Apogee Therapeutics Strengthens Team with Appointments of Industry Leaders to Board of Directors and Management

June 22, 2023 |

5 min read

Apogee Therapeutics announced the appointments of Jennifer Fox and William “BJ” Jones, seasoned executives in the biotechnology industry, to its board of directors.

SAN FRANCISCO & WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Apogee Therapeutics, a biotechnology company advancing differentiated biologics for the treatment of atopic dermatitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and related inflammatory and immunology indications, today announced the appointments of Jennifer Fox and William “BJ” Jones, seasoned executives in the biotechnology industry, to its board of directors. Ms. Fox will also serve as chair of the company’s audit committee. Additionally, Apogee announced the appointment of Rebecca Dabora, Ph.D., an expert in chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC), as chief technology officer.

“We are thrilled to further strengthen the Apogee team with the appointments of both Jennifer and BJ to our board of directors and Becky to our senior management team, and to leverage their respective expertise in the industry,” said Michael Henderson, M.D., chief executive officer of Apogee. “Jennifer’s impressive track record as a leader in health care investment banking advising clients on corporate strategy, M&A, business development and financing strategies and her current role as a CFO at a public biotech company will be invaluable as we seek to grow and evolve the company in the near and longer term. BJ’s deep commercial expertise and extensive experience in rapidly building large organizations and bringing innovative medicines into commercialization will be important, particularly as we advance our two most advanced programs, APG777 initially for atopic dermatitis and APG808 initially for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, into and through clinical development. Becky brings more than 30 years of biopharmaceutical manufacturing experience at all stages of development including commercial stage to our senior management team, which will be pivotal as we both enter and advance through clinical trials. We look forward to benefiting from their insights and their collaboration with the broader Apogee team.”

Jennifer Fox is an expert in biopharmaceutical corporate strategy, finance and business development. She serves as chief financial officer of Nuvation Bio and a member of Nuvation Bio’s Executive Committee. Before joining Nuvation Bio, Ms. Fox spent more than 25 years as a healthcare investment banker advising biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in financing and strategic transactions. Most recently, Ms. Fox was a managing director and co-head of Healthcare Corporate and Investment Banking Group at Citigroup, and before that, she held senior positions in investment banking at Deutsche Bank, Bear Stearns, Bank of America and Prudential Securities. Ms. Fox currently serves on the board of directors and as chair of the audit committee of ProKidney Corp. and on the board of directors of Life Science Cares. She previously served on the board of directors of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Ms. Fox holds B.S. degrees in finance and marketing from Manhattan College.

William “BJ” Jones has more than 25 years of commercial experience in the healthcare industry and most recently, served as the chief commercial officer, migraine & common diseases at Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Pfizer for $11.6 billion, and then was responsible for the company’s commercial integration. Mr. Jones has held executive leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Boehringer-Ingelheim and NitroMed. He has significant experience in large market product launches, including Nurtec® ODT, Abilify®, Farxiga®, Pradaxa®, BiDil® and Excedrin Migraine®. Mr. Jones has successfully built and led diverse commercial teams committed to addressing unmet patient needs across various therapeutic areas, including neuroscience (migraine, schizophrenia, bipolar and depression), cardiovascular (congestive heart failure and atrial fibrillation), diabetes (type 2 - oral and injectable), respiratory, gastrointestinal and infectious disease. Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, Mr. Jones served eight years in the U.S. Air Force and earned the rank of Major. He holds a B.S. in human factors engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy, an M.Sc. in industrial engineering from Texas A&M University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Rebecca Dabora, Ph.D. brings more than 30 years of CMC expertise to Apogee, with deep experience in the development of clinical and commercial-stage biopharmaceutical products. Dr. Dabora has served in executive roles leading the technical operations function for several companies, including Invivyd, Aspyrian Therapeutics, SwanBio Therapeutics and others. Her industry affiliations also include positions at Merck & Co. and at Biogen, Inc. in process development. While at Biogen, Dr. Dabora played a key role in the commercialization of Avonex®. In addition to her industry experience, Dr. Dabora was an independent consultant providing CMC strategic, technical, operational, and regulatory support, including CDMO selection and management. Over the course of her career, she has worked for more than 90 companies on the development or commercialization of over 140 biopharmaceutical products encompassing a diverse range of technologies and manufacturing platforms. Dr. Dabora received her B.A. in biochemistry from Bowdoin College and her Ph.D. from MIT in biochemical engineering.

About Apogee

Apogee Therapeutics is a biotechnology company seeking to develop differentiated biologics for the treatment of atopic dermatitis (AD), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other inflammatory and immunology indications with high unmet need. Apogee’s antibody programs are designed to overcome limitations of existing therapies by targeting well-established mechanisms of action and incorporating advanced antibody engineering to optimize half-life and other properties. The company’s two most advanced programs are APG777 and APG808, which are being initially developed for the treatment of AD and COPD, respectively. Based on a broad pipeline and depth of expertise, the company believes it can deliver value and meaningful benefit to patients underserved by today’s standard of care.