Albireo Pharma (ALBO) Names Drs. Paul Streck and Craig Hopkinson to Board

Albireo Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALBO) announced the appointments of two scientific leaders, Drs. Paul Streck and Craig Hopkinson, to the Enterprise Leadership Team and Board of Directors, respectively. These appointments coincide with an important time for Albireo as the Company continues to deliver on clinical, regulatory, and commercialization milestones for Bylvay® (odevixibat) for indications potentially across three pediatric cholestatic liver diseases while advancing investigational compounds for adult liver and viral diseases.

“Albireo is at the beginning of an acceleration point, moving Bylvay from a single indication to multiple indications with larger patient populations and advancing two new compounds for adult liver diseases. Paul and Craig bring a depth and breadth of industry, academic and corporate experience to help take our Company to a new level,” said Ron Cooper, President and Chief Executive Officer of Albireo. “As we continue to progress our pipeline, their deep expertise in end-to-end drug development and commercialization are invaluable for Albireo and the patients we serve.”

As the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Streck will join the Albireo Enterprise Leadership Team and will be responsible for providing vision, leadership, and expertise for the Company's next growth phase, necessary to shape and enhance the CMO organization within a fully realized biopharmaceutical company. He brings more than 25 years of experience in drug development, regulatory and medical affairs leadership across both large and small publicly traded biopharmaceutical companies and a track record of success with six global regulatory launches, five INDs and nine commercial product launches. Dr. Streck’s career spans all phases of clinical development, global regulatory interactions, negotiations and approvals, and his expertise will add immense value to Albireo’s leadership team. Most recently, Dr. Streck served as Chief Medical Officer at Arena Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded biotechnology company acquired by Pfizer in March 2022. Before that, Dr. Streck served as Chief Medical Officer at Alder Biopharmaceuticals, acquired by Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals in October 2020, and as the Chief Medical Officer of Insmed, advancing the company from clinical to commercial stage. Previous biopharmaceutical experience includes progressive roles at GSK, Shire, and Amgen as well as 10 years in academic medical practice. Dr. Streck will join the Company on December 19, 2022.

“I am excited to join Albireo at this pivotal time of growth and have been inspired by the Company’s commitment to transform the treatment paradigm for patients affected by cholestatic liver diseases,” said Dr. Streck. “As the Company expands Bylvay into additional indications, I am eager to embrace Albireo’s mission as we prepare for a potential approval and launch in Alagille syndrome, advance our BOLD study in biliary atresia, and progress two new product candidates into adult cholestatic liver diseases.”

As a member of the Albireo Board of Directors, Dr. Craig Hopkinson brings more than 25 years of experience building and leading clinical development organizations and medical affairs groups. He has led multidisciplinary development teams in a range of therapeutic areas, including neuroscience, oncology, gastroenterology, infectious diseases, cardiovascular conditions, inflammation, genetic diseases, hematology, and neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Hopkinson currently serves as Executive Vice President of Research & Development and Chief Medical Officer at Alkermes, where he is responsible for the strategic development and execution of clinical development programs for the company’s pipeline of drug candidates. He leads discovery, pharmaceutical development, early-stage and late-stage clinical development, regulatory affairs, clinical operations, PMO and medical affairs functions. Before joining Alkermes in 2017, Dr. Hopkinson served in leadership roles at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Eisai Pharmaceuticals, Elan Pharmaceuticals, Actelion Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer.

“The growth of Albireo has been exciting to watch as the Company continues to deliver on its R&D, regulatory, and commercialization milestones for Bylvay while advancing the pipeline with compounds for adult liver and viral diseases,” said Dr. Hopkinson. “I am thrilled to join the Board to support the organization and foster the portfolio’s growth, which has great potential to treat patients suffering from various rare pediatric and adult liver diseases globally.”

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