Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT), the leader in precision
genetic medicine for rare diseases, announced today its board of
directors approved the appointments of several executive leadership
positions: Ian Estepan to executive vice president and chief
financial officer, Dallan Murray to senior vice president and chief
commercial officer, and Louise Rodino-Klapac, Ph.D., to executive
vice president and chief scientific officer, effective today. Both
Mr. Estepan and Dr. Rodino-Klapac will continue to serve as members
of the company’s executive committee (ECOM). Mr. Murray will become
a member of the Company’s ECOM. Sarepta also announced
the retirement of Ty Howton, executive vice president and general
counsel. With Mr. Howton’s retirement, Ryan Brown has been named
interim general counsel, effective today, and will also become a
member of the Company’s ECOM.
Mr. Estepan previously served as senior vice
president with responsibility for Investor Relations, Corporate
Strategy, Corporate Affairs and Chief of Staff. As the chief
financial officer of Sarepta, Mr. Estepan will oversee Finance,
Corporate Strategy, Business Development, Strategic Alliances,
Investor Relations, and Corporate Affairs. Mr. Estepan joined
Sarepta in 2015 and is intimately knowledgeable about all aspects
of the company’s business. He has been responsible for the
development of Sarepta’s strategy over the past 3 years and was a
key architect in securing $2.5 billion in capital to support the
Company’s growth. During his tenure, he has assumed increasing
responsibilities, establishing the Corporate Strategy and Program
Management functions, with an intense focus on advancing the
interest of patients. Mr. Estepan began his career in finance as a
healthcare sector analyst at Salomon Smith Barney in June 1999.
Before joining Sarepta, he worked for more than a decade as a
portfolio manager for Spectra Financial Group, overseeing a
portfolio of pharmaceutical, biotech and medtech equities. He holds
a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology with a concentration in
pre-medicine from Columbia University, where he graduated magna cum
laude.
Immediately preceding his appointment to chief
commercial officer, Mr. Murray served as Sarepta’s interim chief
commercial officer. Prior to this, Mr. Murray was vice president,
commercial strategy and portfolio management, overseeing the
commercial positioning and readiness for the Company’s pipeline of
more than 40 investigational therapies. With his permanent
appointment as chief commercial officer of Sarepta, Mr. Murray will
have oversight of U.S. and Global Commercial, Commercial
Operations, Global Market Access, Patient Services, Payer &
Distribution, Latin America and Japan. Mr. Murray joined Sarepta in
2013 and has been instrumental in the launch of Sarepta’s two
approved RNA therapies, including one of the top-five most
successful rare disease product launches in history. Mr. Murray’s
scientific knowledge, his relationships with neuromuscular thought
leaders and treating physicians around the world, his insight in
access and reimbursement, and the depth of his understanding and
experience in what will be required to launch a transformative gene
therapy, make him uniquely suited for this role. Prior to joining
Sarepta, Mr. Murray held commercial leadership roles at Vertex
Pharmaceuticals, Gilead Sciences, Biogen, and Janssen Ortho. He
holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of Alberta, and
a Master’s in Business Administration from Queen’s University.
Dr. Rodino-Klapac has been named Sarepta’s chief
scientific officer. Dr. Rodino-Klapac previously served as
Sarepta’s senior vice president, gene therapy. Dr. Rodino-Klapac
has led the design of most of Sarepta’s late-stage gene therapy
candidates, has built and led Sarepta’s Gene Therapy Center of
Excellence (GTCOE) in Columbus, Ohio, and has oversight for
Sarepta’s Gene Editing Innovation Center (GEIC) in Durham,
N.C. In her new role as chief scientific officer, she
will add to her oversight and responsibilities RNA Discovery,
Translational Medicine, and Genomics. Dr. Rodino-Klapac is renowned
for her contributions to neuromuscular biology, which have
profoundly advanced the field. She is author to a significant body
of published, peer-reviewed work, the recipient of multiple awards
recognizing her impact and accomplishments as a scientist and
leader, is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fellow appointee,
and is a current Board member of the Association for Regenerative
Medicine, as well as a member of the American Society for Gene and
Cell Therapy, and the American Academy of Neurology. She is the
former head of the Laboratory for Gene Therapy Research at
Nationwide Children’s Hospital and co-founded and served as chief
scientific officer of Myonexus Therapeutics before it was acquired
by Sarepta in 2019. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology
from Kings College, and her Ph.D. in molecular genetics from The
Ohio State University.
Ty Howton, who has served as Sarepta’s general
counsel since 2012, has announced his plans to retire from his role
as general counsel. He will remain a consultant to the company
through the first quarter of 2021 to support the transition and
remain a resource to the Company’s ECOM. Ryan Brown, who currently
serves as vice president, global chief compliance officer and
regulatory counsel for Sarepta, will serve as interim general
counsel and become a member of the company’s ECOM. Mr. Brown joined
Sarepta in 2018. Prior to Sarepta, Mr. Brown served as vice
president at Acadia Pharmaceuticals and before that held various
roles of increasing responsibility at Allergan, Inc., including
senior counsel of regulatory and compliance; general counsel to
SkinMedica, an Allergan company; special assistant to the
president; and vice president and chief compliance officer. Mr.
Brown holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from
Loyola Marymount University and his Juris Doctor degree from
Harvard Law School.
“As we continue to execute our vision of
becoming the leader in multi-platform genetic medicine to rescue
lives stolen by rare disease, the organizational changes we have
announced today greatly strengthen our Executive Committee,
streamline our operations under passionate, mission-driven leaders,
and ensure that we will continue to hone our execution as we move
to the next stage in our evolution. I have a long-held bias for
building leaders from within the organization when possible and
after evaluating impressive external candidates, it was readily
clear that we will take our performance to the next level with the
elevation of Mr. Estepan as our chief financial officer and Mr.
Murray as chief commercial officer, proven Sarepta leaders with a
detailed understanding of our strategy who know precisely what must
be done to achieve our ambitions and rapidly bring our therapies to
patients. Further, with Dr. Rodino-Klapac as Sarepta’s chief
scientific officer, we will organize under a brilliant scientist
and proven leader our interdependent research and translational
efforts across our RNA, gene transfer, and gene editing platforms.
Finally, on behalf of employees, the executive leadership team and
the Sarepta board of directors, we want to extend our thanks to Ty
for his significant contributions in shaping Sarepta into what it
is today. He has been a steady, guiding hand these past eight years
and we are grateful for his leadership and intellect as our general
counsel and for his role as thoughtful adviser to me and to the
organization. I wish him all the best in his well-deserved
retirement,” said Doug Ingram, president and chief executive
officer, Sarepta Therapeutics.
Mr. Ingram continued, “Louise, Ian, Dallan and
Ryan share a singular passion for our mission and a keen
understanding of what must be done to achieve our ambitions. Across
the Company, we are prepared for flawless execution to make 2021
our strongest – and most impactful – year yet for the patients we
serve.”
“Being part of Sarepta’s transformation into a
leader in genetic medicine has been the opportunity of a lifetime.
After nearly a decade as general counsel, I depart with confidence
knowing that the organization is strong and ready to execute to
support its fundamental mission of transforming the lives of
patients,” said Mr. Howton.
About Sarepta TherapeuticsAt
Sarepta, we are leading a revolution in precision genetic medicine
and every day is an opportunity to change the lives of people
living with rare disease. The Company has built an impressive
position in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and in gene therapies
for limb-girdle muscular dystrophies (LGMDs), mucopolysaccharidosis
type IIIA, Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT), and other CNS-related
disorders, with more than 40 programs in various stages of
development. The Company’s programs and research focus span several
therapeutic modalities, including RNA, gene therapy and gene
editing. For more information, please
visit www.sarepta.com or follow us
on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.
Forward-Looking StatementThis
press release contains "forward-looking statements." Any statements
contained in this press release that are not statements of
historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements.
Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects,"
"will," "intends," "potential," "possible" and similar expressions
are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements include statements regarding the
potential benefits of the organizational changes Sarepta has
announced and Sarepta being prepared for flawless execution to make
2021 its strongest and most impactful year yet for the patients it
serves.
These forward-looking statements involve risks and
uncertainties, many of which are beyond Sarepta’s control. Known
risk factors include, among others: leadership transitions can be
inherently difficult to manage and may cause uncertainty or a
disruption to Sarepta’s business or may increase the likelihood of
turnover in other key officers and employees; Sarepta may not be
able to execute on its business plans and goals, including meeting
its expected or planned regulatory milestones and timelines,
clinical development plans, and bringing its product candidates to
market, due to a variety of reasons, many of which may be outside
of Sarepta’s control, including possible limitations of company
financial and other resources, manufacturing limitations that may
not be anticipated or resolved for in a timely manner, regulatory,
court or agency decisions, such as decisions by the United States
Patent and Trademark Office with respect to patents that cover
Sarepta’s product candidates and the COVID-19 pandemic; and those
risks identified under the heading “Risk Factors” in Sarepta’s most
recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31,
2019, and most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as other SEC
filings made by Sarepta which you are encouraged to review.
Any of the foregoing risks could materially and
adversely affect Sarepta’s business, results of operations and the
trading price of Sarepta’s common stock. For a detailed description
of risks and uncertainties Sarepta faces, you are encouraged to
review the SEC filings made by Sarepta. We caution investors not to
place considerable reliance on the forward-looking statements
contained in this press release. Sarepta does not undertake any
obligation to publicly update its forward-looking statements based
on events or circumstances after the date hereof.
Source: Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.
Media and Investors:Sarepta
Therapeutics, Inc. Investors: Ian Estepan, 617-274-4052,
iestepan@sarepta.com Media: Tracy Sorrentino, 617-301-8566,
tsorrentino@sarepta.com
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