ATHENS, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ArunA Biomedical, a leader in the development of exosomes for the treatment of CNS and neurodegenerative disorders, today announced that Mason “Skip” Irving, III has been named to the company’s Board of Directors. A longtime executive and advisor in the biopharmaceutical industry, Mr. Irving has overseen business strategy, R&D planning, product commercialization and business development for companies of all sizes for over 35 years, with an interest in neuroscience.
“On behalf of my fellow Board members, I welcome Skip to ArunA’s Board of Directors,” said C. William "Bill" Griffin, Chairman of ArunA. “Skip’s extensive experience and knowledge in the industry, and specific focus in neuroscience complement the expertise of our team and he will be invaluable as ArunA continues to establish its position as a leader in the development of exosome therapeutics for central nervous system and neurodegenerative disorders.”
Skip recently served as Vice President of Noveome Biotherapeutics and for seventeen years was a Partner and Managing Director at Health Advances, which he helped build into a leading life-science focused management consulting firm prior to its acquisition by Parexel. Skip served ten years as Vice President and Director of Worldwide Healthcare Consulting at Arthur D. Little, Inc. He also helped found and served on the Board of t-Breeders Inc, a cellular therapy company that was sold to Perkin Elmer. He also worked in manufacturing and quality assurance for AstraZeneca plc.
Today, Skip serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. He is also an advisor to Red Sky Partners and Locust Walk Partners, and is an Adjunct Professor at the University of New England. He also serves on the Board of Overseers for Mount Auburn Hospital.
Skip graduated from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and earned his MBA at the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College.
“ArunA Biomedical has the potential to dramatically improve outcomes for patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases and stroke” said Mr. Irving. “Exosome-based therapeutics and neural drug targeting systems are very exciting and ArunA is solidly positioned to advance rapidly. I look forward to contributing to the growth and expansion of this innovative company in the years to come.”
To learn more about Mr. Irving and the ArunA Biomedical Board of Directors, please visit https://www.arunabio.com/board-of-directors.
Exosomes as Therapeutics
Since their discovery more than 30 years ago, extracellular vesicles — nanometer-sized cell-signaling particles — have been increasingly found to play a role in intercellular communication, capable of delivering functional proteins, mRNA transcripts and miRNA to cells throughout the body. Exosomes have the potential to target any cell in the body and as proved in ArunA’s studies are capable of multiple administrations via IV and of crossing the blood brain barrier non-invasively to reach the site of injury. Exosomes have shown great promise as potential therapeutics and as vehicles to carry drug payloads to the site of injury or disease.
About ArunA Biomedical
At ArunA Biomedical, we are the experts in the design and scaling of neural-derived exosomes, developing a new class of cell-free biologics and cell-mediated drug targeting systems to treat CNS and neurodegenerative disorders. www.arunabio.com
