BOSTON and Pasadena, Calif., April 26, 2017 – Axial Biotherapeutics, a biotechnology company building a unique class of microbial-targeted CNS therapeutics, today announced the expansion of its Board of Directors with the appointment of two independent members, Ronald C. Renaud Jr., Chief Executive Officer of RaNA Therapeutics and Henry C. Wolf, former Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC).
“Being able to recruit two seasoned and leading industry executives such as Ron and Hank to our Board is a great achievement for Axial and speaks to our vision for the company, the strategy we already have in place and the outstanding science Axial is built on,” said David H. Donabedian, PhD, CEO of Axial Biotherapeutics. “We look forward to their contributions as we move towards the clinic and position the company for success.”
“Targeting the microbiome to develop therapies for CNS diseases and disorders is an exciting new approach that could open a new chapter in how we think about their treatment and I welcome the opportunity to support the Axial team,” said Ron Renaud, CEO of RaNA Therapeutics.
Henry C. Wolf added, “I am very impressed with what the Axial team has achieved in such a short period of time and look forward to contributing to Axial’s continued development.”
Mr. Renaud has an outstanding track record of building successful biotech companies. Before joining RaNA as CEO in 2014, he held several leading positions at Idenix and Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, leading up to President and Chief Executive Officer at Idenix. Under his leadership, Idenix refocused its drug discovery and development efforts on nucleotide prodrugs to treat hepatitis C virus (HCV), streamlined operations to better enable cross-functional collaboration and employee engagement, which culminated in its acquisition by Merck for $3.85 billion in August 2014. Prior to his executive career, Mr. Renaud was a biotechnology equity research analyst at JP Morgan, Schwab Soundview and Bear Stearns. He also spent more than five years at Amgen, where he held positions in clinical research, investor relations and finance. He is currently a board member of Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) and Chimerix Inc. (NASDAQ:CMRX). Mr. Renaud holds a BA from St. Anselm College and an MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.
Hank Wolf has over 40 years of experience as a financial executive and board member within leading public companies. He was with Norfolk Southern Corporation for 34 years holding various positions including CFO, vice president of taxation and executive vice president of finance before retiring from the company in 2007. Over the course of his career, Mr. Wolf has served as a Director on several Boards including AGL Resources Inc., (NYSE:GAS) the Hertz Corporation (NYSE:HTZ), MModal Inc. (NASDAQ:MODL). He is currently the Chairman of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Board of Trustees. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the College of William & Mary, a Master of Business Administration from Louisiana State University and a Master of Laws from Georgetown University.
About Axial Therapeutics
Axial Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of gut-restricted, small molecule therapeutics for central nervous system (CNS) disorders. The company is leveraging its expertise in the gut-brain axis and its unique drug development platform to advance novel therapies that have the potential to transform the treatment paradigm in neurological diseases. Axial is advancing a pipeline of small molecule product candidates with lead clinical programs that address underlying pathology and resulting symptoms in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Parkinson’s Disease (PD), and additional preclinical initiatives in small molecules in other areas of autism and PD, as well as oncology and rare CNS diseases.
Contacts for Axial Therapeutics
Media:
Mike Beyer
Sam Brown, Inc.
312-961-2502
mikebeyer@sambrown.com
Investors:
Jeffrey Young, CFO
781-701-8467
effrey@axialtx.com