Anthera Pharmaceuticals Announces Appointment of Dr. William Shanahan Jr. as Chief Medical Officer
August 16 2016 - 4:34PM
Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANTH) today announced the
appointment of William Shanahan, M.D., J.D. as Chief Medical
Officer. In his role as Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shanahan
will bring his experience as a Rheumatologist and in drug
development to lead the blisibimod lupus program and Sollpura
program, with both programs expected to report out topline data in
the fourth quarter of this year. He will also have
responsibility for the development of additional indications for
blisibimod in diseases such as IgA nephropathy and cystic fibrosis
and for Sollpura in celiac disease and other diseases. In
addition, he will bring extensive experience with FDA and European
filings to work closely with our regulatory team in preparing the
Biologics License Applications (BLA) for both Sollpura and
blisibimod.
“We are extremely fortunate to have William join the Anthera
team in our late stages of clinical development,” said Craig
Thompson, President and COO of Anthera. “His considerable expertise
in guiding the clinical development of novel therapeutics will be a
significant asset as we work to complete the development of and in
preparing the BLA for Sollpura and blisibimod.”
Dr. Shanahan joins Anthera with over 30 years of clinical
development experience. Most recently, he served as the Chief
Medical Officer of Arena Pharmaceuticals. At Arena
Pharmaceuticals Inc., Dr. Shanahan was involved in all aspects of
preclinical and clinical development, from phase 1 through NDA
filing and approval, of lorcaserin, a selective 5-HT2C agonist for
weight management, as well as multiple other programs in a range of
therapeutic areas. He previously served as Chief Medical Officer at
Tanox from August 2000 until March 2004, developing several
monoclonal antibodies for allergy, inflammation and HIV through
phase 1 and phase 2. Dr. Shanahan also served as Vice President,
Drug Development of Isis Pharmaceuticals, Director of Clinical
Research at Pfizer Central Research, and Associate Director and
Director of Clinical Research at Searle. In addition, at the
University of Connecticut School of Medicine he held various
positions in the Division of Rheumatology including Assistant
Professor and Clinical Associate Professor. Dr. Shanahan holds an
A.B. degree from Dartmouth College, an M.D. degree from the
University of California, San Francisco, and a J.D. degree from
Loyola University, Chicago.
“I am excited to join Anthera as Chief Medical Officer at such a
critical time for the company,” said Dr. Shanahan. “I look forward
to contributing my clinical development experience to the data
analysis and interpretation of the blisibimod CHABLIS-SC1 study in
lupus patients, the blisibimod BRIGHT-SC final analysis in IgA
nephropathy patients, and the Sollpura SOLUTION study in cystic
fibrosis patients with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, all in
the fourth quarter of this year.”
After a brief transition time, Dr. James Pennington will return
to his role at Anthera as Senior Clinical Fellow. “We greatly
appreciate Jim’s hard work and leadership while serving as Interim
Chief Medical Officer,” said Mr. Thompson. “We look forward to
continuing to leverage his extensive clinical experience as we
advance our clinical development program.”
About Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Anthera Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical
company focused on developing and commercializing products to treat
serious and life-threatening diseases, including exocrine
pancreatic insufficiency due to cystic fibrosis, lupus, lupus with
glomerulonephritis, and IgA nephropathy. Additional information on
the Company can be found at www.anthera.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
Any statements contained in this press release that refer to
future events or other non-historical matters, including statements
that are preceded by, followed by, or that include such words as
"estimate," "intend," "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "goal,"
"expect," "project," or similar statements, are forward-looking
statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
forward-looking statements are based on Anthera's expectations as
of the date of this press release and are subject to certain risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially as set forth in Anthera's public filings with
the SEC, including Anthera's Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2016. Anthera disclaims
any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements,
whether because of new information, future events or otherwise,
except as required by applicable law.
CONTACT: Nikhil Agarwal of Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
nagarwal@anthera.com or 510.856.5600 x5621
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