– USA, NY – Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (Nasdaq: AVXL), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing differentiated therapeutics for the treatment of neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Rett syndrome, and other central nervous system diseases, today announced the appointment of Dr. Jiong Ma, Ph.D. to its Board of Directors.
“I am excited to welcome Ms. Ma to Anavex’s Board of Directors,” said CEO, Dr. Christopher Missling. “Ms. Ma brings extensive experience in innovative product launches to Anavex. I am confident she will make important contributions to our Board of Directors and towards the commercial development of ANAVEX 2-73.”
Dr. Elliot Favus will retire as a Board member today.
About Dr. Jiong Ma
Ms. Ma is a Senior Board executive with over 25 years of experience in investing, building, scaling companies with a focus on innovative product launches in digital health, technology, and the new energy transition. Dr. Jiong Ma serves and served as a Board Director of LinkinVax, Aledia, Voxel8, Lo3 Energy, mc10, acquired by Medidata, Storiant, Fulham, Convey Computer, acquired by Micron Technology, Powervation, acquired by RHOM Semiconductor, Laser Light Engine and Carbonite, Inc., which went public via IPO in 2011 and was subsequently acquired by OpenText in 2019 for approximately $1.45 billion.
As a Partner at Braemar Energy Ventures, Ms. Ma focused on investments in digitization of industry, resource efficiency, mobility, renewable energy infrastructure, and deeptech. She was on the firm’s investment committee and has led more than 15 investments in growth-stage companies with a focus on innovative product launches, as well as raising funding, negotiating and structuring investments, hiring management teams, and assembling boards.
Prior, she was with the Venture Capital Group at 3i, a global private equity firm ($17 billion AUM), where she led investments across multiple stages in Digital Health, TMT, and Cleantech. Among them TransMedics Group (Nasdaq: TMDX), ImpactRx/Symphony Health Solutions, which was later acquired by PRA Health Sciences (Nasdaq: PRAH).
Preceding the Venture Capital Group at 3i, Ms. Ma held several senior positions at Lucent Technologies and Bell Labs. Her responsibilities included lead roles in product portfolio strategy, new product launches for Optical and Data Networking, and research and product development. Ms. Ma was also a founding team member of Onetta, a fiber networks company.
“It’s an honor to join Anavex’s Board of Directors,” said Ms. Ma. “With the focus on neurodegeneration and neurodevelopmental diseases, Anavex is tackling one of the biggest medical challenges that our society faces today. I am impressed with the breadth of Anavex’s pipeline. I look forward to applying my insights to advance Anavex towards its next stage of growth on the way to commercial success.”
She has a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University Colorado at Boulder and an MS in Electrical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Ms. Ma is a Kauffman Fellow.
About Anavex Life Sciences Corp.
Anavex Life Sciences Corp. is a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of differentiated therapeutics for the treatment of neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Rett syndrome, and other central nervous system diseases, pain, and various types of cancer. Anavex’s lead drug candidate, ANAVEX 2-73 (blarcamesine), completed successfully a Phase 2a clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease and recently a Phase 2 proof-of-concept study in Parkinson’s disease dementia and a Phase 2 study in adult patients with Rett syndrome. ANAVEX 2-73 is an orally available drug candidate that restores cellular homeostasis by targeting sigma-1 and muscarinic receptors. Preclinical studies demonstrated its potential to halt and/or reverse the course of Alzheimer’s disease. ANAVEX 2-73 also exhibited anticonvulsant, anti-amnesic, neuroprotective, and anti-depressant properties in animal models, indicating its potential to treat additional CNS disorders, including epilepsy. The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research previously awarded Anavex a research grant, which fully funded a preclinical study to develop ANAVEX 2-73 for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. ANAVEX 3-71, which targets sigma-1 and muscarinic receptors, is a promising clinical-stage drug candidate demonstrating disease-modifying activity against the major hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease in transgenic (3xTg-AD) mice, including cognitive deficits, amyloid and tau pathologies. In preclinical trials, ANAVEX 3-71 has shown beneficial effects on mitochondrial dysfunction and neuroinflammation.
For more information: https://www.anavex.com/
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