Alkahest Appoints Elizabeth Jeffords as Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer

SAN CARLOS, Calif., Nov. 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Alkahest, Inc. ("Alkahest"), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing innovative therapies to treat age-related diseases, today announced the appointment of Elizabeth Jeffords as chief commercial and strategy officer.

"The expansion of our leadership team comes at a time when the company is moving into a key phase of clinical development," said Karoly Nikolich, Ph.D., chairman and chief executive officer of Alkahest. "Elizabeth is a well-respected leader in the biotech industry and has a broad range of U.S. and global commercial expertise across a range of therapeutic areas. Her history of building exceptional commercial teams and delivering breakthrough results will be invaluable as we pursue this next stage of late-stage clinical and commercial development."

Elizabeth Jeffords commented, "Alkahest's unique approach to harnessing the plasma proteome of aging has the potential to impact millions of patients and families around the world. I look forward to joining Alkahest's exceptional management team and having the opportunity to contribute immediately at such an exciting time for the company."

Elizabeth Jeffords has more than 20 years of experience in the biotech industry and a proven track record of commercial success. Jeffords joins Alkahest from Genentech and Roche Pharmaceuticals where she was most recently the vice president of Genentech's U.S. ophthalmology portfolio and was directly responsible for sales and marketing of Lucentis, Genentech's in-market treatment for age-related macular degeneration. She was also responsible for launch preparation of Genentech's late-stage pipeline of ophthalmology product candidates. Her global roles at Roche include general manager of Roche Norway and global head of business insights and operations and the established products business unit in Basel, Switzerland. At Genentech, she previously served as head of U.S. strategic pricing and contracting management, as well as head of U.S. market analysis and strategy. Jeffords was a Fulbright Scholar and received her masters of business and technology from the University of New South Wales. She received her B.S. in biology and management at Yale University.

About Alkahest
Alkahest is a privately-held clinical-stage company based in the San Francisco Bay Area developing treatments for age-related diseases, with an emphasis on neurodegeneration -- a key medical challenge for our generation. The company's breakthrough research has elucidated changes in the plasma proteome in healthy aging and age-related diseases, and demonstrated that factors in the blood plasma can be augmented or inhibited in order to reverse detrimental effects of aging in both normal aging and disease models in animals. Alkahest is developing novel plasma-based therapies in collaboration with Barcelona, Spain-based Grifols, a global healthcare company and leading producer of plasma therapies. For further information see www.alkahest.com.

Contact Information:

Joe McCracken
Vice President Business Development
Alkahest, Inc.
jmccracken@alkahest.com

Media Contact:
Michael Tattory
LifeSci Public Relations
mtattory@lifescipublicrelations.com

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SOURCE Alkahest, Inc.