Robert Lisicki Appointed as New Chief Executive Officer and Board Member; Possesses Broad Commercial and Public Company Experience
Grace E, Colón, Ph.D., Stepping Aside Following Nearly Ten Years as President and CEO; Will Serve as Consultant to Ensure Smooth Leadership Transition
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 04, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — InCarda Therapeutics, Inc. (“InCarda”), a privately-held biopharmaceutical company developing inhaled therapies for cardiovascular diseases, today announced the appointment of Robert Lisicki as chief executive officer and a member of the company’s board of directors. Grace E. Colón, Ph.D., who has served as president, CEO and member of the board for nearly ten years, is moving on from the company as part of a planned leadership transition. Dr. Colón, who intends to pursue other leadership opportunities within the life science space, will serve as a consultant to InCarda to ensure a smooth transition. The leadership transition reflects the company’s continued maturation, highlighted by its shifting focus toward preparations for potential commercial activities, as well as plans for strategically accessing the public markets when appropriate.
“On behalf of the InCarda board, I would like to thank Grace for the significant contributions she has made to the company’s success. Over the past nearly ten years, she has led InCarda from a small start-up to a company with a best-in-class inhaled cardiovascular disease therapy being evaluated in a pivotal Phase 3 trial and a growing pipeline, helping raise significant capital to support these efforts along the way. Grace leaves the company well positioned for continued success under Rob’s leadership,” said Daniel G. Welch, executive chairman of the board. “At the same time, we are very excited to welcome Rob to InCarda. His long and successful career in building and leading commercial teams and brands in public companies, and his strong relationships with healthcare investors, make him extremely well-suited to lead InCarda into its next phase of growth.”
Mr. Lisicki possesses more than 25 years of experience with demonstrated success in building operational excellence across large and small biopharmaceutical organizations, including contributions to the development and commercialization of multiple blockbuster cardiovascular therapeutics. Prior to joining InCarda, he served as chief commercial officer at Arena Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage company developing treatments for autoimmune and cardiovascular disease that was acquired by Pfizer for $6.7 billion in March 2022. Prior to Arena Pharmaceuticals, he was general manager at Regeneron, leading the company’s US-based inflammation and cardiovascular business. Mr. Lisicki also spent nearly four years at Daiichi-Sanyko as senior vice president, chief commercial officer with responsibility for the company’s US-based cardiovascular and oncology therapeutics, overseeing nearly $3 billion in annual revenue. He has also held key global, US and EU roles within Amgen, working across the company’s therapeutic portfolio, including leadership responsibility for the Enbrel and Prolia products.
“I am excited to take the reins at InCarda and continue the company’s efforts to bring a transformative inhaled treatment to the millions of people in the U.S. and around the world who are living with atrial fibrillation,” said Mr. Lisicki. “The company is in a strong position for success highlighted by its talented team and an ongoing pivotal Phase 3 trial of InRhythm, a first-of-its-kind inhaled therapy for the potential treatment of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. I look forward to drawing upon my commercial, operational, and public company experience to help continue InCarda’s positive trajectory, while scaling the company in preparation for its next growth phase.”
“I would like to congratulate Rob and I share the board’s excitement for the impact he will have on leading InCarda into its next stage. I look forward to supporting him and ensuring a seamless transition,” said Dr. Colón. “I would like to thank the InCarda family for making my time with the company a fantastic experience and I am proud of all we achieved over the last ten years. While I look forward to moving on and pursuing other leadership opportunities, I am just as excited to see the team continue to advance the mission of bringing groundbreaking therapies to patients.”
About InRhythm™
InRhythm (flecainide for inhalation) is a novel inhaled therapeutic candidate designed to rapidly deliver flecainide, a well-established antiarrhythmic agent, to the heart via the lungs, to restore sinus rhythm (SR) and relieve the patient’s symptoms following the onset of new or recurrent episodes of PAF. InRhythm is intended to address the unmet need for a non-invasive, rapid-acting treatment that can be administered in a medically supervised setting (initial indication) and, ultimately, self-administered by patients anywhere they happen to be, whenever they experience an episode of PAF. Phase 1 clinical results in healthy volunteers demonstrated that InRhythm rapidly and safely delivered flecainide resulting in ECG changes consistent with the potential to restore SR in patients with PAF. The INSTANT Phase 2 trial of InRhythm in patients with recent-onset PAF provided proof-of-concept that oral inhaled flecainide with an administration regimen of eight minutes can safely and rapidly convert recent-onset PAF to normal sinus rhythm. InCarda is currently conducting the pivotal Phase 3 RESTORE-1 trial of InRhythm. With intellectual property protection through 2040, InRhythm represents a first-in-class, potential multi-billion dollar global opportunity to address a significant unmet medical need.
About InCarda Therapeutics
InCarda Therapeutics, Inc. is a privately-held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing first-of-their-kind inhaled therapies for acute cardiovascular diseases and conditions. The company is leveraging the ability of inhaled therapy to deliver medicine in the “first pass” to cardiac tissue, presenting a small, but effective dose of drug directly to affected regions of the heart. This permits rapid-onset, lower off-target tissue exposure of the drug, lower exposure to cardiac tissue and, more importantly, has the potential to be patient self-administered in a non-medical setting (e.g., home). InCarda employs a de-risked approach by using approved drugs with a long history of efficacy and safety as candidates for the new dosing paradigm via inhalation. The company’s lead development product, InRhythm, is in Phase 3 development to treat acute episodes of PAF, a prevalent atrial arrhythmia. For more information, please visit: www.incardatherapeutics.com.
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Twitter: @InCardaThera
