CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Axcella (Nasdaq:AXLA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering a new approach to treat complex diseases and improve health using endogenous metabolic modulator (EMM) compositions, today announced the appointment of Alison D. Schecter, M.D., as the company’s President of Research and Development. In this role, Dr. Schecter will oversee all of the company’s research, product candidate design, clinical and regulatory efforts. Additionally, Manu Chakravarthy, M.D., Ph.D., has decided to step down as the company’s Chief Medical Officer to pursue another opportunity.
“We are excited to welcome Alison to Axcella and view her unique skillsets as a great match for our innovative, efficient and highly informative development model. Her impressive experience across the drug development lifecycle will be valuable as we enter late-stage development with our lead candidates and execute our pipeline expansion plans,” said Bill Hinshaw, President and Chief Executive Officer of Axcella. “On behalf of Axcella’s employees and board, I would like to extend our appreciation to Manu for his collaboration and many contributions over the past few years, culminating in the finalization of our AXA1125 IND submission and clearance of our AXA1665 IND. We wish him the very best in his new venture.”
Dr. Schecter brings more than 20 years of R&D, clinical and regulatory experience to Axcella. Previously, she served as Chief Medical Officer at Selecta Biosciences, Inc. and Global Project Head, Rare Diseases at Sanofi-Genzyme. Prior to this, Dr. Schecter was Global Program Head at Baxalta, where she was instrumental in obtaining multinational approvals for Adynovate and advancing the company’s other hemophilia candidates. Earlier, she held roles of increasing responsibility in translational medicine, cardiovascular and metabolism product innovation at the Northeast J&J Innovation Center and the Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research (NIBR). Dr. Schecter started her career in academia as Associate Professor in Immunology and Medicine and co-founder and co-director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She is a boarded cardiologist and internist who completed an Internal Medicine residency at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, a Cardiology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Research Fellowship at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Schecter earned her medical degree from SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University.
“With strong clinical data, recent regulatory milestones and a plethora of R&D opportunities afforded by its unique platform, I could not be more excited to take on this role at Axcella,” said Dr. Schecter. “I am looking forward to working with the team as we strive to improve the lives of patients with complex diseases utilizing novel EMM compositions.”
Dr. Chakravarthy said, “My time at Axcella has been extremely gratifying as we were able to pioneer a new class of multi-targeted therapeutic candidates, demonstrate their potential, replicate our findings in multiple clinical studies, and advance two liver disease candidates into Phase 2/2b trials within four years of their design. It has been a privilege to be a part of this organization, and I am looking forward to helping ensure a smooth transition as Axcella enters its next exciting phase of development.”
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About Axcella
Axcella is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering a new approach to treat complex diseases and improve health using endogenous metabolic modulator (EMM) compositions. The company’s product candidates are comprised of EMMs and their derivatives that are engineered in distinct combinations and ratios to simultaneously impact multiple biological pathways. Axcella’s pipeline includes lead therapeutic candidates for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and the reduction in risk of overt hepatic encephalopathy (OHE) recurrence. For more information, please visit www.axcellahealth.com.
