WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--KeifeRx, an emerging clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company specializing in the discovery and development of new treatment options for neurodegenerative and immune diseases, announces the appointments of Dan Feehan and Alison Finger to its Board of Directors. Mr. Feehan and Ms. Finger’s diverse expertise and experience enhance KeifeRx’s ability to develop its expanding pipeline of novel kinase inhibitors for the treatment of neurodegenerative, neuroinflammatory, and mast cell-associated diseases.
KeifeRx is currently conducting optimizing and IND-enabling studies involving four separate formulations – KFRX03, KFRX04, KFRX05, and KFRX06 – with patent life through 2037. Early-stage clinical trials conducted at Georgetown University, along with compelling preclinical research conducted at the university led by KeifeRx’s co-founder, Charbel Moussa, MBBS, Ph.D., and colleagues, demonstrated the ability of kinase inhibitors to penetrate the brain, induce autophagy, and enable the bulk disposal of disease-causing toxic proteins to treat neurodegenerative diseases, as well as the ability to target mast cells and simultaneously modulate peripheral and central immunity, providing therapeutic potential for an array of immune diseases.
“On behalf of KeifeRx, I welcome Dan and Alison to our board of directors and look forward to their contributions as we advance our pipeline of new chemical entity kinase inhibitors across a range of significantly unmet and underserved indications, including Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy Body Dementia, ALS, mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and urticaria,” said Chris Hoyt, Chief Executive Officer of KeifeRx. “With our recently expanded licensing agreement with Georgetown University, we are optimally positioned to advance a portfolio of high-value, patent-protected drug products targeting disease classes, including neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory, where innovation is desperately needed, and market demand is robust.”
Mr. Feehan, who is currently the Chief Operating Officer, Workforce Screening at Vault Health, served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in charge of Readiness for the Department of Defense. As a Captain in the U.S. Army, he served two combat deployments to Operation Iraqi Freedom as an Engineer and a Scout/Sniper Platoon Leader. Feehan was also a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, worked as a middle school teacher through Teach for America, and was a White House Fellow under President Obama. Mr. Feehan earned his master’s in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School and his B.A. in Science of Foreign Policy from Georgetown University.
Ms. Finger, the Principal at Auburn House Consulting, LLC, serves on the Board of ADMA Biologics, Inc. and is an Advisor at Quantile Health. She previously held Board positions at Decibel Therapeutics, Vascular Biogenics and served as Chief Commercial Officer at Bluebird Bio. Ms. Finger also spent over two decades at Bristol-Myers Squibb serving as Vice President of Global Commercialization for Virology, Hematology and the Alzheimer’s Disease and Neuroscience programs in addition to her role as Managing Director of Australia and New Zealand. Ms. Finger earned her MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a B.A. in English from St. Lawrence University.
About KeifeRx
KeifeRx is an emerging clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a portfolio of novel and optimized, low-dose, orally-delivered kinase inhibitors for the treatment of multiple, high-need neurodegenerative and immune diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Lewy Body Dementia. KeifeRx’s diverse pipeline of early- and late-stage products leverages mechanisms of action inherent to kinase inhibitors which thus far have been underexplored. This includes the ability to penetrate the brain, induce autophagy, and enable the bulk disposal of disease-causing toxic proteins to treat neurodegenerative diseases. Georgetown University owns several issued patents and pending patent applications on the underlying technology related to the use of kinase inhibitors for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases with KeifeRx co-founder Charbel Moussa, MBBS, Ph.D., named as one of three inventors. KeifeRx has an exclusive license to intellectual property from Georgetown University. For more information on KeifeRx, please visit https://www.keiferx.com.
