MannKind Corporation has announced the appointment of Michael Castagna as Chief Executive Officer, effective May 25, 2017. Castagna takes over the role from Matthew Pfeffer, who succeeded Alfred Mann as CEO in January 2016.
Pfeffer had also served as CFO, a role that will now be filled on an interim basis by Rose Alinaya, who is currently the company’s Senior VP and Principal Accounting Officer. Pfeffer will stay on as an advisor through July 2017.
MannKind Chairman of the Board Kent Kresa commented, “The board is extremely grateful to Matt for his committed service to the company over the past nine years. Matt successfully set the foundation for the company during its transition into a commercial entity and effectively prepared Michael to be his successor. Michael demonstrated deep commercial expertise in his prior role as MannKind’s Chief Commercial Officer as he built the capabilities from the bottom-up necessary to position Afrezza and the company for future growth. Under Michael’s leadership, new prescriptions of Afrezza have shown a steady increase since the MannKind launch and future prospects for this innovative product are strong. The board is excited to move forward under Michael’s leadership.”
MannKind also announced a supply and distribution agreement with Biomm for Afrezza in Brazil. Biomm will prepare and submit applications for regulatory approval of Afrezza to the Brazilian agencies and will market the product in Brazil if approved.
Castagna commented, “We are pleased to partner with Biomm to bring Afrezza to the Brazilian diabetes market. Our founder, Alfred Mann, had a vision to reduce the global burden of diabetes through novel technologies. In 2015, more than 14 million people were estimated to have diabetes in Brazil. Given Biomm’s presence and knowledge of the diabetes market in Brazil, we believe that Biomm is the ideal partner to reach healthcare providers and patients with the message that there is another potential option in their fight against diabetes.”
Biomm Diretor Presidente and CEO Heraldo Marchezini said, “As a pioneering biotechnology company in Brazil, we believe that we can leverage our current portfolio of diabetes products to offer another option to the significant and growing numbers of patients with diabetes. We are proud to be the first company to bring inhaled mealtime insulin to the Brazilian market.”
Read the MannKind press release on its new CEO.
Read the MannKind press release on the Biomm deal.
