MALVERN, Pa., June 26, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of therapies for orphan diseases with an initial focus on cardiopulmonary disorders, today announced the appointment of Michael B. York as Vice President of Corporate Development and Commercial Strategy. Mr. York is based in PhaseBio’s San Diego, CA office.
“Michael is a highly accomplished biopharma executive with a wealth of commercial, business development and capital markets experience in multiple therapeutic areas, including orphan diseases,” said Jonathan P. Mow, Chief Executive Officer of PhaseBio. “We welcome Michael to our team and look forward to leveraging his expertise as we advance our lead program PB2452, a novel ticagrelor reversal agent, rapidly through its Phase 1/2a study, progress PB1046 into a Phase 2b trial in pulmonary arterial hypertension and explore additional opportunities.”
Mr. York joins PhaseBio from Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc., where, as Vice President, Global Business Development and Alliance Management, he led global business development activities to license Orexigen’s assets and to manage alliance partners, including overseeing transactions for 68 countries with nine multi-national and regional partners. In this role, Mr. York also supported regulatory filings, launch planning and the commercial launches of Contrave® and Mysimba™ in more than 20 key ex-U.S. markets. Prior to Orexigen, Mr. York was President and Chief Executive Officer of Senté Labs, Inc., where he led a Series C financing, built the commercial organization and launched medical skincare products.
Earlier in his career, Mr. York held roles of increasing responsibility at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, including Vice President, Specialty and Rare Disease Unit, where he led worldwide development and commercialization of Amylin’s commercial products and pipeline assets targeted at the endocrine specialty and rare disease market, and Senior Director, Finance, Investor Relations, where he developed and executed the company’s global investor relations program. Mr. York has also held leadership positions at Santarus, Inc., Amgen and AstraZeneca. He began his career at Merck & Co., Inc. He received an MBA from the University of Redlands and a B.A. in public administration and economics from San Diego State University.
“It’s a privilege to join PhaseBio, a research-driven company committed to developing products that address unmet medical needs in patients struggling with rare diseases,” said Mr. York. “I’m excited to work to expand the potential of PhaseBio’s orphan disease pipeline and build the foundation for a commercialization strategy that ensures its therapies reach patients in a quick and efficient manner.”
About PhaseBio
PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of therapies for the treatment of orphan diseases, with an initial focus on cardiopulmonary disorders. The company’s lead development candidate is PB2452, a reversal agent for the antiplatelet therapy ticagrelor. PhaseBio is also leveraging its proprietary elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) biopolymer technology platform to develop therapies with the potential for less-frequent dosing and better patient compliance. PhaseBio’s lead development candidate based on ELP, PB1046, is a first-in-class weekly vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) receptor agonist for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. PhaseBio is privately owned, with headquarters and research laboratories in Malvern, PA. For more information, please visit www.phasebio.com.
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