Chase Pharmaceuticals Continues to Build Its Senior Leadership Team with Appointment of Two Healthcare Industry Veterans
IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Chase Pharmaceuticals Corporation (Chase), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of improved treatments for neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, announced today the expansion of its senior management team with the appointments of Scott M. Giacobello as chief financial officer and Gary Charbonneau as senior vice president, regulatory affairs and operations. These additions bring significant industry experience to the executive bench as Chase prepares to commence its Phase 3 clinical trial later this year with CPC 201 – an innovative new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. These hires underscore the company’s commitment to address the growing urgency for significantly improved Alzheimer’s therapies through an elegant development approach that is efficient, fast and largely de-risked.
With almost 25 years of experience in finance and accounting, Scott Giacobello, a certified public accountant, is an accomplished executive with significant financial and operational expertise. Most recently, Scott served as vice president of finance for Global Research & Development at Allergan Inc., a global pharmaceutical company with franchises in Neurosciences, Urology, Ophthalmology and Medical Aesthetics. Scott’s previous experience includes financial positions at the Black & Decker Corporation and Ernst & Young, LLP. In his new position, Scott will be responsible for developing and leading the finance organization, corporate planning and investor relations. Scott will also serve as the secretary to the Chase Board of Directors.
Gary Charbonneau joins Chase with over 25 years of industry experience spanning regulatory, quality and R&D operations. Most recently Gary was vice president in charge of all international regulatory affairs for Allergan, plc, the successor company to Actavis, plc. During his 14-year tenure at Allergan, Gary led at various times global regulatory affairs, U.S. regulatory affairs, regulatory operations, and international regulatory affairs, building a world-class regulatory organization and contributing to Allergan’s key approvals over the past decade. These approvals included BOTOX® for chronic migraine, BOTOX® for upper limb spasticity, Ozurdex® for macular edema associated with retinal vein occlusion (RVO), Ozurdex® for the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DMO), Acuvail® and Lumigan® 0.01%. In his most recent role as head of international regulatory affairs, Gary’s organization achieved more than 150 worldwide approvals in 2015 alone. Previously, Gary’s experience includes significant operational roles at Amgen, Roche, Novo Nordisk and Baxter. Gary’s knowledge in navigating regulatory process with major health authorities including FDA and his understanding of development strategies will contribute greatly to Chase as the company enters its registration trial for CPC-201.
At Chase, Gary will be responsible for regulatory affairs and clinical and manufacturing operations where he will participate in regulatory and development strategy as well as managing both clinical research organization and contract manufacturing relationships as the company executes its development program.
“I could not be more delighted to welcome Scott and Gary to Chase. With its robust intellectual property, pharmaceutical assets and elegant development strategy, Chase has the opportunity to profoundly reshape the approach to the symptomatic treatment of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Douglas Ingram, chief executive officer of Chase. “We need a team of smart, passionate, experienced and creative pharmaceutical executives to achieve the vision of our founders, neurology thought leaders Drs. Tom Chase and Kathleen Clarence-Smith.”
Ingram continued, “Scott and Gary have the proven track records, enthusiasm and commitment to operational excellence that will help Chase succeed in improving the lives of millions of patients suffering from this devastating disease.”
About CPC 201
Chase’s lead candidate, CPC-201, is a patent-protected combination of donepezil (an AChEI), one of the few pharmaceuticals proven to improve cognition and behavioral symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s disease, paired with a peripherally acting cholinergic blocker. The results of a recently unblinded Phase 2 clinical trial confirm the Chase hypothesis that CPC-201 can improve AChEI tolerability by reducing major dose-limiting side effects of donepezil, allowing for the first time meaningful increases in dosing, with the goal of greatly improved efficacy.
Chase intends to enter its Phase 3 registration trial for CPC 201 in 2016. Chase is completing the final protocol, but anticipates a 24-week superiority trial comparing a once-daily dose of CPC 201 to 10 mg donepezil in approximately 700 to 800 patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease.
About Chase
Chase Pharmaceuticals Corporation is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of improved treatments for neurodegenerative disorders. Chase’s development program, if successful, will profoundly improve the symptomatic treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The company was co-founded by Thomas Chase, MD, the former Scientific Director and head of the Experimental Therapeutics Branch for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and Kathleen Clarence-Smith, MD, PhD, the former head of CNS development at each of Sanofi, Hoffmann-La Roche and Otsuka. Chase is led by its CEO and President, Douglas Ingram, formerly the President of Allergan, Inc.
Chase has closed over $24 million in funding to date, with approximately $22 million through a Series B financing led by New Rhein Healthcare Investors, LLC and including among others, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners, Cipla Ventures and Brain Trust Accelerator Fund.
®Registered marks are owned by Allergan, plc.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. These statements include projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives, intentions and expectations with respect to future financial results, events, operations, services, product development and potential, and statements regarding future performance. Forward-looking statements are generally identified by the words “expects”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “intends”, “estimates”, “plans” and similar expressions. Although Chase’s management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors are cautioned that forward-looking information and statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of Chase, that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, future clinical data and analysis, including post marketing, decisions by regulatory authorities, such as the FDA or the EMA, regarding whether and when to approve any drug, device or biological application that may be filed for any such product candidates as well as their decisions regarding labeling and other matters that could affect the availability or commercial potential of such product candidates, the absence of guarantee that the product candidates if approved will be commercially successful, the future approval and commercial success of therapeutic alternatives, Chase’s ability to benefit from external growth opportunities, the impact of cost containment policies and subsequent changes thereto, other than as required by applicable law, Chase does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements.
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