NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Prevail Therapeutics, Inc. (Prevail), a biotechnology company developing gene therapies for patients with Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative and lysosomal disorders, today announced the appointment of Brett Kaplan, M.D., to Chief Financial Officer. In addition, Emily Minkow was promoted to Chief Business Officer from her former role as Executive Vice President of Business Development and Strategy. Dr. Kaplan joins Ms. Minkow and Prevail’s existing executive team: Franz Hefti, Ph.D., Chief Development Officer; Jeffrey Sevigny, M.D., Chief Medical Officer; and Founder and CEO Asa Abeliovich, M.D., Ph.D.
“With our programs moving forward for patients with unmet needs in neurodegenerative and lysosomal disorders, our executive team brings the broad experience crucial to the future success of our mission,” said Asa Abeliovich, M.D., Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Prevail. “We are very pleased to welcome Brett to Prevail and congratulate Emily on her well-deserved promotion to Chief Business Officer. Brett, Emily, Franz and Jeff bring robust track records in drug development, including specific expertise in neurodegenerative diseases.”
Prior to Prevail, Dr. Kaplan was a Managing Director at Evercore, where he spent eight years concentrating on biopharma M&A and equity financings. Prior to Evercore, he was an Equity Research Analyst at Cowen, where he covered large cap pharmaceuticals. Earlier in his career, Dr. Kaplan held senior positions at Cubist and Lilly focused on corporate and business development. He holds an MBBCh and an MBA from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa.
Prior to Prevail, Ms. Minkow held positions of increasing responsibility at Celgene Corporation for seven years, most recently as Executive Director of Business Development. There, she led deal evaluation and execution across a broad range of licensing transactions, collaborations and M&A. Ms. Minkow also held roles at Celgene in marketing and business operations. Earlier in her career, Ms. Minkow was a consultant for Frankel Group. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor’s degree from Princeton University.
Dr. Hefti brings more than 15 years of experience in early-stage neurology companies. Prior to Prevail, he was Chief Operations Officer at Proclara Biosciences, President and Chief Executive Officer of Acumen Pharmaceuticals, Chief Scientific Officer at Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, and Executive Vice President of Drug Development at Rinat Neuroscience. Earlier in his career, Dr. Hefti was Senior Vice President of Neuroscience Research at Merck & Co. and Head of Neuroscience Research at Genentech. He also held positions in academia at the University of Miami and the University of Southern California. Dr. Hefti holds a Ph.D. from the University of Zurich and completed his postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr. Sevigny brings more than 15 years of clinical research, executive leadership and technical expertise across the development spectrum for multiple neurological diseases. He joins Prevail from Roche, where he was Vice President and Global Head of Translational Medicine Neuroscience. Prior to Roche, he was Senior Director of Clinical Development at Biogen, where he led the development of the Company’s early and late stage neurodegeneration portfolio. Previously, he held positions at Novartis AG and Merck & Co., and held academic appointments at Albert Einstein School of Medicine and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Sevigny holds an M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine and an A.B. in biochemistry from Bowdoin College.
ABOUT PREVAIL THERAPEUTICS
Prevail Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on developing novel gene therapies for patients with Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative and lysosomal disorders. Prevail was founded by Dr. Abeliovich in 2017, together with The Silverstein Foundation for Parkinson’s with GBA, REGENXBIO and OrbiMed, and is headquartered in New York, NY.
