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Aurinia Announces the Addition of Three Seasoned Executive Leaders to Advance Company Strategy and Performance
Monday, July 18, 2022Company Profile | Follow Company
Victoria, BC, July 18, 2022--(T-Net)--Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AUPH), a biopharmaceutical company committed to delivering therapeutics that change the course of autoimmune disease, today announced the appointment of three seasoned leaders to the Aurinia executive team.
Volker Knappertz, MD, will join Aurinia as Executive Vice President, Research and Development, Scott Habig has been named Aurinia's new Chief Commercial Officer, and DeDe Sheel has been hired as Vice President, Investor Relations.
Peter Greenleaf, Chief Executive Officer, Director, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc.
"These new hires bring a wealth of critical experience to Aurinia, and I am thrilled to add them to our team as we continue to execute on our strategy of building a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company," said Peter Greenleaf, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Aurinia.
Greenleaf continued, "Volker has a strong track record of advancing biotechnology and medical innovation and is recognized for his leadership in creating diverse, high performing teams, and fostering creativity in R&D."
"Scott joins us at a pivotal time as we work to expand upon our LUPKYNIS launch momentum and advance our early-stage pipeline. I look forward to leveraging his unique lupus and rheumatology sales and marketing expertise to drive further adoption of our first commercial product and ensure success for future pipeline assets," said Greeneaf.
Greenleaf concluded, "Finally, with the addition of DeDe, we reinforce our commitment to key investor audiences and shareholders. DeDe has a proven history of building best-in-class investor relations functions, and she will leverage this expertise to drive awareness and understanding of Aurinia's commercial operations, pipeline and vision for the future. We are thrilled to have her as part of the team."
Volker Knappertz, MD, Aurinia's new Executive Vice President, Research and Development
Volker Knappertz, MD, most recently served as the Chief Medical Officer and Executive VP of Research and Development at GW Pharmaceuticals, developing medicines for rare and orphan diseases as well as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. Previously, Knappertz was the VP of Global Clinical Development at Teva Pharmaceuticals.
Scott Habig joins Aurinia after serving for the past 10 years in numerous leadership roles at UCB, Inc, including most recently as Head of Global SLE, responsible for pre-launch and commercial launch activities of a novel CD40 ligand currently in Phase III of clinical development for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). His previous roles include VP, Sales at Human Genome Sciences and roles at Centocor, Inc.
DeDe Sheel comes to Aurinia with over 15 years of experience in investor relations, most recently as Vice President, Investor Relations at Sierra Oncology (acquired by GSK) and Vice President, Investor relations at Aimmune Therapeutics (acquired by Nestlé Health Science). She also led investor relations at Myovant Sciences, Anacor Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer) and Exelixis.
Max Colao, who led the formation of Aurinia's commercial organization and the launch of LUPKYNIS in 2021, is leaving the company to tend to personal matters. Neil Solomons, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Robert B. Huizinga, PhD, RN, CNeph(C), EVP, Research will remain in their current roles and continue as members of the executive committee.
About Aurinia
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals is a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company focused on delivering therapies to treat targeted patient populations that are impacted by serious diseases with a high unmet medical need. In January 2021, the Company introduced LUPKYNIS® (voclosporin), the first FDA-approved oral therapy for the treatment of adult patients with active lupus nephritis (LN). The Company's head office is in Victoria, British Columbia, its U.S. commercial hub is in Rockville, Maryland. The Company focuses its development efforts globally.
Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements made in this press release may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities law and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable United States securities law. These forward-looking statements or information include but are not limited to statements or information with respect to: Aurinia's estimates as to annual net revenue; Aurinia's estimates as to the number of patients with SLE in the U.S. and the proportion of those persons who will develop LN; Aurinia being confident that it is well-poised for growth; Aurinia's belief that it has sufficient financial resources to fund its current plans; the expected timing for the EMA CHMP opinion and EMA decision relating to the EMA MAA; and the planned timing for reporting top-line results from the ongoing AURORA-2 continuation study. [ MORE ] |
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