London UK, 01 October 2024 – AstronauTx Ltd (“AstronauTx”), a biotech company backed by UCLTF developing novel treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, today announces the appointment of Dr Jane Rhodes, PhD, MBA as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and member of the Board.
Jane is an accomplished leader with 25 years of experience in the biotechnology 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 TurbineAI. Jane holds an undergraduate degree in Pharmacology and Physiology and a PhD 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 the rest of the Leadership team, as AstronauTx progresses its pre-clinical programmes.”
Marianne Uteng, AstronauTx Board Member and Managing Director at Novartis Venture Fund, added: “Jane’s strong background in pharma and deep understanding of neuroscience makes her the perfect candidate to lead AstronauTx towards delivering oral drugs that are expected to provide both symptomatic and disease modifying benefits to a much needed patient population.”
Jane Rhodes, Chief Executive Officer, AstronauTx commented: “The AstronauTx team has done a fantastic job building an early stage portfolio targeting unique and orthogonal approaches to neurodegenerative disease, and is backed by a strong syndicate of investors. I am thrilled to be joining the team to advance new therapies with such huge potential benefit to the aging population.’
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