SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: ACAD) today announced that Thomas Andrew Garner has been appointed Chief Commercial Officer, effective today. Mr. Garner will spearhead Acadia's commercial strategy and operations, driving the Company's plans for sustained growth and expansion of its product portfolio and pipeline across U.S. and international markets. Mr. Garner will report to Catherine Owen Adams, Acadia’s CEO, and serve on the executive leadership team.
“Tom is an accomplished commercial executive with a demonstrated history of driving brand growth across a wide range of therapeutic areas and global businesses,” said Catherine Owen Adams, CEO. “His experience includes a breadth of successful brand launches, including those in neuropsychiatric and rare cardiac diseases. We are thrilled to welcome him into this pivotal commercial leadership role as we continue our launch of DAYBUE™ in the US, while also preparing for launches outside the U.S and building a strong foundation for the potential introduction of new therapies in the future.”
“I am honored to join Acadia in a commercial leadership role that aligns seamlessly with my experience,” said Tom Garner. “Acadia has two exceptional franchises in NUPLAZID® and DAYBUE, both with significant growth potential, as well as an impressive pipeline that has strong commercial potential. I am particularly enthusiastic about the opportunity to launch and grow our innovative therapies in rare diseases and CNS in the coming years.”
Mr. Garner joins Acadia with more than 25 years of commercial experience in the pharmaceutical industry including roles in sales, marketing, medical affairs, pricing and access, and leadership of business and commercial units. Most recently he served as senior vice president and chief commercial officer at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc, where he was responsible for the relaunch of INPEFA (sotagliflozin) in addition to developing commercial and business development strategies for the rest of their product portfolio. Mr. Garner was at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) from 2002 through 2023 where he held positions of increasing seniority. During his tenure he served a wide range of roles across BMS’ national and global commercial organizations spanning various brands and therapeutic areas. Mr. Garner served as the senior vice president and head of the U.S. Cardiovascular and Established Brands business unit, the largest business unit across the BMS enterprise with reported total revenues in excess of $10 billion. In this role, he was responsible for key brands including ELIQUIS® (apixaban), and CAMZYOS® (mavacamten), in addition to BMS’ established brands portfolio. Prior to this, Mr. Garner was the global commercial lead for BMS’ lung and head and neck cancer programs, where he led the successful 1L NSCLC global launches of OPDIVO® (nivolumab) and YERVOY® (ipilimumab). Before moving to the United States in 2015, Mr. Garner was the General Manager for BMS Denmark. He began his career in the United Kingdom with roles of increasing seniority at Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly. Mr. Garner holds a BSc (Honors) degree from the Royal Agricultural University in the United Kingdom and a certification in General Management from INSEAD in France.
In addition, the Company announced that Holly Valdiviez has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Neuropsychiatric Franchise. With this promotion Ms. Valdiviez will continue her leadership for both sales and marketing of NUPLAZID. Ms. Valdiviez will report to Mr. Garner.
About Acadia Pharmaceuticals
Acadia is advancing breakthroughs in neuroscience to elevate life. Since our founding we have been working at the forefront of healthcare to bring vital solutions to people who need them most. We developed and commercialized the first and only FDA-approved drug to treat hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson’s disease psychosis and the first and only approved drug in the United States and Canada for the treatment of Rett syndrome. Our clinical-stage development efforts are focused on Prader-Willi syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease psychosis and multiple other programs targeting neuropsychiatric symptoms in central nervous system disorders. For more information, visit us at Acadia.com and follow us on LinkedIn and X.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include all statements other than statements of historical fact and can be identified by terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “projects,” “predicts,” “potential” and similar expressions (including the negative thereof) intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release, include, but are not limited to, statements about our business strategy, objectives and opportunities, including our impact on the treatment of central nervous system disorders and rare diseases and the growth and expansion of our product portfolio and pipeline in the U.S. and international markets. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied by our forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to: our dependency on the continued successful commercialization of NUPLAZID® and DAYBUE™ and our ability to maintain or increase sales of NUPLAZID or DAYBUE; our plans to commercialize DAYBUE outside the U.S.; the costs of our commercialization plans and development programs, and the financial impact or revenues from any commercialization we undertake; our ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals for our product candidates and, if and when approved, market acceptance of our products; the risks associated with clinical trials and their outcomes, including risks of unsuccessful enrollment and negative or inconsistent results; our dependence on third-party collaborators, clinical research organizations, manufacturers, suppliers and distributors; the impact of competitive products and therapies; our ability to generate or obtain the necessary capital to fund our operations; our ability to grow, equip and train our specialized sales forces; our ability to manage the growth and complexity of our organization; our ability to maintain, protect and enhance our intellectual property; and our ability to continue to stay in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Given the risks and uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. For a discussion of these and other risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ, please refer to our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2024 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 7, 2024, as well as our subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. The forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update them after this date, except as required by law.
