Arena Pharmaceuticals Expands Senior Management Team to Support Commercialization and Medical Affairs

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARNA) today announced the appointments of Robert Lisicki as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, and Paul K. Audhya, MD, MBA, as Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs. Mr. Lisicki will report to Amit D. Munshi, Arena’s President and Chief Executive Officer, and Dr. Audhya will report to Preston Klassen, MD, M.H.S., Executive Vice President, Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer. With these hires, Arena will be expanding its footprint into the Boston area.

“We believe three things are necessary to drive long-term success in a biotechnology organization: best-in-class products, sufficient capital to support the growth plan and a highly-skilled leadership team,” said Munshi. “As we continue to strategically scale our team, our objective is to identify individuals with the passion, experience and ability to rapidly advance our business. Given Robert and Paul’s extensive expertise in their respective areas of focus, we believe their appointments and the expansion into Boston significantly strengthen our ability to deliver transformational medicines to patients.”

Mr. Lisicki brings over 20 years of experience in biopharmaceutical management, sales and marketing to Arena. Mr. Lisicki most recently served as General Manager, Vice President Cardio-Metabolic and Inflammation at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to joining Regeneron, he was Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing and Chief Customer Officer at Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. Prior to Daiichi Sankyo, Mr. Lisicki held several management positions at Amgen Inc., including Vice President and General Manager, responsible for a 700+ person sales force in the U.S. His U.S. leadership experiences included such market shaping products Enbrel and Prolia. During his tenure he also covered several ex-U.S. regions, and worked as an International Franchise Lead running the development and international strategies and business plans across Amgen’s portfolio including Nephrology, Cardiology, Bone and Oncology. Prior to joining Amgen, Mr. Lisicki held various sales and marketing positions at Johnson & Johnson Corporation. Mr. Lisicki holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Business Administration from the State University of New York at Albany.

Dr. Audhya has over 20 years of clinical development and global medical affairs leadership experience across a range of therapeutic areas and disciplines, including rare disease. Most recently, he was Vice President, Global Strategy and Phase 4, Global Medical Affairs at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he led global launch and lifecycle management planning and implementation for the cystic fibrosis therapies portfolio. Prior to Vertex, Dr. Audhya was Vice President, Medical Affairs at Hospira Inc. (acquired by Pfizer) where he introduced transformational strategies for biosimilars globally and led the successful launch of the first monoclonal biosimilar in the EU. Prior to Hospira, Dr. Audhya held positions of increasing responsibility across all stages of drug development at Reata Pharmaceuticals (where he was Chief Medical Officer), Abbott Laboratories, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Janssen. Dr. Audhya holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University, an MD from New York University School of Medicine, and an MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and has authored numerous abstracts, posters, and more than 25 manuscripts.

About Arena Pharmaceuticals
Arena Pharmaceuticals is driven to deliver novel, transformational medicines with optimized pharmacology and pharmacokinetics to patients globally. Arena’s proprietary pipeline includes multiple potentially first- or best-in-class assets with broad clinical utility. Etrasimod (APD334), with potential utility in a broad range of immune and inflammatory conditions, is being evaluated in later-stage clinical programs in ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease, as well as in programs for primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and atopic dermatitis. Ralinepag (APD811) is being evaluated in a Phase 3 program for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Arena is also evaluating olorinab (APD371) in a Phase 2 program for gastrointestinal pain. Arena continues to assess other earlier research and development stage drug candidates, including APD418 for decompensated heart failure.

In addition, Arena has several partnerships including with Everest Medicines Limited (ralinepag and etrasimod in Greater China and select Asian countries), Axovant Sciences GmbH (nelotanserin - Phase 2), Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH (undisclosed target - preclinical), Outpost Medicine, LLC (undisclosed target – preclinical), and Eisai Co., Ltd. and Eisai Inc. (BELVIQ^® - marketed product).

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements may be accompanied by words such as “will,” “believe,” “objective,” “driven to,” “potentially,” “potential,” or words of similar meaning, or they may be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. Such forward-looking statements include statements about the timing and significance of Mr. Lisicki and Dr. Audhya’s appointment to the management team; Mr. Lisicki and Dr. Audhya’s experience and their expected contribution; Arena’s plans to expand its footprint in the Boston area; Arena’s ability to drive long-term success and deliver transformational medicines to patients; and Arena’s drive, focus, goals, strategy, clinical and research and development programs, and collaborations. For such statements, Arena claims the protection of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual events or results may differ materially from Arena’s expectations. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements include: the timing and outcome of research, development and regulatory review is uncertain; clinical programs may not proceed at the time or in the manner expected or at all; results of clinical trials and other studies are subject to different interpretations and may not be predictive of future results; and other risks related to developing and commercializing drugs; as well as those factors disclosed in Arena’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including but not limited to Arena’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, which was filed with the SEC on November 8, 2018. These forward-looking statements represent Arena’s judgment as of the time of this release. Arena disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements, other than as may be required under applicable law.

Corporate Contact:
Kevin R. Lind
Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Executive Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer
klind@arenapharm.com
858.210.3636

Media Contact:
Matt Middleman, M.D.
LifeSci Public Relations
matt.middleman@lifescipublicrelations.com
646.627.8384

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SOURCE Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc.