Aravive Announces Management Changes
January 09 2020 - 4:05PM
Aravive, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARAV), a clinical-stage
biopharmaceutical company, today announced the appointment of Rekha
Hemrajani as president, chief executive officer and director of the
company. Jay Shepard, who last year announced plans to step down as
Aravive’s CEO, will transition to the role of chairman of the board
of directors.
“It is with great confidence that I welcome Rekha to Aravive’s
leadership team as the company explores additional indications and
prepares to advance AVB-500 into late stage clinical development in
ovarian cancer,” said Mr. Shepard. “Rekha brings invaluable
experience and a strong track record related to all aspects of
corporate development, financing and operations in the
biotechnology industry. Rekha’s insights, leadership and expertise
will be beneficial to the company as we continue to make progress
on our therapeutic programs.”
Rekha Hemrajani has more than 20 years of biopharmaceutical
industry experience and has extensive expertise in all aspects of
corporate strategy, corporate and business development, financing,
and operations. Prior to joining Aravive, Ms. Hemrajani served as
chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Arcus
Biosciences, Inc. where she led corporate strategy, finance,
investor relations, corporate communications, business and
corporate development, strategic planning, and human resources.
Previously, she has held roles of increasing responsibility at
various public biotech companies, including FLX Bio (now RAPT
Therapeutics), 3-V Biosciences (now Sagimet Biosciences), Onyx
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Exelixis, Inc. Ms. Hemrajani began her
career in investment banking at Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers.
Ms. Hemrajani earned a B.S. in Economics and Computer Science from
the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate
School of Management at Northwestern University. Ms. Hemrajani is a
member of the Board of Directors of Adverum Biotechnologies, a
clinical-stage gene therapy company.
“I am excited to join Aravive on its mission of halting the
progression of cancer and fibrosis, and I look forward to working
with the team to help translate the potential of AVB-500 into
meaningful benefit for patients,” commented Ms. Hemrajani. “I see
tremendous value in the company’s novel cancer therapeutic approach
that has the potential to augment existing standard of care
regimens without adding to the treatment burden for patients.”
As part of this leadership transition, Shahzad Malik, M.D., has
stepped down from the board of directors.
“We are pleased that Jay will continue to contribute to
Aravive’s ongoing success in his new role as board chairman,” said
Srinivas Akkaraju, M.D., Ph.D., who previously served as board
chairman and will remain a director of Aravive. “We also appreciate
the contributions of Dr. Malik during his tenure as a director of
the company. We wish him the best in all of his future
endeavors.”
About Aravive Aravive, Inc. (Nasdaq:
ARAV) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing
treatments designed to halt the progression of life-threatening
diseases, including cancer and fibrosis. Aravive’s lead product
candidate, AVB-500, is an ultra-high affinity decoy protein that
targets the GAS6-AXL signaling pathway. By capturing serum GAS6,
AVB-500 starves the AXL pathway of its signal, potentially halting
the biological programming that promotes disease progression. AXL
receptor signaling plays an important role in multiple types of
malignancies by promoting metastasis, cancer cell survival,
resistance to treatments, and immune suppression. The GAS6-AXL
signaling pathway also plays a significant role in
fibrogenesis. Aravive is evaluating AVB-500 in
platinum-resistant ovarian cancer and kidney fibrosis and intends
to expand development into additional oncology and fibrotic
indications. Aravive is based in Houston,
Texas and received a Product Development Award from
the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of
Texas (CPRIT) in 2016. For more information, please
visit www.aravive.com.
Forward-Looking Statements This communication
contains forward-looking statements (including within the meaning
of Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of
1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the United States Securities
Act of 1933, as amended), express or implied, including statements
such as: Rekha’s insights, leadership and expertise being
beneficial to the company as we continue to make progress on our
therapeutic programs, halting the progression of cancer and
fibrosis, translating the potential of AVB-500 into meaningful
benefits for patients, the company’s novel cancer therapeutic
approach having the potential to augment existing standard of care
regimens without adding to the treatment burden for patients, the
potential of AVB-500 to halt the biological programming that
promotes disease progression and the expansion of the development
of AVB-500 into additional oncology and fibrotic indications.
Forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and
assumptions, are not guarantees of future performance and are
subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results
to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking
statement as a result of various factors, including, but not
limited to, risks and uncertainties related to: the contributions
to the Company to be made by Rekha Hemrajani, the Company’s ability
to expand development in 2019 into additional oncology and fibrotic
indications, the Company’s dependence upon AVB-500, AVB-500’s
ability to have favorable results in clinical trials or receive
regulatory approval, potential delays in the Company's clinical
trials due to regulatory requirements or difficulty identifying
qualified investigators or enrolling patients; the risk that
AVB-500 may cause serious side effects or have properties that
delay or prevent regulatory approval or limit its commercial
potential; the risk that the Company may encounter difficulties in
manufacturing AVB-500; if AVB-500 is approved, risks associated
with its market acceptance, including pricing and reimbursement;
potential difficulties enforcing the Company's intellectual
property rights; the Company's reliance on its licensor of
intellectual property and financing needs. The foregoing review of
important factors that could cause actual events to differ from
expectations should not be construed as exhaustive and should be
read in conjunction with statements that are included herein and
elsewhere, including the risk factors included in the Company's
Annual Report on Form 10-K and Form 10-K/A for the fiscal year
ended December 31, 2018, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K
and subsequent filings with the SEC. Except as required by
applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or
update any forward-looking statement, or to make any other
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
Contacts for Aravive:
Investors:
Christina Tartaglia
Stern Investor Relations
christina@sternir.com
Media:
Heidi Chokeir, Ph.D.
Canale Communications
heidi@canalecomm.com
619-203-5391
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