SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 22, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Elevar Therapeutics, Inc., a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company dedicated to elevating treatment experiences and outcomes for patients who have limited or inadequate therapeutic options, today announced the appointment of Wade Smith as chief financial officer. Smith enters the role after serving as Elevar’s vice president of finance since January.
With more than 20 years’ experience as a financial executive, Smith joined Elevar after spending the previous decade at Viatris (formerly Mylan Pharmaceuticals), a global health care company working in a broad range of therapeutic areas. He was Viatris’s head of U.S. institutional commercial/finance from 2017-2022, functioning as the chief operating officer and CFO for the $1 billion+ division.
Over the past eight months, Smith led Elevar’s accounting and financial planning teams to prepare for commercialization of its drug pipeline, while collaborating with the company’s executives on raising capital. He also developed a team to implement internal controls and testing, improve financial analysis and move the company to an enterprise resource planning environment.
“In his brief Elevar tenure, Wade Smith has demonstrated a deep understanding of the drug development industry’s financial complexities as well as the leadership skills required to serve as our chief financial officer,” said Dr. Saeho Chong, chief executive officer of Elevar. “He is greatly experienced in the financial intricacies of product development and therefore a vital part of our mission to grow our company and bring new treatment options to patients with unmet needs.”
Smith developed a go-to-market strategy for more than 100 new products at Viatris, overseeing launch pricing, customer contracting, managed care engagement and sales targeting. He was previously director of global accounting and financial reporting for Taggart Global USA, LLC, a multinational engineering and construction company.
Smith has an active CPA license in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting from California University of Pennsylvania.
About Elevar Therapeutics
Elevar Therapeutics is a rapidly growing, fully integrated biopharmaceutical company built on the promise of elevating treatment experiences and outcomes for patients who have limited or inadequate therapeutic options. Elevar’s lead proprietary drug candidates include rivoceranib (apatinib) and Apealea® (paclitaxel micellar). Rivoceranib is the first small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) to be approved in gastric cancer (China, Dec 2014). It has been granted Orphan Drug designation in the U.S., Europe and South Korea and has been clinically tested in over 1,000 patients worldwide in numerous cancer indications. Apealea® (paclitaxel micellar) is a non-Cremophor EL based formulation of paclitaxel that received marketing authorization by the European Commission in November 2018, making it Europe’s first non-Cremophor EL formulation of paclitaxel approved for use in ovarian cancer. Elevar Therapeutics has offices in Utah, California and South Korea, and additional information is available at www.elevartherapeutics.com.
