Aerami Therapeutics Appoints Lisa Yañez as Chief Operating Officer

DURHAM, N.C., June 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Aerami Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing inhaled therapies to treat severe respiratory and other chronic diseases, today announces the appointment of Lisa Yañez as chief operating officer.   Ms. Yañez brings more than 25 years of leadership experience helping to advance novel therapies, therapeutic franchises, and biopharmaceutical organizations by aligning corporate strategy, clinical development, and commercial efforts to drive business results and benefit patients in need.

“As Aerami continues to advance potentially life-changing medicines, including the ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial for inhaled imatinib (AER-901) in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), Lisa’s breadth and depth of experience will bring critical strategic prowess to our executive team to help grow the business and strengthen our platform opportunities,” said Steve Thornton, chief executive officer of the Company.

Prior to joining the leadership team at Aerami, Ms. Yañez held executive positions at Acceleron Pharma and United Therapeutics. At Acceleron, as vice president of global strategic marketing, she established the pulmonary franchise vision and strategy and led the global strategic marketing function for Acceleron’s lead product candidate, a clinical stage drug being developed for PAH. Instilling commercial leadership early in development, she spearheaded initiatives that engaged clinical development, preclinical research and external medical experts to build a differentiated development strategy in PAH. Acceleron was acquired by Merck for approximately $11.5 billion in 2021.

At United Therapeutics, as vice president of marketing, analytics, and training, Ms. Yañez oversaw commercial efforts for the multi-billion dollar PAH franchise, driving a continuum of care strategy that drove successful launches and injected growth into established brands.

Prior to United Therapeutics, Ms. Yañez held leadership roles in commercial and development at leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, namely Merck, GSK, Allergan, Genentech, and Grifols. Ms. Yañez has engaged throughout her career across the product life cycle, establishing expertise ranging from early product planning to launch and life-cycle strategy, as well as across treatment categories including pulmonary, oncology, neurology, immunology, cardiovascular, and rheumatology.  

Ms. Yañez is a graduate of The University of Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology and psychology.

Ms. Yañez added, “I’m excited to be joining Aerami to bring AER-901 to market, if approved, and to collaborate with the rest of the management team to further Aerami’s efforts in the treatment and prevention of cardiopulmonary diseases. The Company’s focus on utilizing targeted therapies partnered with innovative platforms has tremendous potential to meaningfully impact patients’ lives.”

About Aerami

Aerami is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing inhaled therapies to treat severe respiratory and other chronic diseases. Aerami’s lead development program is AER-901, a drug-device combination product candidate in Phase 1 for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. AER-901 is designed to improve drug uptake and deliver consistent, therapeutically effective, and well tolerated levels of a nebulized formulation of imatinib via the FOX^® device, which is both 510(k) cleared and CE marked and which the Company has licensed from Vectura Limited.

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” concerning the development and commercialization of Aerami’s product candidates, timing of clinical trials, the company’s business development efforts and its expectations regarding its prospects. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual future events or results to differ materially from such statements, including risks associated with the clinical development process and the ability to obtain funding to support planned clinical activities. These statements are made as of the date of this press release. Actual results may vary. Aerami undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements for any reason.

Aerami Investor Contact:
CORE IR
Tel: 516-222-2560
investors@aerami.com

Aerami Media Contact:
Jules Abraham
CORE IR
Tel: 917-885-7378
julesa@coreir.com