The Athera Board of Directors has announced that James Hall is the new Chief Executive Officer in the company.

Carina Schmidt steps down after nearly 13 years as CEO but will stay on as advisor and resource to the management and board in the work to reach planned milestones.

”During my years as CEO, Athera has developed from an academic spin-off from Karolinska Institutet to a company with a promising therapeutic candidate in clinical development. Right now, a Phase 2 study of the product candidate ATH3G10 to reduce the risk for heart failure after myocardial infarction is ongoing at 11 hospitals and data is planned to report in 2020. I have now worked side-by-side with James Hall for a period and I am very confident to hand over to him,” said Carina Schmidt, former CEO of Athera.

A good platform for taking over as CEO

This spring, James Hall was engaged to strengthen the team in planning and execution of business activities focused on further development and commercialization. James Hall has worked with the team for six months and now has a good platform for taking over as CEO, states the company. The timing for this planned succession in the company is chosen to fit with the ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial and other activities.

”I am happy and proud to have the Board´s confidence to take on the leadership of Athera to continue the work building Athera as a leading biotech company in therapeutic antibodies for cardiovascular diseases,” said James Hall, new CEO at Athera.

Business development and operational management

James Hall has 20 years experience from the pharmaceutical industry. During his 12 years in AstraZeneca he has held leading positions in commercial development, R&D and business development. He has previously worked as a consultant in Pharmaceutical/Medical Products at McKinsey & Co. He has a medical degree and research Ph.D. from Oxford University. Since 2016 James has worked as a consultant to biotech companies in Sweden, primarily in business development and operational management. James is originally from Ireland and has lived in Gothenburg for 13 years.

The mission of Athera is to address the large unmet need for anti-inflammatory therapeutics in the treatment of immunovascular disease. Athera´s focus is on PC-mAb, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical program with block-buster potential. In picture: Knut Pettersson, CSO Carina Schmidt, CEO. Photo: UP THERE, EVERYWHERE AB