Vivek Ramaswamy’s Urovant Sciences Taps Former AVANIR Exec As Its New CEO

September 18, 2017 |

3 min read

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BASEL, Switzerland, Sept. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Urovant Sciences, a global biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapies for urologic conditions, today announced the appointment of Keith A. Katkin as Chief Executive Officer.

“I am excited to build Urovant into a leading company in the field of urology,” said Mr. Katkin. “Vibegron is a promising drug with strong Phase 2 and Phase 3 data. I look forward to rapidly advancing the development of vibegron including the initiation of a confirmatory phase 3 pivotal trial in the months to come.”

“I’d like to extend a warm welcome to Keith,” said Vivek Ramaswamy, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Roivant Sciences. “His track record of building successful companies and his passion for delivering new medicines to patients makes me excited tPhoto - http://www.urovant.como see him take charge as the leader of one of our newest Vants.”

Mr. Katkin recently served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Avanir Pharmaceuticals from 2007 to 2016, where he oversaw the company’s sale to Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Mr. Katkin joined Avanir in 2005 as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing and was responsible for developing and executing the corporate strategy that led to the approval and commercialization of NUEDEXTA.

Prior to Avanir, Mr. Katkin served as Vice President, Commercial Development for Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where he played a key role in the concurrent initial public offering and sale of the company to Johnson and Johnson. Earlier in his career, Mr. Katkin held leadership roles at InterMune, Amgen, and Abbott Laboratories. Mr. Katkin earned his B.S. in Business and Accounting from Indiana University and his M.B.A. from the Anderson School at UCLA. He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant.

About Urovant Sciences

Urovant Sciences is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapies for urologic conditions. Urovant’s lead therapeutic candidate is vibegron, a potent and selective ß3-adrenergic agonist being developed for the treatment of overactive bladder with symptoms of urge urinary incontinence, urgency, and urinary frequency. Urovant has licensed global rights, excluding Japan and certain Asian territories, for the development and commercialization of vibegron (formerly MK-4618) from Merck. Urovant intends to develop treatments for additional urologic diseases. For more information, please visit urovant.com.

About Roivant Sciences

Roivant is dedicated to transformative innovation in healthcare. Roivant focuses on realizing the full potential of promising biomedical research by developing and commercializing novel therapies across diverse therapeutic areas. We partner with innovative biopharmaceutical companies and academic institutions to ensure that important medicines are rapidly developed and delivered to patients.

We advance our drug pipelines through wholly- or majority-owned subsidiary companies, including Axovant (neurology), Myovant (women’s health and endocrine diseases), Dermavant (dermatology), Enzyvant (rare diseases), and Urovant (urology). Roivant also plans to launch new companies operating outside of traditional biopharmaceutical development. Roivant’s long-range mission is to reduce the time and cost of developing and delivering new medicines for patients. For more information, please visit roivant.com.