Pittsburgh, March 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cognition Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage neuroscience company focused on the protection and restoration of synaptic function in neurodegenerative diseases and disorders caused by membrane trafficking dysfunction, today announced the appointment of Lisa Ricciardi to its Board of Directors. Ms. Ricciardi is a life sciences executive with broad industry experience, having served at large pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, payors and venture-capital firms. She is currently CEO of Suono Bio, a life sciences company based on technology from MIT.
President and CEO Kenneth I. Moch, stated, “Lisa is a highly respected and highly experienced life sciences executive with significant development and commercialization expertise. Her strategic approach to company operations and transactions will serve us well as we continue to evolve Cognition and advance Elayta™ through its Phase 2 program.”
“Lisa’s unique insights, gained during a career bridging finance and drug development, will be especially valuable as we move into more advanced stages of development and grow as a company,” added Robert Gailus, chairman of Cognition Therapeutics’ Board of Directors.
Prior to joining Suono Bio, Ms. Ricciardi was SVP of global corporate and business development at Foundation Medicine, where she negotiated transactions with biopharma, research centers and health systems, including a $1.03 billion transformational agreement with Roche. As SVP of U.S. and international business development at Express Scripts, Ms. Ricciardi was involved in small to multi-billion-dollar deals with CROs, oncology services, onsite clinics and lab services. In 2012, she brokered the $29 billion acquisition of Medco by Express Scripts and led the organization’s transition support team. At Pfizer, she oversaw the global licensing and development division, where she completed numerous global R&D and commercial collaborations for both late-stage and early-stage assets. At Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, Ms. Ricciardi provided marketing and commercialization expertise to portfolio companies, and identified and evaluated potential investments.
Ms. Ricciardi currently serves on the Board of Directors of United Drug Healthcare Group, a Dublin-based pharmaceutical outsourced supplier. Ms. Ricciardi earned a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude in English and religion from Wesleyan University and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Management.
Ms. Ricciardi commented, “I have been impressed by Cognition’s focus, passion and innovative path to advance Elayta as a potential new medicine for Alzheimer's disease. I truly look forward to helping Cognition plan its course forward as it accelerates the development of Elayta.”
About Cognition Therapeutics, Inc.
Cognition Therapeutics is a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing proprietary small-molecule therapeutics to treat neurodegenerative diseases caused by membrane trafficking dysfunction. Cognition’s drug candidates may halt the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other disorders that occur when toxic oligomeric proteins interrupt critical cellular pathways in the brain.
Cognition’s lead candidate, Elayta™, is a novel first-in-class, orally available small molecule that in initial clinical studies has shown the potential to normalize protein trafficking and lipid metabolism pathways that are disrupted in Alzheimer’s disease and allow the protection and restoration of synapses. Elayta is currently being tested for the treatment of mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease in three Phase 2 clinical studies: SPARC (Synaptic Protection for Alzheimer’s Restoration of Cognition), SNAP (AβO Displacement from Synapses on Neurons in Alzheimer’s Patients) and SHINE (Synaptic Health and Improvement of Neurological Function with Elayta). These studies are supported by grants (award numbers RF1AG057780, RF1AG057553 and R01AG058660) from the National Institute on Aging of the NIH. Elayta has been granted Fast Track designation by the U.S. FDA.
Elayta and Cognition’s other pipeline candidates were identified using the company’s disease-relevant screening and novel chemistry platforms. Additional information about Cognition and its product candidates may be found online at http://www.cogrx.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” concerning the development and commercialization of Cognition’s products, the potential benefits and attributes of such products, and Cognition’s expectations regarding its prospects. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual future events or results to differ materially from such statements. These statements are made as of the date of this press release. Actual results may vary. Cognition undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements for any reason.