Relay Therapeutics appoints Allergan CSO to CEO position
pharmafile | April 6, 2017 | Appointment | Business Services, Manufacturing and Production, Medical Communications, Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Allergan, Relay
Relay Therapeutics, a biotech firm launched in September 2016, has announced that Sanjiv K. Patel will be its CEO. Patel joins the team having spent 10 years with Allergan, in roles of increasing responsibility. He began his career at Allergan, working as a Senior Director of Medical Aesthetics Business Unit before rising to his last role as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer.
Relay Therapeutics is a relatively young biotech that focuses on discovering and developing medicines through its work on ‘protein motion’. In particular, this means using a drug discovery engine that can identify structural changes of proteins and how this regulates function – potentially providing it with drug targets. The company was launched from financing by Third Rock ventures, with a sum of $57 million.
“This is a rare opportunity to join a team that is fully dedicated to treating diseases where today, no truly effective therapy exists,” said Dr. Patel on his appointment. “Relay is uniquely positioned to design innovative drugs by visualizing protein motion through integrating emerging computational and experimental methods. I look forward to working with the team to build a pipeline of ground-breaking therapies with an initial focus in oncology.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Sanjiv as the CEO of Relay Therapeutics. Sanjiv’s strategic acumen and business experience coupled with his deep commitment to patients will help fulfil the transformational potential of Relay,” said interim CEO Alexis Borisy. “Along with this key leadership appointment, our new board members, Laura Shawver and Markus Warmuth bring to Relay an incredible depth of research, development and entrepreneurial experience in building great biotech drugs and companies. We are enthusiastic to partner with them as Board members as we build a great company that will make a transformative difference for patients.”
As mentioned by Borisy, there were also two appointments to the board of directors at Relay – with both Laura Shawver and Markus Warmus joining the Relay team, to strengthen the leadership of the fledgling biotech.
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