SAN DIEGO, Nov. 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Arena
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARNA) today announced the
appointments of Robert Lisicki as
Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, and
Paul K. Audhya, MD, MBA, as Senior
Vice President, Medical Affairs. Mr. Lisicki will report to
Amit D. Munshi, Arena's President
and Chief Executive Officer, and Dr. Audhya will report to
Preston Klassen, MD, M.H.S.,
Executive Vice President, Research and Development and Chief
Medical Officer. With these hires, Arena will be expanding its
footprint into the Boston
area.
"We believe three things are necessary to drive long-term
success in a biotechnology organization: best-in-class products,
sufficient capital to support the growth plan and a highly-skilled
leadership team," said Munshi. "As we continue to strategically
scale our team, our objective is to identify individuals with the
passion, experience and ability to rapidly advance our business.
Given Robert and Paul's extensive expertise in their respective
areas of focus, we believe their appointments and the expansion
into Boston significantly
strengthen our ability to deliver transformational medicines to
patients."
Mr. Lisicki brings over 20 years of experience in
biopharmaceutical management, sales and marketing to Arena. Mr.
Lisicki most recently served as General Manager, Vice President
Cardio-Metabolic and Inflammation at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc. Prior to joining Regeneron, he was Senior Vice President of
Sales and Marketing and Chief Customer Officer at Daiichi Sankyo,
Inc. Prior to Daiichi Sankyo, Mr. Lisicki held several management
positions at Amgen Inc., including Vice President and General
Manager, responsible for a 700+ person sales force in the U.S. His
U.S. leadership experiences included such market shaping products
Enbrel and Prolia. During his tenure he also covered several
ex-U.S. regions, and worked as an International Franchise Lead
running the development and international strategies and business
plans across Amgen's portfolio including Nephrology, Cardiology,
Bone and Oncology. Prior to joining Amgen, Mr. Lisicki held various
sales and marketing positions at Johnson & Johnson Corporation.
Mr. Lisicki holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and
Business Administration from the State
University of New York at Albany.
Dr. Audhya has over 20 years of clinical development and global
medical affairs leadership experience across a range of therapeutic
areas and disciplines, including rare disease. Most recently, he
was Vice President, Global Strategy and Phase 4, Global Medical
Affairs at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he led global launch
and lifecycle management planning and implementation for the cystic
fibrosis therapies portfolio. Prior to Vertex, Dr. Audhya was
Vice President, Medical Affairs at Hospira Inc. (acquired by
Pfizer) where he introduced transformational strategies for
biosimilars globally and led the successful launch of the first
monoclonal biosimilar in the EU. Prior to Hospira, Dr. Audhya held
positions of increasing responsibility across all stages of drug
development at Reata Pharmaceuticals (where he was Chief Medical
Officer), Abbott Laboratories, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb and
Janssen. Dr. Audhya holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from
New York University, an MD from
New York University School of Medicine,
and an MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at
Pepperdine University. He completed his
residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
and has authored numerous abstracts, posters, and more than 25
manuscripts.
About Arena Pharmaceuticals
Arena Pharmaceuticals is
driven to deliver novel, transformational medicines with optimized
pharmacology and pharmacokinetics to patients globally. Arena's
proprietary pipeline includes multiple potentially first- or
best-in-class assets with broad clinical utility. Etrasimod
(APD334), with potential utility in a broad range of immune and
inflammatory conditions, is being evaluated in later-stage clinical
programs in ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease, as well as
in programs for primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and atopic
dermatitis. Ralinepag (APD811) is being evaluated in a Phase 3
program for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Arena is also
evaluating olorinab (APD371) in a Phase 2 program for
gastrointestinal pain. Arena continues to assess other earlier
research and development stage drug candidates, including APD418
for decompensated heart failure.
In addition, Arena has several partnerships including with
Everest Medicines Limited (ralinepag and etrasimod in Greater China and select Asian countries),
Axovant Sciences GmbH (nelotanserin - Phase 2), Boehringer
Ingelheim International GmbH (undisclosed target - preclinical),
Outpost Medicine, LLC (undisclosed target – preclinical), and Eisai
Co., Ltd. and Eisai Inc. (BELVIQ® - marketed
product).
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this
press release are forward-looking statements that involve a number
of risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements may be
accompanied by words such as "will," "believe," "objective,"
"driven to," "potentially," "potential," or words of similar
meaning, or they may be identified by the fact that they do not
relate strictly to historical or current facts. Such
forward-looking statements include statements about the timing and
significance of Mr. Lisicki and Dr. Audhya's appointment to the
management team; Mr. Lisicki and Dr. Audhya's experience and their
expected contribution; Arena's plans to expand its footprint in the
Boston area; Arena's ability to
drive long-term success and deliver transformational medicines to
patients; and Arena's drive, focus, goals, strategy, clinical and
research and development programs, and collaborations. For such
statements, Arena claims the protection of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual events or results may differ
materially from Arena's expectations. Factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking
statements include: the timing and outcome of research, development
and regulatory review is uncertain; clinical programs may not
proceed at the time or in the manner expected or at all; results of
clinical trials and other studies are subject to different
interpretations and may not be predictive of future results; and
other risks related to developing and commercializing drugs; as
well as those factors disclosed in Arena's filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including but not limited
to Arena's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended
September 30, 2018, which was filed
with the SEC on November 8, 2018.
These forward-looking statements represent Arena's judgment as of
the time of this release. Arena disclaims any intent or obligation
to update these forward-looking statements, other than as may be
required under applicable law.
Corporate
Contact:
Kevin R. Lind
Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Executive Vice President and
Chief Financial
Officer
klind@arenapharm.com
858.210.3636
Media Contact:
Matt Middleman, M.D.
LifeSci Public Relations
matt.middleman@lifescipublicrelations.com
646.627.8384
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SOURCE Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc.