BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Karuna Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Karuna”), focused on targeting muscarinic cholinergic receptors for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders marked by psychosis and cognitive impairment, as well as pain, today announced that Mr. Troy Ignelzi has joined the company as its chief financial officer. Karuna’s senior leadership team has been strengthened in recent months with key additions and promotions in its R&D, preclinical and finance functions.
“We are pleased to welcome Troy to our leadership team. He will play an important role in guiding external financing and internal financial controls as we continue along our next phase of growth,” said Steve Paul, M.D., chief executive officer and chairman of Karuna. “As our lead product candidate KarXT advances in clinical development for multiple indications, we plan to continue to expand our leadership team. Troy’s experience as CFO at both private and public biotechnology companies will be a considerable asset.”
Mr. Ignelzi has spent 25 years supporting companies in finance, business development and operations. He joins Karuna from scPharmaceuticals, where in his role as chief financial officer, he helped oversee development from a privately-held clinical-stage company to a publicly-traded biopharma preparing for commercial launch. Prior to scPharmaceuticals, Mr. Ignelzi was a senior executive at Juventas Therapeutics, Esperion Therapeutics, and Insys Therapeutics, helping raise public/private capital, expand development pipelines through licensing/acquisition and advancing critical therapies, several of which are currently approved by the FDA. He also brings relevant commercial experience, having launched and promoted CNS drugs while at Eli Lilly. Mr. Ignelzi received a B.S. in Accounting from Ferris State University.
“I am delighted to join the Karuna leadership team and look forward to providing support to advance KarXT’s clinical development for the treatment of patients suffering with schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, and pain,” said Mr. Ignelzi. “It is an exciting time in the company’s development and I look forward to working with Steve and the rest of the leadership team at Karuna to help bring our innovative products to patients and their families.”
Reporting to Mr. Ignelzi is Mr. Jason Parker Brown, vice president of finance. Mr. Brown joins Karuna from PureTech Health where he supported the financing and operational growth of PureTech Health and its affiliates as vice president of corporate finance. Prior to PureTech Health, Mr. Brown spent five years at Novartis in roles of increasing responsibility within the finance department. Mr. Brown will lead the finance and accounting functions at Karuna. He holds an MBA from Boston College and B.A. from Hamilton College.
About KarXT
KarXT (Karuna-Xanomeline-Trospium),
Karuna’s lead product candidate for the treatment of psychosis in
schizophrenia, consists of xanomeline, a novel muscarinic acetylcholine
receptor agonist that has demonstrated clinical activity in
placebo-controlled human trials in schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s
disease, and trospium chloride, an FDA-approved and well-established
muscarinic receptor antagonist that has been shown not to enter the
central nervous system (CNS). KarXT is designed to selectively target
M1/M4 muscarinic receptors in the brain while blocking their activation
in peripheral tissues in order to improve tolerability as compared to
xanomeline alone. Karuna has completed two Phase 1 clinical studies
which demonstrated a clinically meaningful reduction in side effects
compared to xanomeline and that KarXT is well tolerated in healthy
volunteers. A proprietary co-formulation of xanomeline and trospium in a
single capsule was used in the second Phase 1 study and is now being
evaluated in an ongoing Phase 2 study in schizophrenic patients with
acute psychosis. Top-line data from this study are anticipated by the
end of 2019.
About Karuna Pharmaceuticals
Karuna is a clinical-stage drug
development company targeting muscarinic cholinergic receptors for the
treatment of psychosis and cognitive impairment across central nervous
system (CNS) disorders, including schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease,
as well as pain. Karuna's lead product candidate, KarXT,
(Karuna-Xanomeline-Trospium) is being evaluated in a Phase 2 study in
people with schizophrenia, with top-line results anticipated at the end
of 2019. Karuna, which was founded by PureTech
Health (LSE:PRTC), has a worldwide exclusive license for xanomeline
and has a patent portfolio more broadly covering selective muscarinic
targeting enabled by the KarXT approach. For more information, visit www.karunapharma.com.
