AIRNA Appoints Industry Veteran Todd Bazemore as President and CEO to Drive the Next Stage of Company Growth

- Mr. Bazemore joins AIRNA with over 30 years of experience leading clinical- and commercial- stage biotechs with a focus on rare diseases

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AIRNA, a biotech company pioneering RNA-editing therapeutics to transform the lives of patients with rare and common conditions, today announced that Todd Bazemore has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer as well as a member of the company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Bazemore is an accomplished biopharma executive with extensive leadership experience in clinical- and commercial-stage drug development.

“AIRNA is building meaningful momentum as a clinical-stage company, with AIR-001, its lead program targeting alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, now in the clinic and a broader RNA-editing pipeline advancing behind it,” said Rodger Novak, M.D., Executive Chair of AIRNA’s Board of Directors. “Todd's expertise developing rare and orphan drugs, and his experience building value across innovative portfolios, from development candidates to commercial products, make him a perfect fit to lead the company through its next stage of growth. With Todd’s leadership and vision, the company is poised to demonstrate its ability to develop transformative therapies with RNA editing.”

"I’m very excited to join AIRNA at such an important phase of its development. RNA editing has the potential to impact millions of people around the world living with rare and common conditions, and AIRNA has the expertise to develop best-in-class therapies and deliver the promise of RNA editing to patients around the globe,” said Todd Bazemore, President and CEO of AIRNA. “I look forward to working with the AIRNA team and the AATD community to execute the important global clinical trial of AIR-001 currently underway, and to continue expanding AIRNA’s pipeline of innovative therapies.”

Mr. Bazemore is a recognized leader in the development of medicines for orphan and rare diseases, with a track record of more than 30 years of developing innovative portfolios, launching new products and creating value for patients and investors. He served most recently as CEO of Kala Bio, a clinical-stage company pioneering mesenchymal stem cell secretome therapies for orphan ophthalmic indications. Previously, Mr. Bazemore served as President of U.S. Operations at Santhera Pharmaceuticals, a company in late-stage clinical development in rare neuromuscular diseases, and as Chief Commercial Officer at Dyax Corp, a late-clinical-stage and commercial company focused on hereditary angioedema. In these roles, Mr. Bazemore developed U.S. regulatory and commercial strategy for rare disease therapies, drove acquisition of pipeline assets and played a key role in the $6.5B acquisition of Dyax Corp. by Shire plc. Earlier in his career, Mr. Bazemore spent 15 years at Sunovion Pharmaceuticals (formerly Sepracor Inc). Across roles of increasing responsibility, including Vice President of Managed Markets and Vice President of the Respiratory Business Unit, he contributed to the successful launches of multiple blockbuster therapies. Mr. Bazemore has a proven track record of building high-performing leadership teams, executing complex business development and licensing transactions and raising capital across the full cycle of biopharmaceutical development. He holds a Bachelors of Science from the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

About AIRNA
AIRNA is a clinical-stage company developing RNA-editing therapeutics designed to repair disease-causing genetic variants and introduce beneficial variants that promote human health. The company’s proprietary platform is based on research by RNA-editing pioneers and co-founders Thorsten Stafforst (University of Tübingen) and Jin Billy Li (Stanford University). AIRNA is advancing a pipeline of RNA-editing therapeutics led by a product candidate for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD). AIRNA is headquartered in Cambridge, MA, with research operations in Tübingen, Germany. Learn more at https://airna.com/.