On July 23, 2019 Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDRA) reported the appointments of Elizabeth A. Tarka, MD, FACC as Chief Medical Officer and the promotion of John J. Kirby to Chief Financial Officer (Press release, Idera Pharmaceuticals, JUL 23, 2019, View Source [SID1234537674]). Dr. Tarka was most recently the Vice President of Clinical Development at Complexa, Incorporated. Mr. Kirby has led Idera’s finance department as Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer since October 2018.
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"We are extremely pleased to bring Liz onto our team during this critical period for Idera as we advance tilsotolimod through its registrational trial in patients suffering from refractory metastatic melanoma and continue development work to bring the therapy to patients beyond melanoma," stated Vincent Milano, Idera’s Chief Executive Officer. "Throughout her career, Liz has demonstrated a strong track record of clinical development across therapeutic categories, which will benefit our company greatly as we work to deliver against our tilsotolimod objectives and as we also continue to aggressively explore growth opportunities in the rare disease space."
Dr. Tarka’s experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry includes leadership roles across all phases of late stage clinical development and reflects the ability to effectively partner with stakeholders to enable the successful execution of clinical trials. Prior to joining Complexa, she served as Clinical Program Leader for Xarelto (rivaroxaban) at Janssen Pharmaceuticals, where she was responsible for the design, implementation and medical oversight for large multinational trials. She also held various positions of increasing responsibility at GlaxoSmithKline in the Metabolic Pathways and Cardiovascular Therapeutic Area. She has been on the faculty and had numerous major teaching and clinical responsibilities at the University of Pennsylvania and affiliated hospitals. She is trained in Cardiology and Internal Medicine and has published in a number of peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Tarka earned a BA in Biochemistry and an MD from the University of Pennsylvania where she also completed her residency and fellowship training.
"I am excited to join the Idera team and continue to advance tilsotolimod through the ILLUMINATE-301 trial to understand the potential benefits of this novel approach in treating patients with anti-PD-1 refractory melanoma," stated Dr. Tarka. "I’m eager to work with this team to also realize the broader applications of tilsotolimod and identify additional rare disease assets to help drive the future growth of our company."
Mr. Kirby has been the Company’s Vice President of Finance since July 2018. Before joining Idera in 2015, Mr. Kirby served as Assistant Controller at Endo Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Endo, Mr. Kirby served as Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer and Corporate Controller at ViroPharma Incorporated. Mr. Kirby began his career at KPMG, LLP and served as a Regional Audit Director at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals prior to joining ViroPharma. Mr. Kirby received his Bachelor of Science from Villanova University and is a licensed certified public accountant.
"John has done a tremendous job leading our finance operations and team, and I am looking forward to continuing to work together with him as our Chief Financial Officer," continued Milano.