Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) today announced Dr. Roger Jeffs has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) effective January 3, 2022 and will continue as a director on the board. He succeeds Damian deGoa who will remain a director of the Company and will provide transition support through January 31, 2022.
“Roger is a talented leader with incredible knowledge and experience in drug development and commercializing rare disease drugs with an outstanding track record specifically in pulmonary hypertension,” said Dr. Stephen Bloch, Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors. “Roger’s guidance and leadership will help optimize YUTREPIA™ (treprostinil) inhalation powder upon approval and build our future pipeline.”
“We are very appreciative of Damian’s contribution to Liquidia as our Chief Executive Officer,” said Paul Manning, a member of the Company’s Board of Directors. “Damian led a significant turnaround at the organization that has us well-positioned financially and strategically. We welcome his continued insights as our colleague on the board of directors and wish him well in his new endeavor.”
Dr. Jeffs retired as President & co-CEO from United Therapeutics Corporation in 2016 after an 18-year tenure. Dr. Jeffs previously held positions at Amgen, Inc. and Burroughs Wellcome Co where he held roles in clinical development. Dr. Jeffs holds an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Duke University and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.
Dr. Jeffs is the Vice-Chairman and co-founder of Kryia Therapeutics, and currently serves on the Board of Axsome Therapeutics (AXSM) in addition to Liquidia (LQDA); Dr. Jeffs previously served on the Board of Directors of United Therapeutics from 2001-2016, Dova Pharmaceuticals (DOVA) from 2017-2019, Sangamo Therapeutics from 2017-2019, Axovant Gene Therapies (AXGT) from 2017-2019, and Albireo Pharma (ALBO) from 2017-2021.
“I am excited to join Liquidia at this critical inflection point. With YUTREPIA launch in sight, we have an opportunity to scale our existing commercial capabilities for this potentially best-in-class inhaled prostacyclin therapy, and rapidly drive towards profitability. I am also very excited to leverage my own development background to accelerate our next gen formulations that could further improve the product profile,” said Roger Jeffs.
