New London pharmaceutical developer Amarin Corp. Plc has brought aboard a Massachusetts executive with broad experience bringing new drugs to market as its executive chairman.
The appointment of Joseph S. Zakrzewski is effective Jan. 1, at which time Amarin’s chairman, Thomas Lynch, will step aside but remain on the board.
Amarin, which recently moved operations to New London from Ireland and raised $70 million in equity financing, is preparing to launch Phase 3 clinical trials of its prototype AMR101 treatment for lowering high levels of heart-damaging triglycerides.
The company also announced it is withdrawing its European application to test the safety of AMR101 as a treatment for Huntington’s disease. Doing so will allow Amarin to focus on developing AMR101 for the U.S. market as soon as possible, the company said.
By tapping Zakrzewski, who is chief executive officer of Xcellerex Inc., Marlborough, Mass., Amarin gains a pipeline into a bioscience firm that specializes in manufacturing and commercializing new drugs.
He has more than 20 years of industry experience, including serving as former chief operating officer at Reliant Pharmaceuticals when that company was developing its two drugs related to cardiovascular health. GlaxoSmithKline acquired Reliant in 2007.
He also spent 17 years Eli Lilly & Co. in a variety of roles, including as vice president of corporate business development overseeing Lilly’s licensing activities.
Zakrzewski is chairman of the board of two Pennsylvania biopharma startups, Promedior Inc. in Malvern, and Zelos Therapeutics in West Conshocken. He also is a director of Insulet Corp., an insulin pump maker in Bedford, Mass.
Zakrzewski has chemical engineering and biochemical engineering degrees from Drexel University, and an MBA in finance from Indiana University.
