Bothell-based biopharmaceutical Athira Pharma Inc. (Nasdaq: ATHA) has named Javier San Martin as its chief medical officer.
Athira announced the move as part of its first quarter earnings report Wednesday. San Martin is replacing Hans Moebius, who held the CMO role for nearly five years before retiring in January, as Athira prepares to report data later this year for its lead drug, ATH-1017, and its effects on Alzheimer's patients.
"His insight and expertise will be invaluable as we move toward the (trial) data readout," Athira CEO Mark Litton said in a news release.
Athira, which is developing treatments for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's dementia, released phase 2 results for ATH-1017 on Alzheimer's patients in 2022. The results appeared disappointing at first, but the trials found that a subset of patients, namely those not on other forms of Alzheimer’s treatment, did see “a potentially beneficial change” to working memory processing speed and cognition compared with the placebo.
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San Martin spent more than four years at the Pasadena, California-based Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals before joining Athira, where he held the chief medical officer role, according to his LinkedIn page. He spent about six years at Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals before that. He spent more than five years at Amgen earlier in his career.
Athira plans to report data on its trial for ATH-1017 for patients not on other Alzheimer's treatments in the second half of this year. It reported what it calls "encouraging findings" in December from phase 2 trials of ATH-1017 on Parkinson's patients. Athira has another candidate, ATH-1105, for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and it expects to start trials in humans in the second quarter.
Athira was founded in 2011 as M3 Biotechnology. Former CEO Leen Kawas was forced to resign in 2021 after an independent review found she had altered images in her doctoral dissertation and at least four papers she co-authored at Washington State University, where she received a doctorate in molecular pharmacology in 2011. Kawas now leads Propel Bio Partners, an investment firm formed with early Athira investor Richard Kayne.
Kayne in 2022 launched a proxy war to take control of the board at Athira and oust Litton. He suspended the campaign in May 2022, noting his tenure on the board "would be very contentious and unproductive, an outcome that I don’t believe would be in the interests of the company or its shareholders."
Athira has also faced class-action lawsuits since Kawas was first placed on leave. Those lawsuits have been consolidated and have a final approval hearing set for October. Athira, which went public in 2020, had cash and cash equivalents of $77.8 million as of March 31, down from $90.6 million at the end of 2023.
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