Adagio Therapeutics Appoints Leading Pharmaceutical and Regulatory Executives to its Board of Directors
29.7.2021 13:30:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
Adagio Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of antibody-based solutions for infectious diseases with pandemic potential, today announced the expansion of the company’s board of directors with key appointments, including:
- Tom Heyman, former president of the Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC)
- Anand Shah, M.D., former deputy commissioner for medical and scientific affairs at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
- Michael Wyzga, president of MSW Consulting, Inc.
“I am thrilled to welcome Tom, Anand and Mike to our board of directors, bringing unmatched expertise from their respective industry roles, and who join at a critical time as we prepare for potential commercialization of ADG20 to combat COVID-19, including rapidly emerging variants,” said Rene Russo, Adagio co-founder and chair of the board of directors. “Spanning his 37-year career with Johnson & Johnson, Tom held a diverse range of leadership roles across R&D, business development, corporate strategy and equity investments. As the deputy commissioner at the FDA until January 2021, Anand led consensus medical and scientific policy development and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, worked across the federal government and with the private sector to advance the development of vaccines and treatments.”
Jane Henderson, Adagio’s chief financial officer added, “Financial strength and discipline are of the utmost importance to our success as we advance several clinical trials with ADG20. We are thrilled to welcome Mike to our board, who brings years of experience leading exceptional financial operations at both public and private companies within the pharmaceutical industry. We look forward to partnering with him, as well as Tom and Anand, to benefit from their invaluable insights into clinical development, financial best practices, regulatory strategy, policy engagement and commercial execution, so that we may address this ongoing global pandemic today.”
Tom Heyman has a long-standing track record in the biopharmaceutical industry, with particular experience in business development and venture capital. He most recently served as president of JJDC, the venture capital group within Johnson & Johnson, where he managed approximately $1.5 billion of capital and oversaw investments in over 120 companies. Prior to his role at JJDC, Mr. Heyman spent 23 years leading business development for Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical group, Janssen, where he was involved in hundreds of licensing and M&A transactions. Under his leadership, major licensing transactions were executed for products like Levaquin, Aciphex, Incivo, Olysio, Velcade, Invokana, Imbruvica, Xarelto and Darzalex, many of which have achieved sales of over $1 billion annually. Also, during his tenure, he led Janssen Belgium through a significant reorganization and implemented a new strategic plan for the site with a major emphasis on external innovation and value creation. Mr. Heyman graduated as Master of Law from the K.U. Leuven in Belgium. He continued with post-graduate studies in International Law in Geneva, Switzerland, and post-graduate studies in business management at the University of Antwerp in Belgium.
Anand Shah, M.D., is a U.S. health policy leader who recently served as the deputy commissioner for medical and scientific affairs at the FDA. Dr. Shah led medical and scientific policy development for high priority programs including Advanced Manufacturing, the Coronavirus Treatment Acceleration Program, COVID-19 vaccine development, and decentralized clinical trials. Under his leadership, FDA initiated the Pandemic Recovery and Preparedness Plan (PREPP) to strengthen the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and resiliency for future public health emergencies. Dr. Shah represented FDA with top-level policy makers of the White House and Cabinet, Congress, and state and local governments. He previously served in senior leadership at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, both as senior medical advisor and chief medical officer of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation. Dr. Shah was chief resident during his radiation oncology residency at Columbia University. He concurrently earned his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.P.H. in health care management and policy from the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Shah has an economics degree from Duke University.
Michael Wyzga is the president of MSW Consulting, Inc., a private company focused on strategic biotechnology consulting, a position he has held since November 2013. Prior to that, he served as president, chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors of Radius Health, Inc. From 1993 to 2011, Mr. Wyzga served in various senior management positions at Genzyme Corporation, including as executive vice president, finance and as chief financial officer. During his time with Genzyme, Mr. Wyzga played key roles in the successful development and commercialization of a number of important therapies, including Cerezyme for Gauche disease, Fabrazyme for Fabry’s disease, Renagel for use in the treatment of dialysis patients and Campath for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Mr. Wyzga has served on a number of public company boards, including at Mereo BioPharma Group plc, OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., X4 Pharmaceuticals, GenSight Biologics, LogicBio Therapeutics, Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Prosensa Holding B.V. Mr. Wyzga received an MBA from Providence College and a B.S. from Suffolk University.
About Adagio Therapeutics
Adagio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of antibody-based solutions for infectious diseases with pandemic potential. The company’s portfolio of antibodies has been optimized using Adimab’s industry-leading antibody engineering capabilities and is designed to provide patients and clinicians with a powerful combination of potency, breadth, durable protection (via half-life extension), manufacturability and affordability. Adagio’s portfolio of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies includes multiple, non-competing broadly neutralizing antibodies with distinct binding epitopes, led by ADG20. Adagio has secured manufacturing capacity for the production of ADG20 with third-party contract manufacturers through the completion of clinical trials and, if approved by regulatory authorities, through initial commercial launch. For more information, please visit www.adagiotx.com.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210729005405/en/
Contact information
Media:
Dan Budwick, 1AB
Dan@1abmedia.com
Investors:
Monique Allaire, THRUST Strategic Communications
monique@thrustsc.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Future Health and Bridge for Billions to Launch Programme Strengthening Health Entrepreneurship in Emerging Markets21.10.2026 18:50:00 EEST | Press release
Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi and Bridge for Billions will launch a new entrepreneurship programme designed to strengthen promising health ventures in emerging markets and help locally-developed solutions reach more people. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261021719421/en/ The first phase of the programme will target around 50 entrepreneurs leading late-incubation to early-acceleration ventures in Africa and Asia. Emerging markets are home to significant health needs and entrepreneurial potential, yet many promising ventures can struggle to access the capital, specialist guidance, and health-system connections required to grow. WIPO’s Global Innovation Index 2024 reported that Latin America and Africa together accounted for around 3% of global venture-capital deals in the first half of 2024, while venture-capital values fell by 19% in Asia-Pacific and 80% in Africa. At the same time, entrepre
Hephaestus Exits Stealth Having Raised $17.2M to Supply Rare-Earth-Free HTS Superconductors and Build Low-Cost Fusion Power21.10.2026 17:48:00 EEST | Press release
Hephaestus today emerged from stealth with solutions that address two of the largest cost drivers in fusion power: the high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets that confine the plasma, and the edge-localized modes (ELMs – major plasma instabilities) that drive up the cost and complexity of conventional reactor designs. The company also announced the close of a new funding round led by CiRi Ventures. Hephaestus was founded in London in 2019 with a single mission – to help make fusion energy cheap enough to compete on the grid. Its AI plasma solver initially swept the full space of tokamak design parameters, unconstrained by the legacy designs and materials much of the industry is already committed to, and identified negative triangularity (NT), which inverts the D-shaped plasma used in most tokamaks, as the most likely configuration for low-cost fusion energy. Subsequent results from facilities worldwide, including the DIII-D, JET, and SMART, have shown that NT can deliver strong
New TOURISE and LIONS Advisory Study Reveals How Creativity Creates a Commercial Advantage for Destination Growth21.10.2026 17:27:00 EEST | Press release
TOURISE, the world’s premier platform for shaping the future of global tourism, today released IDEAS That Travel, a new report developed in collaboration with LIONS Advisory. The study finds that while travel demand is rising, tourism brands are competing for attention in a more fragmented, socially driven and AI-mediated environment, where visibility alone is no longer enough to secure preference and growth. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261021160141/en/ “Travelers are discovering destinations earlier and through more channels than ever, from social feeds and creators to communities and AI tools. That raises the bar for tourism brands. Creativity, distinctiveness and trust are becoming central to how destinations earn attention, build preference and remain relevant across the entire traveler journey,” said His Excellency Ahmed Al Khateeb, Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia and Chairman of TOURISE. IDEAS Th
DEWA International Signs 4 MoUs With Global Partners During WETEX 202621.10.2026 17:12:00 EEST | Press release
DEWA International signed four memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with leading global entities during the Water, Energy, Technology and Environment Exhibition (WETEX 2026). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261021351329/en/ DEWA International signs 4 MoUs with global partners during WETEX 2026 (Photo: AETOSWire) HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD&CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) and Chairman of DEWA International, said: “We are committed to building strategic partnerships with leading international institutions that possess extensive expertise in developing and implementing energy, water and infrastructure projects, while exploring future collaboration opportunities across key sectors. Through these MoUs, we aim to exchange knowledge and expertise and leverage best practices and advanced technologies. These efforts will help accelerate the transition to clean energy, enhance the resilience and ef
Picsart Launches Marketing Studio to Help Businesses Create, Test and Run Google Ads21.10.2026 17:03:00 EEST | Press release
Picsart, the AI media production and distribution platform, where 100M+ creators and businesses worldwide make, market and monetize content, today launched Marketing Studio, bringing content creation, advertising strategy, creative testing and paid distribution into one connected experience. Available now, Marketing Studio combines market insights from Zappi with a Google Ads integration that lets businesses create and launch campaigns directly within Picsart. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261021274792/en/ Picsart, the AI Media Production Platform launches Marketing Studio - bringing content creation, advertising strategy, creative testing and paid distribution into one guided space. The new function includes hero partnerships with Google Ads and Zappi. Built primarily for solopreneurs and small-business owners with limited marketing expertise, Marketing Studio helps answer four questions: where to invest, w
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom
