On the heels of its first approval, Myovant Sciences is tapping a new CEO to take that drug to market while stoking its R&D engine to find its successors. Dave Marek takes over from Lynn Seely, M.D., the company’s chief since June 2016.
Marek joins from Axsome Therapeutics, where, as chief commercial officer, he laid the groundwork for the expected launches of multiple central nervous system disorder drugs. Before Axsome, though, he spearheaded the launch of Amgen’s migraine med Aimovig and co-led the company’s commercialization partnership in the U.S. with Novartis.
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Before Amgen, he put in time at Saatchi and Saatchi Healthcare Advertising, where his team worked on advertising strategies for various drugs including Enbrel, Nexium and Ambien.
Marek arrives two weeks after the FDA approved Myovant’s Orgovyx (relugolix) for adults with advanced prostate cancer and one week after the company inked a development and commercialization partnership with Pfizer. The Big Pharma handed over $650 million upfront and promised up to $4.2 billion in regulatory and sales milestones for the right to jointly develop and market the drug in prostate cancer and—if approved—women’s health indications in the U.S. and Canada. Pfizer also grabbed the option to market the drug in oncology outside the U.S., except in certain Asian countries.
The FDA is already reviewing relugolix for the treatment of uterine fibroids, and Myovant is also developing it for endometriosis. It expects the agency to make a decision on the former indication June 1 and plans to file the drug for approval in the latter indication in the first half of this year.
“The Myovant board and I welcome Dave to this important role at
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Potter is also the CEO of Sumitovant, the umbrella unit created by Sumitomo Dainippon to house Myovant and some of its peers when it acquired them in the fall of 2019. That deal saw the Japanese pharma hand over $3 billion upfront to buy Roivant’s stake in Myovant, Urovant, Enzyvant, Altavant and Spirovant.
The benefits of the deal were obvious at the time: Roivant cashed in on some of its work to date, topping up its coffers for future Vants, while Sumitomo picked up a late-stage pipeline as the antipsychotic Latuda, one of its main moneymakers, faces the end of its patent in 2023. And just over a year down the line, it has already started delivering. Two days after the FDA approved Orgovyx, it OK’d Urovant’s overactive bladder drug Gemtesa (vibegron), which is slated to launch in the U.S. in the first quarter.