Intarcia Therapeutics Names Emad Rizk, MD, To Board Of Directors
- Dr. Rizk brings significant payer relationships and expertise to Intarcia, as well as medical and health economics expertise, that will help guide Intarcia's value propositions with payers
BOSTON, May 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc. today announced the appointment of Emad Rizk, MD, to its Board of Directors. Dr. Rizk is a well-respected leader in the healthcare industry, and an expert on payers and healthcare economics. He joins the Intarcia Board as the Company nears completion of its clinical development for ITCA 650 (a once- or twice-yearly continuous subcutaneous delivery of exenatide), its lead therapeutic candidate for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
"Emad brings more than 25 years of highly relevant experience running companies, shaping new payer-oriented business models, and working with major payers, hospital systems, governments, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies," said Kurt Graves, Chairman, President and CEO of Intarcia. "As we continue to advance ITCA 650 toward potential commercialization, we need to expand our payer expertise with an increasing number of key stakeholders at the payer level. Emad's skill sets, relationships, and expertise will prove invaluable to us and further strengthen our focus to deliver novel medicines that hold promise to bring better health and better economic outcomes to patients, providers and payers. On behalf of myself and all of our Board Members, I heartily welcome Emad!"
Dr. Rizk commented: "I am delighted to join the Board of Directors at Intarcia. This is an exciting time for the Company as it prepares to introduce a truly disruptive innovation into the global market place. I believe Intarcia will soon have the capacity – both clinically and commercially – to significantly improve the lives of many of the people who are part of the type 2 diabetes epidemic. I also believe ITCA 650 holds the potential to mitigate the massively rising costs to the healthcare system that result from inadequate glycemic control and non-adherence with current oral and injectable therapies. The level of ongoing and planned comparative studies to fully investigate ITCA 650's potential advantages is impressive and important work for the field. I look forward to working with Kurt and the rest of the Board and Management Team to help Intarcia realize the full value of its assets as rapidly as possible."
Dr. Rizk currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Accretive Health, a company committed to partnering with healthcare Providers. He previously served as President of McKesson Health Solutions, a business unit of McKesson Corporation, and as Senior Partner and Global Director, Medical Management/Pharmacy for Deloitte Consulting, leading the company's medical cost and quality management practice. Previous to that, he held a variety of roles at Monsanto Corporation, serving as Associate Medical Director, Corporate Medical and Scientific Affairs and then Worldwide Medical Director.
Dr. Rizk was formerly a member of the board of DMAA: Care Continuum Alliance and currently serves on the boards of directors of the National Association for Hispanic Health, Manage Care Editorial, Accuray Inc. and Accretive Health. A Senior Scholar professor at Jefferson Medical College, Dr. Rizk's work has been widely published in medical journals and medical books. His book, The New Era of Healthcare: Practical Strategies for Providers and Payers, focuses on ways that providers and payers can work together to reduce costs while improving efficiency and patient care.
In 2013, Modern Physician named Dr. Rizk one of the "50 Most Influential Physician Executives in the United States," the fifth time he has been recognized by this publication. In addition, Modern Healthcare has listed him among the "Top 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare," while Managed Healthcare Executive named him to its "Top 25 Leaders in Disease Management."
About Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc.
Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc. is an independent, privately held, biopharmaceutical company developing therapies to enhance treatment outcomes by optimizing and improving the efficacy, continuous administration and tolerability of drug therapies. Delivering medicines just once or twice yearly has the potential to ensure improved patient adherence and compliance, which is otherwise difficult to achieve in most chronic diseases. Intarcia's drug development expertise and competitive edge are demonstrated by its abilities to stabilize proteins and peptides at above-body temperature and to deliver them in a constant and consistent manner via Intarcia's proprietary technology platform. Intarcia is conducting a phase 3 development program for type 2 diabetes that consists of four separate clinical trials, two of which have been completed. Intarcia continues to conduct research and development, utilizing its platform technology, to treat other chronic serious disorders in the field of diabetes, obesity and autoimmune diseases. For more information about Intarcia, please visit www.intarcia.com.
About ITCA 650
ITCA 650 (a once- or twice-yearly continuous subcutaneous delivery of exenatide) is being developed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The investigational therapy employs Intarcia's proprietary technology platform involving a matchstick-size, miniature osmotic pump that is placed sub-dermally to provide continuous and consistent drug therapy, and the company's proprietary formulation technology, which maintains stability of therapeutic proteins and peptides at human body temperatures for extended periods of time. Exenatide, the active agent in ITCA 650, is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist currently marketed globally as twice-daily and once-weekly self-injection therapies for type 2 diabetes. Upon approval, ITCA 650 would represent the first injection-free GLP-1 therapy that can deliver up to a full year of treatment from a single placement. ITCA 650 is currently in a global phase 3 clinical trial program called FREEDOM.
Intarcia and its logo are registered trademarks of Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc.
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SOURCE Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc.
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