CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 13, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SAGE Therapeutics (Nasdaq:SAGE), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines to treat life-threatening, rare central nervous system (CNS) disorders, today announced the appointment of Amy Schacterle, Ph.D., as vice president of regulatory affairs and quality assurance and Erin Lanciani as vice president of human resources.
"The additions of our new vice president of regulatory affairs and quality assurance and vice president of human resources are a testament to SAGE's continued growth and maturity as an organization," said Jeff Jonas, M.D., chief executive officer of SAGE Therapeutics. "We look to Amy and Erin to lend their expertise as we continue to expand our operations in support of SAGE-547 and other programs for rare CNS disorders and, ultimately, deliver these new medicines to patients in need."
Dr. Schacterle brings to SAGE extensive expertise in regulatory affairs and quality assurance, with 22 years of experience in the biotech and life science industries, including 15 years in executive management. She most recently served as vice president, regulatory affairs at Sunovion Pharmaceuticals (previously Sepracor), where she worked for 10 years, also serving as executive director and senior director of regulatory affairs. At Sunovion, she led regulatory strategy regarding clinical development of CNS compounds and later managed development and commercial regulatory activities for all drug, biologic and combination device products at the company's Marlborough campus. Prior to Sunovion, Dr. Schacterle spent seven years leading the regulatory affairs function at Stryker Biotech, where she determined successful regulatory strategies for biologic orthopaedic products and was an integral part of the quality team. Dr. Schacterle received her B.S. in biomedical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and her Ph.D. and M.S. in biomedical engineering at the University of Virginia. Dr. Schacterle was recently named as one of Boston Business Journal Mass High Tech 2014 Women to Watch.
Erin Lanciani brings more than 20 years of experience in developing human resources strategies and programs to the company. Before joining SAGE, Ms. Lanciani served as executive director, human resources, global commercialization at Bristol-Myers Squibb, joining the company through its October 2007 acquisition of Adnexus, where she was the vice president of human resources and a member of the executive leadership team. In 2009, Erin relocated to Paris where she was the HR director for European markets at BMS and served as a strategic business partner responsible for all aspects of HR across multiple European commercial, R&D and corporate functions. Prior to BMS, Ms. Lanciani was vice president of human resources at Therion Biologics and also served as the director of human resources for ViaCell, as a human resources business partner at Genzyme Corporation and was a founder/partner of Outsourcing Solutions, Inc., a human resources consulting firm. She earned her B.S. in business administration from Northeastern University.
About SAGE Therapeutics
SAGE Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to developing and commercializing novel medicines to treat life-threatening, rare central nervous system, or CNS, disorders. SAGE's lead program, SAGE-547, is in clinical development for super-refractory status epilepticus, or SRSE, and is the first of several compounds the company is developing in its portfolio of potential seizure medicines. SAGE's proprietary chemistry platform has generated multiple new compounds that target GABAA and NMDA receptors, which are broadly accepted as impacting many psychiatric and neurological disorders. For more information, please visit www.sagerx.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements and information, including statements concerning SAGE's expectations regarding the potential safety, pharmacological effect and efficacy of SAGE-547, the expected development pathway for SAGE-547 and other product candidates and its expectations with respect to the timing and success of its clinical trials concerning its product candidates, and the applicability of the results from emergency-use cases to the population at large. These and other statements concerning SAGE's future expectations, plans and prospects constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws. In particular it should be noted that the initial data reported from the ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial of SAGE-547 are preliminary in nature and that the SAGE-547 clinical trial has not been completed. The preliminary data may change as additional data is released and such preliminary data may not be repeated or observed in ongoing or future studies involving SAGE-547 or SAGE's other product candidates. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including, without limitation, SAGE's ability to successfully demonstrate the efficacy and safety of its product candidates, the pre-clinical and clinical results for its product candidates, which may not support further development of product candidates, actions of regulatory agencies, which may affect the initiation, timing and progress of clinical trials, obtaining, maintaining and protecting intellectual property, SAGE's ability to enforce its patents against infringers and defend its patent portfolio against challenges from third parties, competition from others developing products for similar uses, SAGE's ability to manage operating expenses, SAGE's ability to obtain additional funding to support its business activities and establish and maintain strategic business alliances and new business initiatives, SAGE's dependence on third parties for development, manufacture, marketing, sales and distribution of products, the outcome of litigation, and unexpected expenditures, as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in SAGE's most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well any subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any forward-looking statements represent SAGE's views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date. SAGE explicitly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.