Press release -
Athera strengthens team for future business activities
The Athera Board of Directors today announced James Hall as new Chief Executive Officer in the company. Carina Schmidt steps down after nearly 13 years as CEO but will stay on as advisor and resource to the management and board in the work to reach planned milestones.
This spring, James Hall was engaged to strengthen the team in planning and execution of business activities focused on further development and commercialization. James Hall has worked with the team for 6 months and now has a good platform for taking over as CEO. The timing for this planned succession in the company is chosen to fit with the ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial and other activities.
” I am proud and grateful for the development of Athera under the leadership of Carina Schmidt. We are very pleased to now introduce James Hall as our new CEO, with Carina supporting as advisor. This way we can execute a planned shift in leadership and ensure continuity for further development of the company” said Gunnar Olsson, Chairman of the Board of Athera.
” During my years as CEO, Athera has developed from an academic spin-off from Karolinska Institutet to a company with a promising therapeutic candidate in clinical development. Right now, a Phase 2 study of the product candidate ATH3G10 to reduce the risk for heart failure after myocardial infarction is ongoing at 11 hospitals and data is planned to report in 2020. I have now worked side-by-side with James Hall for a period and I am very confident to hand over to him”, said Carina Schmidt, former CEO of Athera.
” I am happy and proud to have the Board´s confidence to take on the leadership of Athera to continue the work building Athera as a leading biotech company in therapeutic antibodies for cardiovascular diseases”, said James Hall, new CEO at Athera.
James Hall has 20 years experience from the pharmaceutical industry. During his 12 years in AstraZeneca he has held leading positions in commercial development, R&D and business development. He has previously worked as a consultant in Pharmaceutical/Medical Products at McKinsey & Co. He has a medical degree and research Ph.D. from Oxford University. Since 2016 James has worked as a consultant to biotech companies in Sweden, primarily in business development and operational management. James is originally from Ireland and has lived in Gothenburg for 13 years.
Topics
- Corporate Information
Categories
- business
- commercialisation
- succession
- leadership
- management
- chief executive officer
- board of directors
- team
- therapeutic antibody
- inflammation
- immunovascular disease
- clinical study
- clinical
- cardiovascular disease
- athera biotechnologies
- athera
- heart failure
About ATH3G10
ATH3G10 is a fully human monoclonal antibody that binds to oxidized phospholilids, OxPL. The target for the therapeutic candidate is exposed on modified or damaged cells where the cell membrane is broken. Exposed OxPL is an “eat me”-signal to the immune system, to remove damaged cell and also to have a pro-inflammatory action, that the body wants to block. Focus for Athera is a Phase 2 study with the therapeutic candidate ATH3G10, for treatment of myocardial infarction patients with high risk for complications like heart failure.
About Athera Biotechnologies AB
The mission of Athera is to address the large unmet need for anti-inflammatory therapeutics in the treatment of cardiovascular disease, with focus on the therapeutic antibody ATH3G10. Major shareholders in Athera are Industrifonden, The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies (Östersjöstiftelsen) and Linc AB. For more information: www.athera.se
