- New Chief Operating Officer position has full accountability for taking the lead in building out novel go-to-market model, commercial capabilities and operational plans for ITCA 650.
- As COO, Mr. Williams will drive the infrastructure, talent, teams and capabilities needed to launch ITCA 650 and open up a new commercialization path to deliver innovative medicines.
- Mr. Williams also will play a key role as Intarcia builds out and supports additional once-yearly products with its proprietary technologies in diabetes and other chronic diseases, where lack of effectiveness, compliance and adherence lead to poor patient outcomes.
BOSTON, May 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc. today announced the appointment of Michael Williams into the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer (COO). Mr. Williams is a senior pharmaceutical executive with world-class experience – most recently at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, but also long and distinguished service at industry leaders such as Pfizer and Bristol Myers Squibb. His expertise spans a broad range of therapeutic areas, including: cardiovascular, metabolic, oncology, neuroscience, gastrointestinal, pain, allergy and respiratory, infectious disease and women's health. Mr. Williams will report directly to Kurt Graves, Intarcia's Chairman, President and CEO, and will be a member of the Leadership Team. He will have full accountability, in cooperation with the Executive Team, for building out the commercial capabilities and operational plans for ITCA 650 (a once- or twice-yearly continuous subcutaneous delivery of exenatide), Intarcia's late-stage development candidate for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
"Michael's appointment culminates an in-depth search for a remarkable talent in the commercial sector of the biopharmaceutical industry – someone with demonstrated success doing very novel things and leveraging them to make transformational customer and business impact," said Kurt Graves. "Michael is also someone who has a proven track record as an exemplar of our core values at Intarcia: Being trustworthy, tenacious, focused on winning, innovative, caring, and excellence-driven. After considering numerous highly qualified candidates, Michael became our clear choice. I'm really excited to welcome Michael to our Company, especially at this vitally important point in our evolution toward becoming a fully integrated Biotech company".
Commenting on his new appointment, Mr. Williams said: "The scale of contribution possible here is a once-in-a-career opportunity that involves everything I find exciting and fulfilling about working in the pharmaceutical industry. The more I learned about what needs to happen at Intarcia to deliver the results we now know are possible for people living with diabetes, the more irresistible it became. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to focus all of my energy on the commercialization of ITCA 650 and the equally promising pipeline. Intarcia can and will grow into a competitive force with which to be reckoned. Above all, we will be known as the company that works in partnership with all of our customers to explore new approaches and solutions that will improve the lives of everyone impacted by chronic illnesses such as diabetes," added Williams.
Prior to joining Intarcia, Mr. Williams was Head of Global Marketing for Takeda Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for establishing Takeda's first Global Marketing organization that included Global Market Access, Customer Insights and Global Brand Management. Of particular note, Michael and his team were responsible for the successful launch of Entyvio (vedolizumab), Takeda's first global brand, for the treatment of moderately to severe active ulcerative colitis and moderately to severe active Crohn's disease.
Mr. Williams worked at Pfizer from 2006 to 2012, prior to joining Takeda. His most recent position at Pfizer was Vice President, Global Commercial Development, Strategy and Innovation – Primary Care, where he was instrumental in transforming commercial input into clinical development programs in the Primary Care Business Unit, as well as improving the performance of in-line brands such as Lyrica, Spiriva and Chantix. Before Pfizer, Mr. Williams held various roles of escalating responsibility at Bristol-Myers Squibb from 1993-2006. These included positions at BMS' EMEA headquarters in Paris as the Vice President for European Marketing & Operations, in Malaysia and in the United States.
Earlier in his career Mr. Williams held positions at British Telecom and Texas Instruments. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from University College North Wales. He completed postgraduate research in psychology at the University of Reading.
About Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc.
Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc. is an independent, privately held, biopharmaceutical company developing therapies to enhance treatment outcomes by optimizing and improving the efficacy, continuous administration and tolerability of drug therapies. In addition, delivering medicines just once- or twice-yearly has the potential to ensure improved patient adherence and compliance, which is very poor in most chronic diseases. Intarcia's drug development expertise and competitive edge are demonstrated by its abilities to stabilize proteins and peptides at above-body temperature and to deliver them in a constant and consistent manner via Intarcia's proprietary technology platform. Intarcia is conducting a phase 3-stage development program for type 2 diabetes that consists of four separate clinical trials, two of which have been completed. Intarcia continues to conduct research and development, utilizing its platform technology, to treat other chronic serious disorders in the field of diabetes, obesity and autoimmune diseases. For more information about Intarcia, please visit www.intarcia.com.
About ITCA 650
ITCA 650 (a once- or twice-yearly continuous subcutaneous delivery of exenatide) is being developed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The investigational therapy employs Intarcia's proprietary technology platform involving a matchstick-size, miniature osmotic pump that is placed sub-dermally to provide continuous and consistent drug therapy, and the company's proprietary formulation technology, which maintains stability of therapeutic proteins and peptides at human body temperatures for extended periods of time. Exenatide, the active agent in ITCA 650, is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist currently marketed globally as twice-daily and once-weekly self-injection therapies for type 2 diabetes. Upon approval, ITCA 650 would represent the first injection-free GLP-1 therapy that can deliver up to a full year of treatment from a single placement. ITCA 650 is currently in a global phase 3 clinical trial program called FREEDOM.
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