CinCor Pharma Announces Appointments of Three Experienced Independent Members to Its Board of Directors

• Experienced biopharmaceutical executive, John F. Thero, Chief Executive Officer of Amarin Corporation PLC, a commercial-stage cardiovascular company
   
• Seasoned biopharmaceutical finance executive, Troy Ignelzi, Chief Financial Officer of Karuna Therapeutics, a clinical-stage neuroscience company
   
• Experienced biopharmaceutical executive, Marc de Garidel, former Chief Executive Officer of Corvidia Therapeutics, Chairman and former Chief Executive Officer of Ipsen Group

CINCINNATI, May 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CinCor Pharma, Inc. (“CinCor”) announced today that it has appointed three independent members to its Board of Directors, John F. Thero, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Amarin Corporation PLC, a commercial-stage cardiovascular company, Troy Ignelzi, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Karuna Therapeutics, a clinical stage neuroscience company and Marc de Garidel, former CEO of Corvidia Therapeutics, Chairman and former CEO of Ipsen Group. The appointments bring the number of independent directors to four on the eight-member Board.

“We are making significant and rapid progress with our clinical program for CIN-107, our selective aldosterone synthase inhibitor, in Phase 2 development for treatment resistant hypertension and other indications,” said James Healy, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman of CinCor’s Board of Directors. “Bringing three veterans of the biopharmaceutical industry, one, John, who has developed and launched a cardiovascular disease product, the second, Troy, who has worked on the transitions from private to public with multiple biotechnology companies, and Marc, who has been CEO of several biopharmaceutical companies at different stages of development, will provide invaluable expertise as CinCor matures as a biopharmaceutical company. I, with the rest of the Board and management team welcome John, Troy and Marc to CinCor.”

Mr. Thero has more than 30 years of senior financial and operational management experience, including more than 20 years supporting the growth of life science companies. From 2009 until his announced retirement in August 2021, Mr. Thero has been an executive officer of Amarin Corporation PLC including its President since 2010 and its CEO and a member of its Board of Directors since 2014. During his tenure at Amarin, he helped successfully lead the company through clinical development, global regulatory approvals and commercialization of VASCEPA®, its innovative cardiovascular drug. Prior to Amarin, Mr. Thero served as CFO at ViaCell, Inc., where he helped guide the company to its sale to PerkinElmer, and Abiomed, Inc., where he held multiple positions, including Senior Vice President of Business Operations and CFO. Mr. Thero began his professional career at Arthur Andersen LLP. He also currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Chiasma, Inc. He received a B.A. in Economics and Accounting from The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. In 2019, Mr. Thero was named Ernst & Young LLP Entrepreneur of the Year for Life Sciences.

“With a few exceptions, there has been a lack of innovative new treatments for many cardiovascular diseases that remain public health issues,” said Mr. Thero. “CIN-107, which employs a new mechanism of action to address treatment resistant hypertension and other conditions could help address a major unmet medical need while bringing further energy to the field. Having served as CEO of one of the few companies to recently innovate in preventing complications from cardiovascular risks, I look forward to advising CinCor in the development of their potentially breakthrough product candidate.”

Mr. Ignelzi has extensive experience managing emerging biopharmaceutical company finances including raising capital and managing the initial public offering (IPO) process. He currently serves as the CFO of Karuna Therapeutics, where he is responsible for all aspects of finance and business planning to support the Company’s R&D and late-stage clinical programs. In this role, Mr. Ignelzi has led Karuna’s private and public financings, including its IPO and follow-ons, and developed the financial infrastructure required for a public company. Before joining Karuna, Mr. Ignelzi was similarly successful at two other emerging biopharmaceutical companies, Esperion Therapeutics and scPharmaceuticals, where he led multiple private and public financings, including each companies’ IPO, and developed the financial infrastructure and development strategies to support a public company and ensure long-term financial health. Earlier in his career, Mr. Ignelzi served in a variety of positions, including finance, business development and strategic planning, at Pharmalex, scPharmaceuticals, and Insys Therapeutics, as well as sales at Eli Lilly & Co. He earned his B.S. in Accounting at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich.

“The rapid development of CinCor’s lead asset, CIN-107, requires the company to initiate more aggressive strategic financial planning to support the ongoing and future development efforts,” said Mr. Ignelzi. “I look forward to contributing my expertise in financial planning and corporate development and working alongside the board and management team to determine the best approach to its future capital requirements.”

Mr. de Garidel is a highly experienced biopharmaceutical senior executive who has served as CEO for several biopharmaceutical companies at different stages of development. Mr. de Garidel has served as CEO of Corvidia Therapeutics from early 2018, a company developing a treatment to reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events in patients with kidney disease, until its acquisition by Novo Nordisk in 2020. He is currently Chairman of Ipsen Group, a public European pharmaceutical company developing and marketing products in several therapeutic areas. Before becoming a full-time Chairman of Ipsen, he was Chairman and CEO from 2010 to 2016. Earlier in his career, Marc played a key role in the development of Amgen in Europe, which he left as regional Vice President. Marc serves on the board of biotech companies including AZTherapies and Claris Bio. He earned a Master of International Management at Thunderbird School of Global Management and attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

“CinCor’s CIN-107 is on a fast track toward bringing a new therapy to a still important therapeutic area in need of pharmaceutical innovation,” said Mr. de Garidel. “I look forward to working with management and my Board colleagues to advance this asset through clinical development as expeditiously as possible and get this potential therapy to patients who could benefit from it.”

About CinCor
CinCor, founded in 2019, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a mission to bring innovation to the pharmaceutical treatment of cardiovascular disease. It’s lead asset, CIN-107, a first -in-class aldosterone synthase inhibitor, is in clinical development for the treatment of treatment resistant hypertension and primary aldosteronism. CinCor completed a $50 million Series A financing in 2019 and is financed by Sofinnova Investments, Sofinnova Partners, and 5AM Ventures.

About CIN-107
CIN-107 works through the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), which is responsible for regulating the body's fluid and electrolyte balance. CIN-107 is a highly selective aldosterone synthase inhibitor being developed for large unmet medical needs, including resistant hypertension and primary aldosteronism. Hypertension guidelines were changed in 2017 by the Joint National Committee (JNC) based on overwhelming data demonstrating that reducing blood pressures to less than 130/80 mmHg reduced the risk of cardiac events, particularly heart attacks and stroke. With this target blood pressure, approximately 17% of the hypertensive population do not achieve goal levels despite the use of combinations of blood pressure lowering medications and are considered treatment resistant. Data have shown the risk of MI, stroke, and death in adults with resistant hypertension to be 2- to 6-fold higher than in hypertensive adults who achieve goal levels.

Contacts:

Investors:
Lee Roth
212-213-0006, ext. 331
lroth@burnsmc.com

Media:
Ryo Imai / Robert Flamm, Ph.D.
212-213-0006 ext. 315 / 364
rimai@burnsmc.com / rflamm@burnsmc.com