-- Ian Estepan named chief financial officer
-- Dallan Murray named chief commercial officer
-- Louise Rodino-Klapac, Ph.D., named chief scientific officer
-- Ty Howton, general counsel, to retire from Sarepta 
-- Ryan Brown named interim general counsel

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT), the leader in precision genetic medicine for rare diseases, announced today its board of directors approved the appointments of several executive leadership positions: Ian Estepan to executive vice president and chief financial officer, Dallan Murray to senior vice president and chief commercial officer, and Louise Rodino-Klapac, Ph.D., to executive vice president and chief scientific officer, effective today. Both Mr. Estepan and Dr. Rodino-Klapac will continue to serve as members of the company’s executive committee (ECOM). Mr. Murray will become a member of the Company’s ECOM.   Sarepta also announced the retirement of Ty Howton, executive vice president and general counsel. With Mr. Howton’s retirement, Ryan Brown has been named interim general counsel, effective today, and will also become a member of the Company’s ECOM.

Mr. Estepan previously served as senior vice president with responsibility for Investor Relations, Corporate Strategy, Corporate Affairs and Chief of Staff. As the chief financial officer of Sarepta, Mr. Estepan will oversee Finance, Corporate Strategy, Business Development, Strategic Alliances, Investor Relations, and Corporate Affairs. Mr. Estepan joined Sarepta in 2015 and is intimately knowledgeable about all aspects of the company’s business. He has been responsible for the development of Sarepta’s strategy over the past 3 years and was a key architect in securing $2.5 billion in capital to support the Company’s growth. During his tenure, he has assumed increasing responsibilities, establishing the Corporate Strategy and Program Management functions, with an intense focus on advancing the interest of patients. Mr. Estepan began his career in finance as a healthcare sector analyst at Salomon Smith Barney in June 1999. Before joining Sarepta, he worked for more than a decade as a portfolio manager for Spectra Financial Group, overseeing a portfolio of pharmaceutical, biotech and medtech equities. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology with a concentration in pre-medicine from Columbia University, where he graduated magna cum laude.

Immediately preceding his appointment to chief commercial officer, Mr. Murray served as Sarepta’s interim chief commercial officer. Prior to this, Mr. Murray was vice president, commercial strategy and portfolio management, overseeing the commercial positioning and readiness for the Company’s pipeline of more than 40 investigational therapies. With his permanent appointment as chief commercial officer of Sarepta, Mr. Murray will have oversight of U.S. and Global Commercial, Commercial Operations, Global Market Access, Patient Services, Payer & Distribution, Latin America and Japan. Mr. Murray joined Sarepta in 2013 and has been instrumental in the launch of Sarepta’s two approved RNA therapies, including one of the top-five most successful rare disease product launches in history. Mr. Murray’s scientific knowledge, his relationships with neuromuscular thought leaders and treating physicians around the world, his insight in access and reimbursement, and the depth of his understanding and experience in what will be required to launch a transformative gene therapy, make him uniquely suited for this role. Prior to joining Sarepta, Mr. Murray held commercial leadership roles at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Gilead Sciences, Biogen, and Janssen Ortho. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of Alberta, and a Master’s in Business Administration from Queen’s University.

Dr. Rodino-Klapac has been named Sarepta’s chief scientific officer. Dr. Rodino-Klapac previously served as Sarepta’s senior vice president, gene therapy. Dr. Rodino-Klapac has led the design of most of Sarepta’s late-stage gene therapy candidates, has built and led Sarepta’s Gene Therapy Center of Excellence (GTCOE) in Columbus, Ohio, and has oversight for Sarepta’s Gene Editing Innovation Center (GEIC) in Durham, N.C.   In her new role as chief scientific officer, she will add to her oversight and responsibilities RNA Discovery, Translational Medicine, and Genomics. Dr. Rodino-Klapac is renowned for her contributions to neuromuscular biology, which have profoundly advanced the field. She is author to a significant body of published, peer-reviewed work, the recipient of multiple awards recognizing her impact and accomplishments as a scientist and leader, is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fellow appointee, and is a current Board member of the Association for Regenerative Medicine, as well as a member of the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy, and the American Academy of Neurology. She is the former head of the Laboratory for Gene Therapy Research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and co-founded and served as chief scientific officer of Myonexus Therapeutics before it was acquired by Sarepta in 2019. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Kings College, and her Ph.D. in molecular genetics from The Ohio State University.

Ty Howton, who has served as Sarepta’s general counsel since 2012, has announced his plans to retire from his role as general counsel. He will remain a consultant to the company through the first quarter of 2021 to support the transition and remain a resource to the Company’s ECOM. Ryan Brown, who currently serves as vice president, global chief compliance officer and regulatory counsel for Sarepta, will serve as interim general counsel and become a member of the company’s ECOM. Mr. Brown joined Sarepta in 2018. Prior to Sarepta, Mr. Brown served as vice president at Acadia Pharmaceuticals and before that held various roles of increasing responsibility at Allergan, Inc., including senior counsel of regulatory and compliance; general counsel to SkinMedica, an Allergan company; special assistant to the president; and vice president and chief compliance officer. Mr. Brown holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Loyola Marymount University and his Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School.

“As we continue to execute our vision of becoming the leader in multi-platform genetic medicine to rescue lives stolen by rare disease, the organizational changes we have announced today greatly strengthen our Executive Committee, streamline our operations under passionate, mission-driven leaders, and ensure that we will continue to hone our execution as we move to the next stage in our evolution. I have a long-held bias for building leaders from within the organization when possible and after evaluating impressive external candidates, it was readily clear that we will take our performance to the next level with the elevation of Mr. Estepan as our chief financial officer and Mr. Murray as chief commercial officer, proven Sarepta leaders with a detailed understanding of our strategy who know precisely what must be done to achieve our ambitions and rapidly bring our therapies to patients. Further, with Dr. Rodino-Klapac as Sarepta’s chief scientific officer, we will organize under a brilliant scientist and proven leader our interdependent research and translational efforts across our RNA, gene transfer, and gene editing platforms. Finally, on behalf of employees, the executive leadership team and the Sarepta board of directors, we want to extend our thanks to Ty for his significant contributions in shaping Sarepta into what it is today. He has been a steady, guiding hand these past eight years and we are grateful for his leadership and intellect as our general counsel and for his role as thoughtful adviser to me and to the organization. I wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement,” said Doug Ingram, president and chief executive officer, Sarepta Therapeutics.

Mr. Ingram continued, “Louise, Ian, Dallan and Ryan share a singular passion for our mission and a keen understanding of what must be done to achieve our ambitions. Across the Company, we are prepared for flawless execution to make 2021 our strongest – and most impactful – year yet for the patients we serve.”

“Being part of Sarepta’s transformation into a leader in genetic medicine has been the opportunity of a lifetime. After nearly a decade as general counsel, I depart with confidence knowing that the organization is strong and ready to execute to support its fundamental mission of transforming the lives of patients,” said Mr. Howton.

About Sarepta Therapeutics
At Sarepta, we are leading a revolution in precision genetic medicine and every day is an opportunity to change the lives of people living with rare disease. The Company has built an impressive position in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and in gene therapies for limb-girdle muscular dystrophies (LGMDs), mucopolysaccharidosis type IIIA, Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT), and other CNS-related disorders, with more than 40 programs in various stages of development. The Company’s programs and research focus span several therapeutic modalities, including RNA, gene therapy and gene editing. For more information, please visit www.sarepta.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains "forward-looking statements." Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will," "intends," "potential," "possible" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding the potential benefits of the organizational changes Sarepta has announced and Sarepta being prepared for flawless execution to make 2021 its strongest and most impactful year yet for the patients it serves.

These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Sarepta’s control. Known risk factors include, among others: leadership transitions can be inherently difficult to manage and may cause uncertainty or a disruption to Sarepta’s business or may increase the likelihood of turnover in other key officers and employees; Sarepta may not be able to execute on its business plans and goals, including meeting its expected or planned regulatory milestones and timelines, clinical development plans, and bringing its product candidates to market, due to a variety of reasons, many of which may be outside of Sarepta’s control, including possible limitations of company financial and other resources, manufacturing limitations that may not be anticipated or resolved for in a timely manner, regulatory, court or agency decisions, such as decisions by the United States Patent and Trademark Office with respect to patents that cover Sarepta’s product candidates and the COVID-19 pandemic; and those risks identified under the heading “Risk Factors” in Sarepta’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, and most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as other SEC filings made by Sarepta which you are encouraged to review.

Any of the foregoing risks could materially and adversely affect Sarepta’s business, results of operations and the trading price of Sarepta’s common stock. For a detailed description of risks and uncertainties Sarepta faces, you are encouraged to review the SEC filings made by Sarepta. We caution investors not to place considerable reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Sarepta does not undertake any obligation to publicly update its forward-looking statements based on events or circumstances after the date hereof.

Source: Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.

Media and Investors:
Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.
Investors:
Ian Estepan, 617-274-4052, iestepan@sarepta.com
Media:
Tracy Sorrentino, 617-301-8566, tsorrentino@sarepta.com