CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Areteia Therapeutics announces the appointment of Christopher Courts, CPA as Chief Financial Officer. Christopher will report to Jorge Bartolome, CEO of Areteia Therapeutics, effective immediately.
Christopher is a seasoned industry executive with over 20 years of experience in public and private life science companies. Most recently, Christopher served as Chief Financial Officer at Pebble Labs, a biotech company creating safe and effective biological solutions to sustainably protect yields and quality in food production, where he led financial operations, strategic planning, and business development.
Prior to Pebble Labs, Christopher served as CFO and founding member of Regado Biosciences’ executive team. He was responsible for the company’s finance and accounting functions, as well as raising $260M in private and public equity financings. Christopher managed the S1 process culminating with the company’s successful IPO.
“I am delighted to be welcoming another experienced member to the executive team at Areteia Therapeutics,” said Jorge Bartolome, CEO of Areteia Therapeutics. He added “Chris will play an essential role in fulfilling our company’s mission to put asthma patients in better control of their disease and lives.”
About Areteia Therapeutics
Areteia Therapeutics (areteiatx.com) is a clinical stage biotechnology company committed to putting asthma patients in better control of their disease and lives by developing the first potential oral drug for eosinophilic asthma. Areteia’s lead drug candidate is dexpramipexole, a first-in-class oral eosinophil maturation inhibitor. Areteia was created by Population Health Partners and Knopp Biosciences. A syndicate of leading life sciences and strategic investors led by Bain Capital Life Sciences with participation from Access Biotechnology, GV, ARCH Venture Partners, Saturn Partners, Sanofi, Maverick Capital, and Population Health Partners, has committed to invest up to $350 million in Series A financing to establish Areteia and advance dexpramipexole through Phase 3 clinical trials, secure commercial supply, and pursue potential next-generation medicines. Areteia will conduct late-stage development including Phase 3 clinical trials of dexpramipexole in partnership with Population Health Partners’ development unit, Validae Health.
About Dexpramipexole
Dexpramipexole is an oral small molecule in phase 3 development for eosinophilic asthma. Dexpramipexole inhibits the maturation and release of eosinophils in bone marrow, based on evidence from cell cultures and human biopsies, thereby lowering peripheral blood eosinophil levels. Most recently in a Phase 2 study in patients with moderate-to-severe eosinophilic asthma, treatment with dexpramipexole resulted in a significant, dose-dependent reduction in blood absolute eosinophil count at all doses tested (daily dexpramipexole doses of 37.5 mg, 75 mg, or 150 mg twice daily) compared to placebo. Dexpramipexole was well tolerated in the trial, with adverse events balanced across treatment and placebo groups, no serious adverse events, and no adverse events leading to discontinuation.
About Eosinophilic Asthma
Asthma disrupts the lives of more than a quarter of a billion people worldwide. More than half of asthma patients have eosinophilic asthma, which is driven by an oversupply of eosinophils, a type of white blood cell, in blood and tissue. By inhibiting the maturation of eosinophils, oral dexpramipexole acts in a way similar to injectable anti-IL-5 biologic therapies. The asthma biologic market is experiencing growth of 10% per year and is valued at around $8 billion, with IL-5 biologic therapies representing approximately $3 billion of that figure. If approved as a first-to-market oral, dexpramipexole could provide a compelling alternative to injectable biologics, and could potentially be used earlier in the asthma treatment paradigm to prevent progression of disease.
