CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Blueprint
Medicines Corporation (NASDAQ:BPMC), a leader in discovering and
developing targeted kinase medicines for patients with genomically
defined diseases, today announced the appointment of Christina Rossi as Chief Commercial Officer,
effective October 29, 2018. Blueprint
Medicines also announced the appointment of Paul Beresford as General Manager,
International.
In her new role, Ms. Rossi will join the executive management
team and have overall responsibility for commercial strategy and
operations, including sales and marketing, for a potential
commercial launch of avapritinib in the
United States in 2019 and pre-commercial planning across
Blueprint Medicines' pipeline. Based in Switzerland, Mr. Beresford will be responsible
for commercial strategy and operations outside of the United States.
"We are thrilled to welcome Christy to Blueprint Medicines as we
rapidly advance our registration-enabling clinical trials for
avapritinib in multiple patient populations and prepare for key
clinical and regulatory milestones in the year ahead," said
Jeff Albers, Chief Executive Officer
of Blueprint Medicines. "Christy has a proven track record of
building efficient commercial organizations, successfully launching
new medicines and delivering impactful programs and services to
patients and providers. With her leadership and experience, we
believe we are well positioned to transform Blueprint Medicines
into a fully-integrated, commercial-stage biopharmaceutical
company."
Mr. Albers continued, "We are also thrilled to have Paul join
Blueprint Medicines as we increase our focus on delivering
transformative precision therapies to patients worldwide. Paul
brings more than two decades of experience in Europe and other geographies, with a focus on
global product strategy and market access."
Christina Rossi, Chief
Commercial Officer
Ms. Rossi brings nearly 20 years of global pharmaceutical and
biotechnology experience. Most recently, Ms. Rossi served as the
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Business Unit Head, North America, at Sanofi Genzyme. In this
role, she was responsible for all aspects of the financial
performance of Sanofi Genzyme's MS franchise and increased market
share for existing products, led the launch of new therapies and
optimized operations to accelerate patient access. Prior to that
Ms. Rossi served as Vice President, MS Sales at Sanofi Genzyme and
Vice President, MS Patient and Provider Services at Sanofi Genzyme.
Prior to joining Sanofi Genzyme, Ms. Rossi held various roles at
Biogen, Inc., including Head, Commercial Strategy for Eidetica
Biopharma GmbH, Biogen's biosimilar-focused venture, and U.S.
Brand Leader for TYSABRI®
(natalizumab). In addition, Ms. Rossi consulted in the healthcare
practice at the Boston Consulting Group. Ms. Rossi holds a B.S. in
biology, cum laude, from Duke
University and an M.B.A. from Harvard
Business School.
"I'm excited to join the Blueprint Medicines team at this
important moment for the company," said Christy Rossi, Chief Commercial Officer of
Blueprint Medicines. "With compelling clinical data for avapritinib
in patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors and plans
to submit a new drug application in the first half of 2019, now is
the time to expand and accelerate plans to deliver this potentially
transformative precision therapy to patients."
Paul Beresford, General
Manager, International
Mr. Beresford joins Blueprint Medicines with over 20 years of
experience in global, regional and in-country roles, including
cross-functional and commercial leadership in strategy, operations
and alliance management, encompassing specialty therapeutics and
rare diseases. Over the course of his career, Mr. Beresford has
successfully launched several major products in multiple
therapeutic areas. Most recently, Mr. Beresford served as Vice
President, Global Product Strategy Lead in the Rare Diseases
Franchise at Shire, where he was responsible for leading global
strategy, accelerating revenue growth of the portfolio and driving
life-cycle management. Previously, he served as International
Launch Leader, Neuroscience at Shire, where he successfully led the
development and implementation of cross-functional plans to launch
VYVANSE® (lisdexamfetamine dimesylate) in a number of European and
other regional markets. Prior to joining Shire (Switzerland) in 2010, Mr. Beresford held
various commercial and business development roles at Shire in the
UK, InforMed-Direct, Bayer and IMS. Mr. Beresford has a business
degree from Kingston University in
the UK and undertook advanced studies in the management of biotech,
medtech and pharma ventures at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de
Lausanne.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995, as amended, including, without limitation, statements
regarding a potential commercial launch of avapritinib in
the United States in 2019;
potential clinical and regulatory milestones; the ability to
transform Blueprint Medicines into a fully-integrated,
commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company; plans to submit a new
drug application for avapritinib; plans and timelines for
delivering avapritinib to patients; and Blueprint Medicines'
strategy, business plans and focus. The words "may," "will,"
"could," "would," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate,"
"intend," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "project," "potential,"
"continue," "target" and similar expressions are intended to
identify forward-looking statements, although not all
forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Any
forward-looking statements in this press release are based on
management's current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a
number of risks, uncertainties and important factors that may cause
actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed
or implied by any forward-looking statements contained in this
press release, including, without limitation, risks and
uncertainties related to the delay of any current or planned
clinical trials or the development of Blueprint Medicines' drug
candidates, including avapritinib, BLU-554, BLU-667 and BLU-782;
Blueprint Medicines' advancement of multiple early-stage efforts;
Blueprint Medicines' ability to successfully demonstrate the safety
and efficacy of its drug candidates; the preclinical and clinical
results for Blueprint Medicines' drug candidates, which may not
support further development of such drug candidates; actions of
regulatory agencies, which may affect the initiation, timing and
progress of clinical trials; Blueprint Medicines' ability to
develop and commercialize companion diagnostic tests for its
current and future drug candidates, including companion diagnostic
tests for BLU-554 for FGFR4-driven hepatocellular carcinoma,
avapritinib for PDGFRα D842V-driven gastrointestinal stromal tumors
and advanced systemic mastocytosis and BLU-667 for RET-driven
non-small cell lung cancer; the success of Blueprint Medicines'
current and future collaborations, including its cancer
immunotherapy collaboration with F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and
Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. and its collaboration with CStone
Pharmaceuticals. These and other risks and uncertainties are
described in greater detail in the section entitled "Risk Factors"
in Blueprint Medicines' Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the
quarter ended June 30, 2018, as filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on August 1, 2018, and any other filings that
Blueprint Medicines has made or may make with the SEC in the
future. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press
release represent Blueprint Medicines' views only as of the date
hereof and should not be relied upon as representing its views as
of any subsequent date. Except as required by law, Blueprint
Medicines explicitly disclaims any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements.
Trademarks
TYSABRI® is a registered trademark of Biogen Inc. VYVANSE® is a
registered trademark of Shire LLC. All other trademarks and trade
names in this press release are the property of Blueprint Medicines
Corporation.
View original content to download
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blueprint-medicines-strengthens-leadership-with-the-appointments-of-christina-rossi-as-chief-commercial-officer-and-paul-beresford-as-general-manager-international-300739612.html
SOURCE Blueprint Medicines Corporation