Metacrine welcomes Dr. Julia Owens to its Board as Independent Director

– USA, CA –  Metacrine, Inc. (NASDAQ: MTCR), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering differentiated therapies for patients with liver and gastrointestinal diseases, today announced the appointment of Dr. Julia Owens, Ph.D. to its board as an independent director and a member of the Compensation Committee, effective April 1, 2021.

“We’re excited to welcome Julia as a new independent director,” said Board Chairman, Dr. Richard Heyman. “She is an accomplished biopharmaceutical executive, with an established track record in building companies, business development, capital formation and strategic partnerships. Julia’s perspective will provide our board with valuable insights as we look ahead to important operating and clinical development milestones.”

About Dr. Julia Owens

Dr. Owens currently serves as the executive chairperson for Millendo Therapeutics, Inc., a company that she co-founded in 2012. For nine years, she served as the president and CEO of Millendo, establishing its strategy, building its endocrine disease pipeline, and attracting a world-class team. Under her leadership, the company raised $195 million from both the private and public markets and advanced four distinct product candidates into clinical studies in six different indications, including four Phase 2 programs and a pivotal study. Before co-founding Millendo, she served as senior vice president, corporate development and strategy at Lycera Corp.

Dr. Owens also held business development roles at QuatRx Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Shionogi following the approval of Osphena, and at Tularik Inc. (acquired by Amgen). She is on the board of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, the Leadership Council of the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute, and the Investment Advisory Board of the Michigan Biomedical Venture Fund.

“I’m impressed with Metacrine’s progress advancing its potential best-in-class FXR programs,” said Dr. Owens. “Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis is an epidemic in the making with no approved treatments, and will soon become the leading cause of liver transplants in the U.S. It’s an important time for our industry as we bring forward treatments for these patients, and I’m thrilled to join a passionate board of directors with a unified vision.”

Dr. Owens holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California, San Francisco, and a B.S. in chemistry, and a B.A. in molecular and cellular biology from the University of California, Berkeley.

About Metacrine

Metacrine, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company building a pipeline of differentiated therapies to treat liver and gastrointestinal diseases. Metacrine has developed a proprietary farnesoid X receptor platform utilizing a unique chemical scaffold, which has demonstrated an improved therapeutic profile in clinical trials. The Company’s two product candidates, MET409 and MET642, are currently being investigated in clinical trials as potential new treatments for NASH. MET409 has completed a 12-week monotherapy trial in patients with NASH and is being evaluated in a 12-week combination trial with empagliflozin in patients with both NASH and type 2 diabetes. MET642 has completed a 14-day Phase 1 trial in healthy volunteers and is being evaluated in a 16-week monotherapy trial in patients with NASH.

For more information: https://www.metacrine.com/

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Talent4Boards Team