SUZHOU, China, Jan. 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ractigen Therapeutics, Inc. announced today that Dr. Harri Järveläinen has been appointed Chief Operating Officer of the Company.
"I am thrilled to join Ractigen as the Company prepares to initiate clinical studies in multiple indications," said Dr. Järveläinen. “With the outstanding team – deeply experienced in oligonucleotide therapeutics – and a compelling pipeline and robust operational infrastructure, I believe we have a unique opportunity to be the leaders in novel RNA modalities globally.”
In commenting on the appointment, Dr. Long-Cheng Li, Founder, President and the CEO said, "We are delighted that Dr. Järveläinen has chosen to join our organization, bringing a skill set which is entirely relevant to the long-term needs of our rapidly growing company."
Prior to joining Ractigen, Dr. Järveläinen built and transformed a San Diego -based academic startup into a clinical-stage biotech Cend Therapeutics, with the lead product CEND-1 now being tested in multiple mid-to-late-stage clinical trials. Cend was listed in Nasdaq as Lisata Therapeutics ($LSTA) in September 2022.
During his 20-year pharmaceutical industry career, Dr. Järveläinen has held various progressively senior-level roles at AstraZeneca, Nestle and Pharmaron. His track record includes more than 50 development programs, taking programs from discovery into late clinical development, leading preclinical and clinical development, manufacturing, business development, fundraising, and project management.
Dr. Järveläinen earned his Veterinary Medicine and PhD degrees from University of Helsinki and completed postdoctoral training at New York University Medical Center (New York, NY) and Max Planck Institute (Berlin, Germany). He received his MBA degree from the University of New South Wales and holds an Adjunct Professorship (Toxicology) at University of Helsinki. He is an author of >40 peer-reviewed scientific publications, patents, book chapters.
About Ractigen
Ractigen Therapeutics was founded in 2017 by pioneers of the RNAa technology including Dr. Long-Cheng Li and his longstanding colleagues Dr. Robert Place and Dr. Moorim Kang. Ractigen is a late-stage preclinical pharmaceutical company devoted to creating groundbreaking therapies based on the RNAa platform. RNAa utilizes short duplex RNAs, known as small activating RNAs (saRNA), to specifically up-regulate targeted endogenous genes for boosting therapeutic protein production. Supporting its core platform, Ractigen Therapeutics has created the SCAD delivery system allowing enhanced biodistribution throughout extrahepatic tissue and built a rich pipeline of first-in-class candidate medicines for patients with unmet genetic disorders. The Company recently completed +$50M Series A/A+ venture financing rounds with participation from reputed investors including SDIC Venture Capital, Hillhouse Venture Capital, Eisai Co., LC Ventures, CSSD Capital, Xianghe Capital, CCB Healthcare Growth Fund, Boyi Capital, and Longman Capital.
For more information, please contact:
Ractigen Therapeutics
www.ractigen.com
Email: pr@ractigen.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/10636588-b2cf-4b34-ab06-4f16c40fb65b
