Hexima announces the appointment of Dr Nancy Sacco, PhD as Chief Development Officer. Dr Sacco will report to Michael Aldridge, Managing Director & CEO.
Dr Sacco brings over 20 years of strong leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry, driving business objectives, including non-clinical discovery, late-stage clinical development, registration, and approval of a range of important pharmaceutical products. Dr Sacco holds a PhD from West Virginia University School of Medicine. Prior to this appointment, Dr Sacco held Vice President and Head of Clinical Development roles at Xentria, Inc. and AnaptysBio, Inc., overseeing programs with monoclonal antibodies for rare and dermatologic diseases. In addition, Dr Sacco held executive leadership positions at Revance Therapeutics, Inc. and Avexis, Inc (now Novartis), overseeing clinical operations including the initiation and completion of pivotal studies evaluating safety and efficacy of innovative products (proprietary neurotoxin Daxibotulinum and AVV9 gene therapy ZolgenSMA, respectively).
Dr Sacco has also held roles of increasing responsibilities at P&G Healthcare (Actonel), Pfizer (Lyrica), Astellas (Myrbetriq and Xtandi) and Takeda (Rozerem and ACTOS).
In Dr Sacco’s role at Hexima, she will be a senior U.S.-based Hexima representative and will lead the implementation of Hexima’s development strategy and clinical development program. Dr Sacco will also be charged with representing the Company at FDA meetings and with other international regulators, and in interactions with scientific advisors, Key Opinion Leaders, and data review committee members. Hexima’s current Chief Development Officer Dr Peter Welburn will remain involved with the Company as a retained consultant to Hexima with specific responsibility for Hexima’s toxicology program and expanding Hexima’s product pipeline into new therapeutic areas.
Michael Aldridge, Managing Director & CEO said, “We are very pleased to have Dr Sacco join the Hexima team. Her extensive and world-class experience in late-stage clinical development, particularly in dermatology both with US-based and global operations, is a perfect platform for our growth and development plans. “The team at Hexima is looking forward to working with Dr Sacco as we move closer to announcing the results of our phase IIb clinical trial in Q2 2022, and in our preparations for commencing our phase III program.”
Commenting on her appointment, Dr Sacco said “I am very excited to be joining the Hexima team as pezadeftide moves into this critical phase of clinical development. Moving forward with FDA discussions and initiating the pivotal clinical studies becomes so important for patients seeking a new treatment for onychomycosis.”