AstronauTx appoints Jane Rhodes as Chief Executive Officer and Expands Executive Team

Jane Rhodes appointed as Chief Executive Officer
Magnus Ivarsson appointed as Chief Translation and Early Development Officer

LONDON, Oct. 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — AstronauTx Ltd (‘AstronauTx’), a biotechnology company developing novel treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, today announces the appointment of Dr Jane Rhodes, Ph.D., MBA, as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and member of the Board, and Magnus Ivarsson as Chief Translation and Early Development Officer.

Jane is an accomplished leader with 25 years of experience in the biotech industry. She was previously President and Chief Business Officer at Verge Genomics, and has held a variety of operational leadership roles in R&D, Corporate Strategy, Innovation and Business Development, at Biogen and Forma Therapeutics.

A neuroscientist by training, Jane began her career in the field of discovery research and worked on novel therapies for Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), stroke and multiple sclerosis (MS). She has contributed to the development and launch of several marketed products for neurological indications over the span of her career.

She co-founded Qr8 Health, a digital health company, and currently serves as Chair of the Board of Pheno Therapeutics and as a Non-Executive Director at Turbine AI. Jane holds an undergraduate degree in Pharmacology and Physiology, and has a Ph.D. in Neurophysiology, both from the University of Manchester, and a Masters in Business Administration from the Babson College F.W. Olin School of Business.

Tim Edwards, Chairman of the Board, AstronauTx, said: “Jane has a strong track record of company formation, successful equity financing and forging large enabling Pharma partnerships, all of which will be invaluable in our next phase of growth. We look forward to working alongside her, with Magnus and the rest of the Leadership team, as AstronauTx progresses its pre-clinical programmes. I would like to thank Ruth McKernan and David Reynolds for the tremendous contribution they have made to creating the Company and setting us on this exciting development pathway.”

Todd Foley, AstronauTx Board Member and Managing Director at MPM BioImpact, added: “Both Jane and Magnus have strong backgrounds in biotech and a deep understanding of neuroscience drug development. We look forward to Jane leading the AstronauTx team to deliver oral drugs that are expected to provide much needed symptomatic and disease modifying benefits to patients.”

Jane Rhodes, Chief Executive Officer, AstronauTx commented: “The AstronauTx team have built an exciting early-stage portfolio targeting unique and orthogonal approaches to neurodegenerative disease. The Company is backed by a strong syndicate of investors and is poised for growth. I am thrilled to be joining the team to advance new therapies with such huge potential benefit to the aging population, and to be bringing Magnus on board with his uniquely relevant expertise, as we advance several programs into the clinic.”

Magnus is a seasoned drug developer with more than 20 years of experience in the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. He has held a range of senior research leadership roles, with responsibilities ranging from early discovery, translation and early clinical development for both small molecules and biologics with a focus on sleep, EEG and neurodegeneration.

Magnus’s career includes more than a decade at large pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, Merck and AstraZeneca. Over the last 10+ years, he has held senior leadership positions at multiple successful biotechnology companies in Boston, including Aliada Therapeutics, Vesalius Therapeutics, Alkermes Plc, Rodin Therapeutics and Proteostasis Therapeutics. In these roles, Magnus has been pivotal in advancing both small molecules and biologics into the clinic, and he played a key role in the acquisition of Rodin by Alkermes in 2019.

He has been an honorary associate professor at University of Melbourne, Australia, a research fellow at University College London, UK, and earned his Ph.D. from Lund University in Sweden.

About AstronauTx Ltd

AstronauTx is a biotech company developing novel treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, based on amplifying the brain’s own physiological protective mechanisms.

AstronauTx was created by SV Health Investors’ Dementia Discovery Fund in 2019 with additional seed stage funding from the UCL Technology Fund and the UK Future Fund, and completed a £48 million/$61milion Series A financing in October 2023. The syndicate was led by the Novartis Venture Fund, with participation from SV’s Dementia Discovery Fund and new investors MPM BioImpact, Brandon Capital, EQT Life Sciences and Bristol Myers Squibb.

In July 2023, AstronauTx announced a partnership with Saniona, a Danish biotechnology company, to identify new treatments by modulating a novel, undisclosed ion channel target, expanding the Company’s portfolio of programmes. In September 2023, AstronauTx was awarded an Innovate UK grant to fund preclinical work on one of its programmes.

For more information, please go to www.AstronauTx.Bio.

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