Atea Pharmaceuticals Appoints Claudio Avila, MB, BS, Ph.D., as Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs
Atea Pharmaceuticals has appointed Claudio Avila, MB, BS, Ph.D., as Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs. Previously at Gilead Sciences, Dr. Avila brings significant experience in medical affairs focusing on COVID-19 and other viral diseases. CEO Jean-Pierre Sommadossi expressed confidence in Dr. Avila’s expertise to enhance Atea’s capabilities, particularly in advancing its antiviral pipeline, including AT-527 for COVID-19. Atea aims to develop innovative oral therapeutics for severe viral infections, leveraging its proprietary nucleotide prodrug platform.
- Appointment of Claudio Avila strengthens the leadership team.
- Dr. Avila brings extensive experience in medical affairs, particularly in COVID-19.
- Focus on advancing the late-stage antiviral pipeline, including AT-527.
- Dependence on the success of a limited number of product candidates.
- Significant losses since inception may raise concerns for investors.
- Need for substantial additional funding to continue operations.
BOSTON, June 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of oral therapeutics for severe viral infections, today announced the appointment of Claudio Avila, MB, BS, Ph.D., as Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs. Dr. Avila previously served as Executive Director, U.S. Medical Strategy and Medical Affairs for COVID-19 at Gilead Sciences.
“We are very pleased to welcome Claudio to the Atea team. Claudio’s extensive expertise and experience in medical affairs with a focus on COVID-19, hepatitis and HIV as part of his overall interest in serious viral infectious diseases, will complement and strengthen the capabilities of Atea,” said Jean-Pierre Sommadossi, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Atea Pharmaceuticals. “As we continue to advance our late-stage antiviral pipeline, including AT-527 for the treatment of COVID-19, we look forward to integrating Claudio’s broad international medical affairs experience in our efforts to bring new drugs to the market.”
“I am delighted to join Atea at such an exciting time and to contribute to its goal of bringing an easily administered oral antiviral to help in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Avila. “In addition, I am looking forward to helping build Atea into a global leader in the discovery and development of oral direct-acting antivirals for the treatment of severe viral diseases.”
Dr. Avila joins Atea from Gilead Sciences, where he served in roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as Executive Director, U.S. Medical Strategy and Medical Affairs for COVID-19. Prior roles at Gilead Sciences included Medical Affairs leadership of the Asia Pacific region, including Japan and China; and for HCV in Europe, the Middle East and Australia. Earlier in his career, Dr. Avila was a Global Program Medical Director for Hepatitis B and C development at Novartis Pharma AG and his first industry role was as Medical Advisor in HIV at GlaxoSmithKline (UK). Dr. Avila’s medical career was as honorary infectious diseases physician in the United Kingdom and medical officer in Australia.
Dr. Avila received his medical degree (MB, BS) from Sydney University and BSc (Hons) / Ph.D. from Melbourne University. He has authored more than three dozen peer-reviewed publications.
About Atea Pharmaceuticals
Atea Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing oral therapies to address the unmet medical needs of patients with life-threatening viral diseases. Leveraging the Company’s deep understanding of antiviral drug development, nucleos(t)ide chemistry, biology, biochemistry and virology, Atea has built a proprietary nucleotide prodrug platform to develop novel product candidates to treat single stranded ribonucleic acid, or ssRNA, viruses, which are a prevalent cause of severe viral diseases. Currently, Atea is focused on the development of orally-available, potent, and selective nucleotide prodrugs for difficult-to-treat, life-threatening viral infections, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, dengue virus, hepatitis C virus (HCV) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). For more information, please visit www.ateapharma.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation statements regarding our expectations surrounding the potential of our product candidates, in particular AT-527, and expectations regarding our pipeline. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following: uncertainty around and costs associated with the development of AT-527 as a potential treatment for COVID-19 and our other product candidates; dependence on management, directors and other key personnel; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business; our limited operating history and significant losses since inception; our need for substantial additional funding; our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards; our dependence on the success of our most advanced product candidates; risks related to the regulatory approval process; risks associated with the clinical development process; risks related to healthcare laws and other legal compliance matters; risks related to potential commercialization; risks related to manufacturing and our dependence on third parties; risks relating to intellectual property; our ability to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and the significant costs as a result of operating as a public company. These and other important factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, and our other filings with the SEC could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change.
Contacts
Jonae Barnes
SVP, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
617-818-2985
Barnes.jonae@ateapharma.com
Will O’Connor
Stern Investor Relations
212-362-1200
will.oconnor@sternir.com
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