CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, a privately-held pharmaceutical company focused on disease-modifying treatments for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and other neurodegenerative diseases, today announced the election of Nobel Laureate and former Biogen CEO Walter Gilbert, PhD, to the company’s board of directors.
“Dr. Gilbert brings an enormous breadth of experience as a scientist, biotech founder, and executive,” said Justin Klee, Co-founder and President of Amylyx. “We are honored that he will join our efforts to advance AMX0035 for the treatment of ALS, which will be tested in an initial clinical trial in patients later this year.”
Dr. Gilbert has led an illustrious and multi-faceted career that spans industry and academia. Dr. Gilbert co-founded Biogen and served both as its CEO as well as the Chairman of the Board of Directors from 1981 to 1985; during this period he conducted its initial public offering. Subsequently he co-founded several other life sciences companies including Myriad Genetics, where he continues to serve as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors. His 40-year academic career at Harvard University was marked by many discoveries in the fields of molecular biology and genetics, including the development of a rapid method of DNA sequencing for which received the 1980 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He is currently the Carl M. Loeb University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University.
“Amylyx has assembled an outstanding team that is advancing an innovative approach to ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases,” said Dr. Gilbert. “There is a strong foundation for AMX0035’s clinical development in ALS based on early data from clinical studies of the product’s components and the synergistic activity demonstrated in the company’s preclinical studies. I am excited to help bring this promising therapeutic to patients.”
About Amylyx Pharmaceuticals
Amylyx is developing a novel
therapeutic for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and other
neurodegenerative diseases that targets the neuroinflammation and nerve
cell death that characterize these disorders. The company’s therapeutic,
AMX0035, is a proprietary, fixed-dose combination therapy that blocks
nerve cell death and neurotoxic inflammation. AMX0035 is expected to
enter clinical trials in ALS patients in 2016. Learn more at: www.amylyx.com.
About ALS
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS, is the most
prevalent, adult-onset progressive motor neuron disease, affecting
approximately 30,000 people in the US and an estimated 450,000 people
worldwide. ALS causes the progressive degeneration of motor neurons,
resulting in rapidly progressing muscle weakness and atrophy that
eventually leads to partial or total paralysis; on average the disease
is fatal within just four years. There is just one medicine approved
specifically for treating ALS, riluzole, and it only extends survival
marginally.
Forward Looking Statements
Some statements in this press
release are not historical facts and constitute “forward-looking
statements” as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995 that are based on current expectations of Amylyx management.
Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual future results to differ materially from those
expressed or implied by such statements. The reader is cautioned not to
rely on these forward-looking statements. Amylyx does not undertake to
update forward-looking statements to reflect a change in its views,
events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release.
