Therapeutics where she was responsible for establishing and executing PTC's
commercial strategy and building its corporate infrastructure. Before
joining PTC, Ms. Haviland held positions with increasing responsibilities at
Genzyme. Ms. Haviland holds a BA in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology and
Economics from Wesleyan University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Joseph Lobacki has joined Idera as General Manager of Oncology and is
charged with establishing Idera's presence in the oncology community and
developing Idera's oncology franchise. Mr. Lobacki previously served as an
independent consultant to multiple clinical-stage biopharmaceutical
companies providing guidance to research, clinical and regulatory groups on
lead programs in oncology and rare diseases and initiation of commercial
strategies. Prior to his consulting work, Mr. Lobacki was the Senior
Vice-President and Chief Commercial Officer at Micromet, Inc. prior to its
acquisition by Amgen, Inc. Prior to Micromet, Inc., Mr. Lobacki held
positions of increasing responsibility at several life science companies,
including serving as the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the
Transplant and Oncology business at Genzyme Corporation, SangStat Medical
Corporation, Cell Pathways, Inc., Rhone-Poulenc Rorer and Lederle
Laboratories. Mr. Lobacki earned a BS in Biology from Boston College and a
BS in Pharmacy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. He holds several
issued and pending patents for novel therapeutic approaches to neoplastic
diseases.
Walter Strapps, Ph.D., has joined Idera as Executive Director of RNA
Therapeutics and is responsible for building and advancing Idera's Gene
Silencing Oligoneucleotides (GSOs) research platform. Prior to Idera, Dr.
Strapps was the Director, RNAi Therapeutics at Merck & Co., Inc. where he
led siRNA lead identification and lead optimization efforts. Dr. Strapps
holds a B.Sc. in Biology from McGill University and an M.A., M.Phil and
Ph.D. in Genetics and Development from Columbia University.
About Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Idera Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company
developing a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of genetically
defined forms of B-cell lymphoma and orphan autoimmune diseases. Idera's
proprietary technology involves creating novel nucleic acid therapeutics
designed to inhibit over-activation of Toll-like Receptors (TLRs). In
addition to its TLR programs, Idera is developing gene silencing
oligonucleotides (GSOs) that it has created using its proprietary technology
to inhibit the production of disease-associated proteins by targeting RNA.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of
Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than
statements of historical fact, included or incorporated in this press
release, including statements regarding the Company's strategy, future
operations, collaborations, intellectual property, cash resources, financial
position, future revenues, projected costs, prospects, plans, and objectives
of management, are forward-looking statements. The words "believes,"
"anticipates," "estimates," "plans," "expects," "intends," "may," "could,"
"should," "potential," "likely," "projects," "continue," "will," and "would"
and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements,
although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words.
Idera cannot guarantee that it will actually achieve the plans, intentions
or expectations disclosed in its forward-looking statements and you should
not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. There
are a number of important factors that could cause Idera's actual results to
differ materially from those indicated or implied by its forward-looking
statements. Factors that may cause such a difference include: whether
results obtained in clinical trials such as the results described in this
release will be indicative of the results that will be generated in future
clinical trials, including in clinical trials in different disease
indications ; whether products based on Idera's technology will advance into
or through the clinical trial process on a timely basis or at all and
receive approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration or
equivalent foreign regulatory agencies; whether, if the Company's products
receive approval, they will be successfully distributed and marketed; and
such other important factors as are set forth under the caption "Risk
Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2013. Although Idera may elect to do so at some point in the
future, the Company does not assume any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements and it disclaims any intention or obligation to
update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
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