Aeglea BioTherapeutics Strengthens Leadership Team with Appointment of Ravi M. Rao as Chief Medical Officer and Michael C. Hanley as Chief Commercial Officer


AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGLE), a clinical-stage biotechnology company that engineers next-generation human enzymes to provide solutions for diseases with unmet medical need, today announced two additions to its senior management team. The Company welcomes Dr. Ravi M. Rao as chief medical officer and Michael C. Hanley as chief commercial officer.

“These appointments add important drug-development and commercial expertise to our leadership team as we advance our lead investigational therapy of pegzilarginase for patients with Arginase 1 Deficiency through a pivotal Phase 3 trial, and move two rare-disease pipeline programs into clinical studies,” said Anthony G. Quinn, M.B Ch.B, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Aeglea. “Ravi brings extensive experience from GlaxoSmithKline and Roche, and has led programs across specialties in all stages of development, registration and launch. Mike is an accomplished life sciences commercial executive with diverse rare disease experience, having a track record of balancing a strategic long-term view with short-term performance and execution.”

Dr. Rao joins Aeglea from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) where he served as Vice President, Global Medical Affairs Head, Immunology and Specialty Franchise, leading programs across a number of emerging disease areas, previously serving as the Head Unit Physician and a Medicine Development Leader in immune-inflammation R&D. Prior to GSK, he served as Group Medical Director, Product Development Immunology and Clinical Development Site Head at Roche, where he played an important role in leading activities for the global clinical development and subsequent approvals of a number of the company's key late-phase programs. Ravi was an academic physician-scientist at Imperial College (London) and is a Member of the Royal College of Physicians, London. He received his MB. BChir from Cambridge University and his Ph.D. in vascular biology from Imperial College, completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School.

Mr. Hanley was previously Vice President and U.S. Chief Commercial Officer for Esteve Pharmaceuticals. He also previously served as Group Vice President, Marketing, Americas and Asia Pacific, Orphan Business Unit for Horizon Therapeutics with P&L responsibility for the company’s rare disease portfolio.  In all, Mr. Hanley has 20 years of commercial leadership experience in the life sciences industry.  Mr. Hanley holds a B.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA in Management and Strategy, Marketing from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management. 

About Aeglea BioTherapeutics
Aeglea is a clinical-stage biotechnology company that engineers next-generation human enzymes with enhanced properties and novel activity to provide solutions for diseases with unmet medical need. Aeglea is developing pegzilarginase, its lead product candidate, for the treatment of Arginase 1 Deficiency which has received both Rare Pediatric Disease and Breakthrough Therapy Designation. Aeglea has two programs in IND-enabling studies for Homocystinuria and Cystinuria and an active discovery pipeline. For more information, please visit http://aegleabio.com.

Safe Harbor / Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as: "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "goal," "seek," "believe," "project," "estimate," "expect," "strategy," "future," "likely," "may," "should," "will" and similar references to future periods. These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding our cash forecasts, the timing and success of our clinical trials and related data, the timing and expectations for regulatory submissions and approvals, timing and results of meetings with regulators, the potential for expeditated development and review of pegzilarginase as of a result of the Breakthrough Therapy designation, the timing of announcements and updates relating to our clinical trials and related data, our ability to enroll patients into our clinical trials, success in our collaborations and the potential therapeutic benefits and economic value of our lead product candidate or other product candidates. Further information on potential risk factors that could affect our business and its financial results are detailed in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2019 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and other reports as filed with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

Media Contact:
David Calusdian
Sharon Merrill Associates
617.542.5300
AGLE@investorrelations.com 

Investor Contact:
Joey Perrone
Senior Director, Finance & Investor Relations
Aeglea BioTherapeutics
investors@aegleabio.com