– Mary Glanville joins as senior vice president of human capital and Christopher Aker joins as senior director of legal affairs and secretary –
LA JOLLA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulus Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company leading the discovery and development of innovative medicines targeting microRNAs, today announced the appointment of Mary Glanville as senior vice president of human capital and Christopher Aker as senior director of legal affairs and secretary.
“We continue to expand Regulus’ leadership team as the company moves into its next stage of development,” said Kleanthis G. Xanthopoulos, Ph.D., president and CEO of Regulus. “Mary brings a wealth of life science human capital experience that will be critical as we continue to grow as a leading biotechnology company while maintaining a culture dedicated to innovation. Chris’ role will be important as we continue to build our technology estate, mature our IP portfolio, and position the company for growth.”
Ms. Glanville will be responsible for leadership excellence, recruitment and retention of diverse talent, as well as aligning human capital with business needs. Before joining Regulus, she was vice president of human capital at Anadys Pharmaceuticals, where she led human resources activities for 10 years. Prior to that, Ms. Glanville served in various human resource positions at Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals and Inex Pharmaceuticals. She studied psychology at the University of Toronto and received a B.Sc. in Computer Information System Management from the DeVry Institute of Technology. Ms. Glanville received a Human Resources Management Certificate from the British Columbia Institute of Technology and received a Certified Human Resources Professional designation from the Human Resources Management Association of Canada. She is also an instructor at UCSD Extension and is on the boards of the Biotech Employee Development Coalition (BEDC) and Project Athena Foundation and is a former board member of Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM).
Mr. Aker will be responsible for all legal, corporate, and intellectual property matters for Regulus. Before joining Regulus, he was corporate counsel and senior director of administration at Phenomix, where he led legal, human resources, information technology and facilities teams. Prior to that, Mr. Aker served as general counsel at Cureline and corporate counsel at SUGEN. Previously, he was an associate with the law firm of Selman Breitman in San Francisco. Mr. Aker earned a J.D. from the Santa Clara School of Law and a B.A. in International Relations from the University of California, Davis.
About microRNAs
The discovery of microRNA in humans during the last decade is one of the most exciting scientific breakthroughs in recent history. microRNAs are small RNA molecules, typically 20 to 25 nucleotides in length, that do not encode proteins but instead regulate gene expression. More than 700 microRNAs have been identified in the human genome, and over one-third of all human genes are believed to be regulated by microRNAs. A single microRNA can regulate entire networks of genes. As such, these molecules are considered master regulators of the human genome. microRNAs have been shown to play an integral role in numerous biological processes, including the immune response, cell-cycle control, metabolism, viral replication, stem cell differentiation and human development. Most microRNAs are conserved across multiple species, indicating the evolutionary importance of these molecules as modulators of critical biological pathways. Indeed, microRNA expression, or function, has been shown to be significantly altered in many disease states, including cancer, heart failure and viral infections. Targeting microRNAs with anti-miRs, antisense oligonucleotide inhibitors of microRNAs, or miR-mimics, double-stranded oligonucleotides to replace microRNA function opens potential for a novel class of therapeutics and offers a unique approach to treating disease by modulating entire biological pathways. To learn more about microRNAs, please visit http://www.regulusrx.com/microrna/microrna-explained.php.
About Regulus Therapeutics Inc.
Regulus Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company leading the discovery and development of innovative medicines targeting microRNAs. Regulus is using a mature therapeutic platform based on technology that has been developed over 20 years and tested in more than 5,000 humans. In addition, Regulus works with a broad network of academic collaborators and leverages the oligonucleotide drug discovery and development expertise of its founding companies, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) and Isis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ISIS). Regulus is advancing microRNA therapeutics towards the clinic in several key areas including hepatitis C infection, immuno-inflammatory diseases, fibrosis, oncology, and cardiovascular/metabolic diseases. Regulus’ intellectual property estate contains both the fundamental and core patents in the field and includes over 600 patents and more than 300 pending patent applications pertaining primarily to chemical modifications of oligonucleotides targeting microRNAs for therapeutic applications. In April 2008, Regulus formed a major alliance with GlaxoSmithKline to discover and develop microRNA therapeutics for immuno-inflammatory diseases. In February 2010, Regulus and GlaxoSmithKline entered into a new collaboration to develop and commercialize microRNA therapeutics targeting microRNA-122 for the treatment of hepatitis C infection. In June 2010, Regulus and sanofi-aventis entered into the largest-to-date strategic alliance for the development of microRNA therapeutics. This alliance is focused initially on fibrosis. For more information, please visit http://www.regulusrx.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements regarding the future therapeutic and commercial potential of Regulus’ business plans, technologies and intellectual property related to microRNA therapeutics being discovered and developed by Regulus. Any statement describing Regulus’ goals, expectations, financial or other projections, intentions or beliefs is a forward-looking statement and should be considered an at-risk statement. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, particularly those inherent in the process of discovering, developing and commercializing drugs that are safe and effective for use as human therapeutics, and in the endeavor of building a business around such products. Such forward-looking statements also involve assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove correct, could cause the results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although these forward-looking statements reflect the good faith judgment of Regulus’ management, these statements are based only on facts and factors currently known by Regulus. As a result, you are cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These and other risks concerning Regulus’ programs are described in additional detail in each of Alnylam’s and Isis’ annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, and their most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q, which are on file with the SEC. Copies of these and other documents are available from either Alnylam or Isis.
CONTACT:
Regulus Therapeutics
Zachary Zimmerman, Ph.D., 858-202-6300
[email protected]
or
Russo Partners
David Schull, 212-845-4271
[email protected]
KEYWORDS: United States North America California
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Health Biotechnology Clinical Trials Pharmaceutical Other Health Research Science
MEDIA:
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