RedHill Biopharma Appoints Dr. June S. Almenoff and Ms. Theresa M. Stevens to Advisory Board
Dr. Almenoff previously served as President, Principal Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer of Furiex Pharmaceuticals (now Actavis plc)
Ms. Stevens previously served as Chief Corporate Development Officer and Senior Vice President at Aptalis Pharma (now Actavis plc)
TEL-AVIV, Israel, Feb. 17, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RedHill Biopharma Ltd. (RDHL.TA) (RDHL.TA) (“RedHill” or the “Company”), an Israeli biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on the development and commercialization of late clinical-stage, proprietary, orally-administered, small molecule drugs for inflammatory and gastrointestinal diseases, including cancer, today announced the appointment of June S. Almenoff, M.D., Ph.D. and Theresa M. Stevens, J.D., M.S. to its Advisory Board.
Dr. June Almenoff is an accomplished executive with close to twenty years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, who brings extensive knowledge of clinical development, translational medicine and business development. Dr. Almenoff recently served as President, Principal Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer of Furiex Pharmaceuticals. During her four year tenure, the company’s valuation increased approximately 10-fold, culminating in its acquisition by Forest Labs/Actavis plc. for approximately $1.2 billion in 2014. Furiex’s lead product, eluxadoline (Viberzi™), a novel gastrointestinal drug, received FDA approval in 2015. Prior to joining Furiex, Dr. Almenoff was at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), where she held positions of increasing responsibility. During her twelve years at GSK, Dr. Almenoff was a Vice President in the Clinical Safety organization, chaired a PhRMA-FDA working group and worked in the area of scientific licensing. She led the development of pioneering systems for minimizing risk in drug development which are now widely used by pharmaceutical companies and regulatory agencies. Dr. Almenoff is currently an independent biopharma consultant and Board Director: she is Executive Chair of RDD Pharma and a member of the Boards of Ohr Pharmaceuticals (OHRP) and Valanbio. She also serves as an Executive-in-Residence at Hatteras Ventures. Dr. Almenoff received her B.A. cum laude from Smith College and graduated with AOA honors from the M.D.-Ph.D. program at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. She completed post-graduate medical training at Stanford University Medical Center and served on the faculty of Duke University School of Medicine.
Theresa M. Stevens is an experienced executive with over 29 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology expertise. She brings extensive knowledge in strategy and corporate and business development. Ms. Stevens previously served as Chief Corporate Development Officer and Senior Vice President at Aptalis Pharma (now Actavis plc), leading the company’s global M&A, strategy and business development operations. During her time at Aptalis Pharma, Ms. Stevens led the acquisition of Eurand Inc. and the process leading up to the $2.9 billion acquisition of Aptalis by Forest Laboratories. Ms. Stevens previously served as Vice President U.S. Business Development & Licensing at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. and was a member of the company’s Executive Committee and its Worldwide Executive Group. Ms. Stevens currently serves as Chief Corporate Development Officer at Bioblast Pharma (ORPN).
Theresa M. Stevens, said: “I am pleased and proud to join RedHill's Advisory Board of many esteemed professionals. I look forward to lending my expertise in corporate and business development to help the Company to continue to build on its several late-stage clinical programs in the important disease categories of inflammation and GI. I am particularly excited to be joining at its near-term planned transition into a commercial stage specialty Pharma company."
Dror Ben-Asher, RedHill Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors, noted: “We are delighted to welcome June and Theresa to RedHill’s Advisory Board. Since its establishment, RedHill has been able to attract top-notch industry experts who support the Company’s vision of becoming a leading specialty company in the U.S., focused primarily on gastrointestinal and inflammatory diseases, and these appointments are no exception. With their strong track record, Theresa and June bring a wealth of knowledge and experience in clinical development, M&A and business development, particularly in leading companies targeting the U.S. gastrointestinal pharmaceutical market. I am confident that they will play a significant role on our Advisory Board as we continue to advance our clinical and commercial development plans for the coming years.”
