SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MyoKardia, Inc. (Nasdaq: MYOK), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering a precision medicine approach for the treatment of heritable cardiovascular diseases, today announced the appointment of William C. Fairey as Chief Commercial Officer and Executive Vice President. Mr. Fairey will have global responsibility for oversight of all aspects of commercial operations and serve as a key member of MyoKardia’s executive leadership team.
“Bill is a leader with a strong and relevant track record in building mission-driven, high-performing teams that have brought important therapies to patients with few if any options,” said Tassos Gianakakos, Chief Executive Officer of MyoKardia. “His experience in market development, organizational growth, and commercial execution in the US and internationally make him ideally suited to lead MyoKardia’s commercial efforts. We’re excited to have a global commercial leader of Bill’s caliber join our team as we prepare for the potential launch of mavacamten for the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and advance our growing portfolio of novel therapeutics into late-stage studies.”
Mr. Fairey has nearly three decades of biopharmaceutical industry experience building and leading patient-focused and science-driven organizations. Most recently, he served as the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of ChemoCentryx, Inc., where he led the company’s commercial strategy, including the development and execution of commercialization plans for avacopan and CCX140. Prior to ChemoCentryx, Mr. Fairey held global leadership positions with Actelion Pharmaceuticals over a period of seventeen years, most recently serving as President of Actelion Pharmaceuticals U.S. Inc., overseeing more than 400 employees and $1.5 billion in net sales in 2017 before its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson for $30 billion. At Actelion US, he helped the company gain FDA approvals and launch OPSUMIT and UPTRAVI for pulmonary arterial hypertension and VALCHLOR for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.
Mr. Fairey also served as President of Actelion Canada and as Regional Vice President of Australia Asia Pacific, where he had oversight across the region, including founding Actelion’s first affiliates in China, Taiwan and Singapore. Before taking on the Canadian role, Mr. Fairey was Vice President of Sales and Managed Markets in the US, where he built Actelion’s first sales and managed markets teams and established the strategies and systems to support the launch of Actelion’s first product, TRACLEER. Before joining Actelion, Mr. Fairey held a number of commercial roles during his 12 years with Parke-Davis Pharmaceuticals US.
“I was drawn to MyoKardia’s mission, innovative scientific approach and portfolio of high-quality and wholly-owned candidates in all stages of development,” said Mr. Fairey. “MyoKardia’s portfolio of potential targeted cardiovascular therapies, including mavacamten, represent important new advances in areas that have not seen therapeutic innovation in decades. I look forward to engaging with MyoKardia’s dedicated and driven team in bringing innovative treatments to patients and families with serious cardiovascular diseases.”
Mr. Fairey holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Oregon and earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Saint Mary’s College of California.
About MyoKardia
MyoKardia is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering a precision medicine approach to discover, develop and commercialize targeted therapies for the treatment of serious and rare cardiovascular diseases. MyoKardia’s initial focus is on the development of small molecule therapeutics aimed at the cardiac muscle proteins that modulate cardiac muscle contraction and underlie diseases of systolic and diastolic dysfunction. Based on an in-depth understanding of disease biology, MyoKardia applies a precision medicine approach to develop its therapeutic candidates for patient populations with shared characteristics, such as causal genetic mutations or disease subtypes. MyoKardia’s most advanced product candidate is mavacamten (formerly MYK-461), a novel, oral, allosteric modulator of cardiac myosin intended to reduce hypercontractility. Mavacamten has advanced into a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial, known as EXPLORER-HCM in patients with symptomatic, obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). MyoKardia is also developing mavacamten in a second indication, non-obstructive HCM, in the Phase 2 MAVERICK-HCM clinical trial. MYK-491, MyoKardia’s second product candidate, is designed to increase cardiac output among patients with systolic heart dysfunction by increasing the overall extent of the heart’s cardiac contractility. MyoKardia is currently evaluating MYK-491 in a Phase 1b/2a study in stable heart failure patients.
MyoKardia’s mission is to change the world for patients with serious cardiovascular disease through bold and innovative science.
Forward-looking Statement
Statements we make in this press release may include statements which are not historical facts and are considered forward-looking within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are usually identified by the use of words such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "may," "plans," "projects," "seeks," "should," "will," and variations of such words or similar expressions. We intend these forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act and are making this statement for purposes of complying with those safe harbor provisions. These forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the clinical and therapeutic potential of mavacamten and the potential launch of mavacamten, reflect our current views about our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects, which are based on the information currently available to us and on assumptions we have made. Although we believe that our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects as reflected in or suggested by those forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that the plans, intentions, expectations or strategies will be attained or achieved. Furthermore, actual results may differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements and will be affected by a variety of risks and factors that are beyond our control including, without limitation, risks associated with the development and regulation of our product candidates, as well as those set forth in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, and our other filings with the SEC. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.