Proteostasis Therapeutics Announces Key Leadership Appointments
August 08 2016 - 10:54AM
Proteostasis Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTI), a biopharmaceutical
company developing small molecule therapeutics to treat diseases
caused by dysfunctional protein processing such as cystic fibrosis
(CF), today announced the appointment of James M. DeTore as chief
financial officer, Geoffrey S. Gilmartin, M.D. as chief development
officer, Marija Zecevic, Ph.D. as vice president of business
development, and Eric B. Rabinowitz as a new member of the
company’s board of directors.
“We couldn’t be more pleased to welcome Jim, Geoffrey and Marija
as we expand our leadership team,” said Meenu Chhabra, president
and chief executive officer of Proteostasis Therapeutics. “Jim’s
breadth and depth of experience with small-and large-scale biotech
and pharmaceutical companies will be invaluable as we put into
place the financial and operational infrastructure necessary to
advance our clinical program. Likewise, Geoffrey’s extensive
experience leading clinical development for companies such as
AstraZeneca and Vertex Pharmaceuticals will help shape our
regulatory and commercial strategies moving forward. Marija’s track
record in driving business development initiatives will further
support the execution of value-generating strategic transactions
from our DRT platform.”
Mr. DeTore joins the company from bluebird bio, Inc., where he
served as chief financial officer from 2014 through 2016, leading
the company’s financings and investor relations strategies, and
helping to raise over $720 million in capital. Prior to bluebird,
he served for eight years in positions of increasing responsibility
at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc., culminating as vice president of
corporate finance and prior to that as the corporate controller at
Ironwood’s predecessor company, Microbia, Inc. Mr. DeTore received
his Master of Business Administration and bachelor’s degree in
finance from Northeastern University.
Dr. Gilmartin joins Proteostasis Therapeutics from AstraZeneca,
where he most recently served as senior medical lead for global
medicines development, including the company’s benralizumab Phase 3
program in severe asthma. Dr. Gilmartin joined AstraZeneca in
January 2014. Prior to his time there, he held positions of
increasing responsibility at Vertex Pharmaceuticals including
serving as medical lead for the KalydecoTM (ivacaftor) clinical
development program, as well as spearheading the initiation of
Phase 3 trials to support label expansion studies for the drug. Dr.
Gilmartin joined Vertex Pharmaceuticals in January 2011. In
addition to his leadership in the life sciences industry, Dr.
Gilmartin is an attending physician for the intensive care unit at
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and formerly served as
director of the BIDMC Sleep Disorders Center and on the pulmonary
leadership team. Dr. Gilmartin completed his undergraduate degree
at Dartmouth College and received his M.D. from Brown University
School of Medicine and his Master of Medical Science in clinical
research from Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Zecevic has collaborated with Proteostasis Therapeutics on
multiple projects since July 2014. Dr. Zecevic was the founder and
managing director at Zebra Ventures, a consulting firm based in
Italy where she led licensing discussions with top 10 pharma
companies on behalf of the firm’s clients among which was the
Italian Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation. Prior to that, Dr.
Zecevic held several positions of increasing responsibility at
Bioxell, a Roche spin-off where she supported all licensing and
fundraising activities from top tier European and U.S. venture
capital firms that culminated in an IPO on the Swiss Stock Exchange
in 2006. Dr. Zecevic received her Ph.D. in physiology from the
University of Zurich and a Master of Science in healthcare
management, economics and policy from the University Bocconi in
Milan.
In addition to the appointments of Mr. DeTore, Dr. Gilmartin and
Dr. Zecevic, Proteostasis Therapeutics has appointed Eric B.
Rabinowitz to its board of directors. Conor Walshe will be stepping
down. Mr. Rabinowitz joins Proteostasis Therapeutics from Perrigo
Company, PLC where he is the vice president of global corporate
development and leads the team in devising Perrigo’s strategy and
identifying and executing inorganic growth opportunities to achieve
its long-term objectives. Prior to joining Perrigo in August 2014,
Mr. Rabinowitz held several positions of increasing responsibility
over an 11 year career in investment banking. Mr. Rabinowitz earned
his undergraduate degree from the University of Florida, Fischer
School of Accounting and a Master of Business Administration from
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
“We are excited by our continued growth in 2016,” said Chhabra.
“The appointment of Mr. Rabinowitz to our board brings the critical
knowledge and experience to help drive progress and strategic
direction for the company. We look forward to announcing additional
clinical updates in the coming weeks.”
About Proteostasis Therapeutics, Inc.
Proteostasis Therapeutics, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company
dedicated to the discovery of groundbreaking therapies to treat
diseases caused by dysfunctional protein processing, such as cystic
fibrosis (CF). Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, the Proteostasis
Therapeutics team focuses on identifying therapies that modulate
the proteostasis imbalance in cells and restore protein function.
Proteostasis Therapeutics is currently enrolling eligible adults
with CF to participate in its Phase 1 clinical trials of PTI-428.
PTI-428 is a unique modulator of the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane
Conductance Regulator (CFTR) protein, called an amplifier, that
when used in combination with existing treatments and therapies has
shown a consistent positive effect on CFTR protein activity in
vitro in pre-clinical studies. In addition to its multiple programs
in cystic fibrosis, Proteostasis Therapeutics has formed
collaborations with Biogen to research and identify therapeutic
candidates for neurodegenerative disease and with Astellas Pharma,
Inc. to research and identify therapies targeting the Unfolded
Protein Response (UPR) pathway. For more information, visit
www.proteostasis.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995,
including statements regarding the advancement of, and anticipated
development plans related to, the Company's product candidates and
preclinical and clinical studies. Any forward-looking statements
are based on management's current expectations of future events and
are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set
forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. For a
discussion of risks and uncertainties, and other important factors,
any of which could cause our actual results to differ from those
contained in the forward-looking statements, see the section
entitled "Risk Factors" in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well
as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties, and other
important factors in our subsequent and future filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. All information in this press
release is as of the date of the release, and Proteostasis
Therapeutics undertakes no duty to update this information unless
required by law.
Media Contact:
Katie Engleman, Pure Communications, Inc.
(910) 509-3977
katie@purecommunicationsinc.com
Investor Contact:
Luke Heagle, Pure Communications, Inc.
(910) 726-1372
luke@purecommunicationsinc.com
Proteostasis Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Proteostasis Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024