Industry veteran Williamson brings nearly
three decades' experience as a leader in neuroscience R&D at
organizations including Eli Lilly and Company, Lundbeck, Parexel,
and Acadia Pharmaceuticals
Former Karuna CFO Brown brings more than
15 years of corporate finance, strategy, business development,
M&A, and company-building experience in the biopharmaceutical
industry
Highly respected biotech executive Virani
brings deep experience in corporate development, life science
R&D, and building successful companies
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 11,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- QurAlis Corporation ("QurAlis"),
a clinical-stage biotechnology company driving scientific
breakthroughs into powerful precision medicines that will alter the
trajectory of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal
dementia (FTD), and other neurodegenerative diseases, today
announced that it has appointed Douglas
(Doug) Williamson, M.D., as chief medical officer (CMO) and
Jason Brown, MBA, as chief financial
officer (CFO). Dr. Williamson succeeds Angela Genge, M.D., who continues in a
consulting role for QurAlis. The company also announced the
appointment of Shafique Virani,
M.D., to its board of directors.
![QurAlis CMO Doug Williamson, M.D. QurAlis CMO Doug Williamson, M.D.](https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2432782/Doug_Williamson_QurAlis_CMO.jpg)
"Doug is an expert drug developer for neurological disorders,
talented pharmaceutical executive, and dedicated physician who
brings a breadth of successful experience across all phases of
clinical development – from the interface of discovery with
first-in-human trials, through Phase 2 dose-range finding studies,
Phase 3 pivotal trials, and post-market lifecycle optimization,"
said Kasper Roet, Ph.D., chief
executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of QurAlis.
Dr. Roet continued, "Jason's experience and track record in
raising capital, preparing companies to go public, scaling
companies, and executing partnership and M&A deals, will be
instrumental to QurAlis' next phase of growth. Jason's outstanding
profile in finance and operational growth combined with
Doug's extensive global R&D experience, will greatly
complement our team as we execute on our strategy to bring
promising new precision medicines to patients with ALS, FTD, and
other neurodegenerative and serious neurological diseases
rapidly."
"Neurodegenerative diseases like ALS and FTD are areas of huge
unmet medical need, and QurAlis is a company that is changing the
future of how we treat these diseases by pioneering the development
of powerful precision medicines," said Dr. Williamson. "QurAlis'
cutting-edge science and Kasper's leadership is a powerful
combination. I am thrilled to join such a dedicated team and apply
my clinical and drug development experience toward building this
innovative biopharma company to bring new, life-changing treatment
options to patients with serious diseases and making a real
difference in patients' lives."
"QurAlis is a mission-driven organization dedicated to bringing
transformative therapies to patients with ALS and other serious
neurodegenerative diseases," said Mr. Brown. "This is an exciting
time for QurAlis and I am thrilled to join QurAlis and work closely
with Kasper, our board, and the broader team to advance our
corporate strategy and lead the company's financial activities as
we further scale our organization and rapidly advance clinical
development to bring much-needed medicines to patients."
Dr. Williamson has almost thirty years of leadership experience
in all phases of neuroscience clinical drug development and has led
several successful investigational new drug (IND) applications,
global new drug applications (NDAs), and commercial launches in a
broad range of psychiatry and neurology indications. He spent many
years in senior leadership positions at large biopharma
organizations including Eli Lilly and Company, Parexel
International, and Lundbeck, where he led research and development
(R&D) in the U.S. More recently, Dr. Williamson has gained
experience at smaller biotechnology companies including as CMO at
Avadel Pharmaceuticals, and head of R&D at Acadia
Pharmaceuticals. He has consulted for numerous companies on
neuroscience clinical development strategy. He graduated in
medicine from Edinburgh University in
Scotland and held a full-time
academic appointment at Oxford
University prior to joining the industry. Dr. Williamson is
a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the National
Academy of Medicine's Neuroscience Forum.
Before joining QurAlis, Mr. Brown was the CFO of Karuna
Therapeutics. He joined Karuna in 2018 as vice president (VP) of
corporate finance and its first finance employee. Throughout his
tenure at Karuna, Mr. Brown drove the growth of both the finance
department and broader organization, which included supporting
multiple equity financings, business development transactions, and
ultimately the acquisition by Bristol-Myers Squibb for $14 billion in 2024. Previously, Mr. Brown worked
at PureTech Health as VP of corporate finance where he was
responsible for the financing and operational growth of the
company. He also spent five years at Novartis in roles of
increasing responsibility within the finance department. He holds
an MBA from Boston College and BA from
Hamilton College.
Dr. Roet continued, "On behalf of the team, I would like to
thank Angela Genge for her
leadership and many contributions to QurAlis and we are delighted
that she continues to be an integral member of our team."
Biopharma leader Shafique
Virani, M.D., joins QurAlis' board of directors
QurAlis also announced the appointment of Shafique (Shaf) Virani, M.D., to its board of
directors.
Dr. Roet said, "I am delighted to welcome Shaf to our board of
directors. His success as a biopharma leader has given hope to
patients around the world, and his perspectives will help QurAlis
build our capabilities, drive growth for our investors, and realize
our vision of accelerating the development of life-changing
medicines to help patients with serious neurodegenerative and
neurological diseases."
"Having spent most of my career in neuroscience, I am excited
about QurAlis' groundbreaking science and its robust pipeline and
platforms," said Dr. Virani. "QurAlis' pioneering approach could
revolutionize how we treat serious neurodegenerative diseases and
offers tremendous hope to patients, particularly those with
intractable diseases like ALS for which there remains significant
unmet medical need. I am impressed by QurAlis' leadership and look
forward to working with Kasper and the leadership team and my
fellow board members to grow the business and shareholder value and
pursue QurAlis' mission to improve patients' lives."
Dr. Virani currently serves as chief business officer at Noetik,
Inc., an AI-native biotechnology company focused on discovering and
developing cancer therapies. Before joining Noetik in March 2024, he served as Recursion's chief
business officer for four years, as well as interim chief medical
officer for half that time. At Recursion, Dr. Virani was
instrumental in forging transformative partnerships with Bayer and
Roche/Genentech, the latter being one of the largest drug discovery
partnerships ever consummated in industry. Previously, Dr. Virani
was chief executive officer (CEO) of Navire Pharma and CoA
Therapeutics, each a subsidiary of BridgeBio Pharma, Inc., where he
also served as CEO-in-residence.
Prior to BridgeBio, Dr. Virani assumed a 13-year-long tenure at
Genentech/Roche in several senior roles, most recently as vice
president, business development, licensing M&A, and global head
of neuroscience, rare disease, and ophthalmology partnering. There,
he helped build a portfolio of medicines including
Evrysdi® (risdiplam) for spinal muscular atrophy,
Enspryng® (satralizumab-mwge) for neuromyelitis optica
spectrum disorder, and several therapeutics in the
mid-to-late-stage clinical pipeline via licensing and acquisitions.
Dr. Virani trained as a neurosurgeon in Cambridge, UK and Boston and received his M.D. from the
University of Nottingham, UK.
About QurAlis Corporation
At QurAlis, we are neuro
pioneers on a quest to cure. We work with a relentless pursuit of
knowledge, a precise attention to craft, and an optimistic mindset
to discover and develop effective precision medicines that will
alter the trajectory of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS),
frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and other neurodegenerative
diseases. Founded by an internationally recognized team of
neurodegenerative biologists from Harvard
Medical School and Harvard
University, QurAlis is advancing a pipeline with therapeutic
candidates that target specific components of ALS and FTD pathology
and defined patient populations based on both disease-causing
genetic mutation(s) and clinical biomarkers. For more information,
please visit www.quralis.com or follow us on X @QurAlisCo or
LinkedIn.
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