FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mirum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: MIRM) today announced the appointment of Lon Cardon, Ph.D., FMedSci, to its Board of Directors where he will also serve as a member of the Nominating and Governance Committee. Dr. Cardon brings nearly 30 years of extensive industry and academic experience in drug discovery and development.
Dr. Cardon currently serves as president and chief executive officer of The Jackson Laboratory. Prior to this role, Dr. Cardon was chief scientific officer and chief scientific strategy officer at BioMarin. Before joining BioMarin, he was a senior vice president at GlaxoSmithKline, leading departments and divisions spanning genetics, molecular biology, computational biology, statistics, and epidemiology, and ultimately leading an early-to-late pipeline division called Alternative Discovery and Development. Dr. Cardon spent the first half of his career as a senior academic in the United Kingdom and United States, initially as a professor of Bioinformatics at the University of Oxford and then as a professor of Biostatistics at the University of Washington, and as co-chair of the Herbold Bioinformatics Program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Dr. Cardon received a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado and conducted his post-doctoral research in the Department of Mathematics at Stanford University. He has been awarded a Wellcome Trust Principal Fellowship and is an elected Fellow of the U.K.’s Academy of Medical Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Concurrent with the appointment of Dr. Cardon, Carol L. Brosgart, M.D., Clinical Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, will step down from the Company’s Board of Directors and will assume a new role as Mirum’s senior advisor in science and policy. Trained as a pediatrician and in public health and preventive medicine, Dr. Brosgart has extensive clinical, clinical research, public policy, advocacy, and corporate experience having held senior management, board, and advisory positions in academia, clinical medicine, biotechnology, and public health. Dr. Brosgart also serves as an independent director on the boards of both public and privately held biotechnology companies (Galmed, Abivax, Enochian, Merlin, and Eradivir) and previously served on the boards of Tobira, Intrivo Diagnostics, and Juvaris, until their acquisitions.
“We expect Lon’s extensive experience in scientific research and pharmaceutical development to be invaluable in helping Mirum as we grow into a leader in rare disease,” said Chris Peetz, president and chief executive officer at Mirum. “We are grateful to Carol for her contributions as a board member and for her new role as an advisor, continuing to support Mirum’s work underway for rare disease patients.”
“I am thrilled to join Mirum’s board and am impressed by the company’s scientific prowess, people-focus and dedication to improving health outcomes for rare disease communities,” said Lon Cardon, Ph.D. “I look forward to contributing my experience and passion to helping families impacted by rare disease while helping guide Mirum as the company executes its global growth strategy in delivering much needed treatment options to patients.”
About Mirum Pharmaceuticals
Mirum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to transforming the treatment of rare liver diseases. Mirum’s approved medication is LIVMARLI® (maralixibat) oral solution (LIVMARLI) which is approved in the United States for the treatment of cholestatic pruritus in patients with Alagille syndrome (ALGS) one year of age and older. The European Medicines Agency has also granted marketing authorization to Mirum for LIVMARLI for the treatment of cholestatic pruritus in patients with ALGS two months of age and older.
Mirum’s late-stage pipeline includes two investigational treatments for debilitating liver diseases affecting children and adults. LIVMARLI, an oral ileal bile acid transporter (IBAT) inhibitor, is currently being evaluated in clinical trials for pediatric liver diseases and includes the EMBARK Phase 2b clinical trial for patients with biliary atresia. In addition, Mirum has an expanded access program open across multiple countries for eligible patients with ALGS and PFIC.
Mirum’s second investigational treatment, volixibat, an oral IBAT inhibitor, is being evaluated in two potentially registrational studies including the VISTAS Phase 2b clinical trial for adults with primary sclerosing cholangitis and the VANTAGE Phase 2b clinical trial for adults with primary biliary cholangitis.
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Forward-Looking Statements
Statements contained in this press release regarding matters that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include statements regarding, among other things, the benefits Dr. Cardon’s experience and Dr. Brosgart’s advisory role will have for Mirum and its board of directors, Mirum’s continued advancement of therapies for rare disease and the potential success and impacts of LIVMARLI and Mirum’s programs. Because such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Words such as "will," "anticipate," "seek," "expect," "potential," "intend" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon Mirum’s current expectations and involve assumptions that may never materialize or may prove to be incorrect. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of various risks and uncertainties, which include, without limitation, risks and uncertainties associated with Mirum’s business in general, the impact of geopolitical and macroeconomic events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and the other risks described in Mirum’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which they were made and are based on management’s assumptions and estimates as of such date. Mirum undertakes no obligation to update such statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made, except as required by law.
