Date: 2015-01-06
Type of information: Establishment of a new subsidiary in the US
Compound:
Company: Isis Pharmaceuticals (USA - CA) Akcea Therapeutics (USA - CA)
Therapeutic area: Cardiovascular diseases - Rare diseases
Type agreement: establishment of a new subsidiary in the US - nomination
Action mechanism:
Disease:
Details:
- • On January 6, 2015, Isis Pharmaceuticals announced the appointment of Paula Soteropoulos as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Akcea Therapeutics, the Isis-owned, lipid franchise subsidiary responsible for the development and commercialization of Isis\' lipid drugs, ISIS-APOCIIIRx, ISIS-APO(a)Rx, ISIS-ANGPTL3Rx,and their more potent LICA follow-ons. In this position, Ms. Soteropoulos will utilize her expertise in commercializing drugs for severe, rare and cardiovascular diseases in global markets to advance Isis\' novel lipid franchise through development and commercialization. Ms. Soteropoulos will also serve as a member of Isis\' leadership team, in which she will provide valuable commercial expertise to Isis\' research and development activities.
- Akcea Therapeutics is a newly formed, wholly owned subsidiary of Isis Pharmaceuticals located in Cambridge, Mass. Isis established Akcea to develop and commercialize the drugs in Isis\' lipid franchise, including ISIS-APOCIIIRx, the most advanced drug currently in a Phase 3 study in patients with familial chylomicronemia, a severe and rare disease that is responsible for extremely elevated levels of triglycerides; ISIS-APO(a)Rx for patients with high levels of Lp(a), an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, currently in a Phase 2 study in patients with high Lp(a) levels; and ISIS-ANGPTL3Rx currently in early clinical development as a broad dyslipidemia agent. In total, Akcea will be responsible for the development and commercialization of these three antisense drugs and their more potent LICA follow-on drugs. LICA is Isis\' new conjugation technology designed to enhance the potency of antisense drugs to particular targets, including the liver. In preclinical studies, LICA technology directed toward liver targets produced a ten-fold increase in potency in both Isis\' second-generation and generation 2.5 drugs.
- Prior to joining Akcea Therapeutics, Ms. Soteropoulos held a number of leadership positions in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical arena. Most recently Ms. Soteropoulos was senior vice president and general manager cardiometabolic, rare diseases and strategic alliances at Moderna Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to Moderna, Ms. Soteropoulos spent 21 years at Genzyme Corporation where she was instrumental in advancing new products from discovery through clinical development and commercialization with significant roles driving strategy, sales and marketing and business development. Additionally, Paula led manufacturing process development, strategic capacity planning and supply chain development. In her most recent role at Genzyme as vice president and general manager of Genzyme Cardiovascular division, Ms. Soteropoulos was responsible for moving Genzyme\'s oral cholesterol drug to profitability and spearheading the global launch of Kynamro®. Ms. Soteropoulos has a master of science degree in chemical and biochemical engineering and a bachelors in science degree in chemical engineering from Tufts University.
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