Akouos, a precision genetic medicine company developing potential gene therapies to restore and preserve hearing, announced two key senior leadership appointments. Morgan Molloy joins the team as chief corporate development officer, and Karoline Shair, PhD, JD, joins the team as senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary.
“Our company made important strides forward to advance our gene therapy candidate pipeline throughout 2019, establishing Akouos as the leading precision genetic medicine platform focused on inner ear disorders,” said Manny Simons, PhD, founder, president, and CEO of Akouos. “As we set out to build upon this progress in 2020, we are delighted to welcome Morgan and Karoline to Akouos. Each is a recognized industry leader with a demonstrated track record of success, and their combined expertise will be invaluable as we work to bring new options to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.”
Molloy joins Akouos with more than 25 years of broad commercial and operational leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Most recently, he served as chief commercial officer at Enzyvant, Inc, where he led all aspects of the commercial strategy for the company’s rare disease portfolio. Prior to Enzyvant, he served as the head of US commercial for Spark Therapeutics. In this role, he was responsible for the development of commercial strategy and planning for Spark’s gene therapy programs. Molloy has also held a variety of operational and commercial roles at Sanofi-Genzyme, including vice president, global disease lead of the Fabry disease franchise. Before Sanofi-Genzyme, he served in multiple commercial leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Biogen. Molloy holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.
Shair brings to Akouos more than 20 years of senior leadership and global legal expertise in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Most recently, she was the vice president, head counsel intellectual property (IP) program portfolio at Biogen, where she led the company’s global IP portfolio strategy, IP diligence, and transactions for business development and M&A opportunities. Prior to Biogen, Shair was vice president legal, chief intellectual property counsel, and corporate secretary at FORMA Therapeutics, where she was responsible for building the legal department and providing strategic counsel on all legal matters. Dr Shair also held leadership roles at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Takeda Pharmaceuticals, including vice president, IP region head, where she led IP strategy, litigation, and transactions for the global oncology therapeutic area and business unit. Shair has also practiced law at Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Choate, Hall & Stewart. Dr. Shair received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Bryn Mawr College, a PhD in chemistry from Yale University, and a JD from Boston College Law School. She is a member of the Massachusetts Bar and a registered patent attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Source: Akouos
Images: Akouos
