RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Evecxia, Inc. today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed John Kaiser as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and interim Chairman of the Board. Mr. Kaiser has been working with the company’s management team and Board since March 2018. He brings to Evecxia over three decades of biopharmaceutical drug development and commercialization expertise having most recently served as interim CEO of Cerecor Inc. Mr. Kaiser also previously served as CEO of Denysias Bioscience, CBO at ACADIA Pharmaceuticals and positions of increasing responsibilities over a 25+ year career at Eli Lilly and Company. Throughout his career, Mr. Kaiser has demonstrated a track record of creating stakeholder value through licensing & partnerships, operational efficiency, and commercial expertise.
“John brings invaluable experience to his new role as Evecxia’s CEO from many years in leading positions in both the pharma and biotech sectors,” said Dr. Roger Jeffs, a member of Evecxia’s Board of Directors and co-founder of Bull City Select I, LLC, an early investor in Evecxia. Dr. Jeffs continued, “John’s leadership and operational capabilities will immediately propel the growth of Evecxia as a clinical stage company. We are delighted to have him in the CEO role.”
John Kaiser added “Evecxia is poised to accelerate the development of EVX-101, a clinical stage product candidate possessing a therapeutic mechanism-of-action with human POC for efficacy and safety. EVX-101 is exciting because risk is mitigated compared to novel, but unproven, mechanisms and novel chemistry, and because of the tremendously large unmet need that continues to exist for safe and effective adjunctive antidepressants. I intend to leverage all of my experiences to build upon the remarkable foundation created by founders Dr. Caron and Dr. Jacobsen. And, I want to thank the Board for this appointment and am excited to lead Evecxia toward improving lives, restoring hope.”
About Evecxia
Evecxia is a privately funded, clinical stage pharmaceutical company co-founded by Duke neuro-psychopharmacologists, Dr. Marc Caron and Dr. Jacob Jacobsen. We are located in the Research Triangle Park, NC. Evecxia’s singular mission is to develop and commercialize EVX-101 to treat patients suffering from disabling, common, and costly neuropsychiatric conditions in which current therapies, in many cases, are sub-optimal.
Evecxia is the first company dedicated to realizing the therapeutic potential of 5-hydroxytryptophan via specialized Rx combinations and drug delivery dosage forms.
About EVX-101
EVX-101 is a unique and proprietary oral slow-release formulation of 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) and low-dose carbidopa. Initially, EVX-101 will be developed and positioned as a first-line adjunctive treatment in depressed patients responding inadequately to conventional antidepressants. As an antidepressant, the development of EVX-101, a new chemical entity (NCE), is uniquely de-risked because the therapeutic mechanism—elevating extracellular serotonin beyond the effect of conventional SSRI/SNRI antidepressants—enjoys human proof-of-concept (POC) for efficacy and safety.
For more information about the Company and its product candidates, please visit www.evecxia.com or contact info@evecxia.com.
