Annexon Expands Senior Leadership in Commercial, Medical Affairs and Health Economics to Advance Global Late-Stage Neuroinflammatory-Targeted Portfolio

BRISBANE, Calif., Sept. 03, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Annexon, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANNX), a biopharmaceutical company advancing novel complement therapies for neuroinflammatory diseases of the body, brain, and eye, today announced the strengthening of its senior leadership team with the appointment of Shikhar Agarwal, M.B.A. as senior vice president, head of commercial, Sunil B. Mehta, Pharm.D as senior vice president of medical affairs and Myoung Kim, PHD, M.A., M.B.A. as vice president of health economics and outcomes research.

"We are excited to welcome Shikhar, Sunil and Myoung to the Annexon family as we prepare for commercial development of our flagship programs in Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) and geographic atrophy (GA)," said Douglas Love, president and chief executive officer of Annexon. "Attracting strong talent with extensive experience in developing winning product strategies and leading some of the most successful immunology product launches to-date is a win. These leaders will help Annexon to realize the significant market opportunities for our first-in-kind product candidates and allow us to achieve our mission of aiding millions of patients that are impacted by devastating neuroinflammatory diseases."

Shikhar Agarwal, M.B.A. is a seasoned leader with over 20 years in pharmaceutical marketing, market access, sales and commercial operations, and a track record of successfully leading portfolio strategy, organization build and product launch execution across therapeutic areas. Prior to joining Annexon, he was vice president, head of marketing at argenx SE, where he led the launch of VYVGART® in Myasthenia Gravis and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP), delivering $400 million in first year revenue and achieving blockbuster status in second year of launch amidst multiple competitive launches. Prior to that he held commercial roles of increasing responsibility at Amgen Inc. across market access, marketing, sales and market research. Early in his career, he worked as a senior consultant at Proxicom, Inc., where he developed commercial and analytical solutions for Fortune 500 clients. Mr. Agarwal holds an M.B.A. from UCLA Anderson School of Management, and a B.S. from St. John's College in Agra, India.

Sunil B. Mehta, Pharm.D. brings 20 years of medical affairs experience including successfully building and leading U.S. and global medical affairs teams and infrastructure for product launches and fostering strong relationships with key opinion leaders across multiple therapeutic areas, including nephrology, hematology, rare neurological and autoimmune disorders. Prior to joining Annexon, he served as vice president and head of medical affairs at argenx where he successfully built and led highly competent medical affairs teams through the launches of VYVGART in Myasthenia Gravis and CIDP. For almost a decade Dr. Mehta also held various roles of increasing responsibility at Alexion in medical affairs and built the U.S. medical affairs teams in preparation of Myasthenia Gravis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder launches. Prior to Alexion, he worked at Amgen in medical affairs roles of increasing responsibility. Dr. Mehta holds a Pharm.D. degree from Rutgers University.

Myoung Kim, Ph.D., M.A., M.B.A. brings over 25 years of experience in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) and observational research. Prior to Annexon, Dr. Kim was vice president and head of U.S. HEOR, real world evidence and population health at Novartis, where she led office- and field-teams spanning the entire portfolio. Prior to that she served a similar role as vice president of real-world value and evidence at Janssen Pharmaceuticals where she led value evidence generation and communication across the Janssen portfolio. Early in her career she also held increasing roles of responsibility at J&J Medical Devices and held positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Bayer Corporation, and Merck & Co.   Dr. Kim holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in health economics and policy from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She also earned an M.B.A. of international business from the University of South Carolina and a B.A. from Seoul National University in Seoul, South Korea.

About Annexon

Annexon Biosciences (NASDAQ:ANNX) is a biopharmaceutical company advancing a late-stage clinical platform of novel therapies for people living with devastating classical complement-mediated neuroinflammatory diseases of the body, brain, and eye. Annexon's novel scientific approach targets upstream C1q to block the classical complement inflammatory cascade before it starts, and its therapeutic candidates are designed to provide meaningful benefits across multiple autoimmune, neurodegenerative and ophthalmic diseases. With proof-of concept data in Guillain-Barré syndrome, Huntington's disease and Geographic Atrophy, Annexon is rigorously advancing its mid-to late-stage clinical trials to bring their potential treatments to patients as quickly as possible. To learn more visit annexonbio.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "aim," "anticipate," "assume," "believe," "contemplate," "continue," "could," "design," "due," "estimate," "expect," "goal," "intend," "may," "objective," "plan," "positioned," "potential," "predict," "seek," "should," "suggest," "target," "on track," "will," "would" and other similar expressions that are predictions of or indicate future events and future trends, or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the potential therapeutic benefit of ANX005 and ANX007, the ability to commercialize flagship programs in Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) and geographic atrophy (GA), and the ability to realize the significant market opportunities in these therapeutic areas. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those anticipated, including, but not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to: the company's history of net operating losses; the company's ability to obtain necessary capital to fund its clinical programs; the early stages of clinical development of the company's product candidates; the effects of public health crises on the company's clinical programs and business operations; the company's ability to obtain regulatory approval of and successfully commercialize its product candidates; any undesirable side effects or other properties of the company's product candidates; the company's reliance on third-party suppliers and manufacturers; the outcomes of any future collaboration agreements; and the company's ability to adequately maintain intellectual property rights for its product candidates. These and other risks are described in greater detail under the section titled "Risk Factors" contained in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and the company's other filings with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements that the company makes in this press release are made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, and speak only as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, the company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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