Akili Builds Medical Team with Newly Appointed Medical Affairs Leader and Formation of Clinical Advisory Committee in Preparation for Commercial Launch
Anil S. Jina, M.D., Joins Akili to Build and Lead Medical Affairs Team
Leading Clinicians and Researchers Will Advise on the Expansion of Akili’s Lead Investigational Product and Pipeline of Digital Medicine Products
BOSTON, Mass – November 13, 2018 – Akili Interactive (“Akili” or “Company"), a leading prescription digital medicine company developing novel treatments for cognitive dysfunction and brain-related conditions, today announced the appointment of Anil S. Jina, M.D., as Senior Vice President and Head of Medical Affairs and the formation of a new Clinical Advisory Committee. The additions build on Akili’s growing medical team as the Company prepares for the future launch of its first digital medicine and drives the aggressive expansion of its pipeline.
Dr. Jina will oversee Akili’s medical affairs strategy and pre-launch efforts for the Company’s lead investigational product, AKL-T01, a potential digital treatment for children with ADHD, currently under review with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). After practicing as a physician, Dr. Jina moved to the biopharmaceutical industry in 2001. He has gained extensive experience across different companies, geographies and therapeutic areas and in roles of increasing responsibility, including as Global Medical Director, Psychiatry at Pfizer; Europe Region Medical Officer at Sanofi; Head of Drug Development Consulting at PPD; and Head of Global Medical Affairs at Shire.
“I am extremely excited to have this opportunity at Akili to not just build a new team but to build a completely different kind of team,” said Dr. Jina. “With Akili’s unique platform and products, we have the amazing ability to bridge science and technology to address patient needs and to empower patients in a way no medicine or medicine company has before.”
Dr. Jina will continue to build Akili’s medical infrastructure, managing the Company’s growing team of experienced medical affairs professionals, as well as oversee Akili’s Clinical Advisory Committee.
The newly formed Clinical Advisory Committee is comprised of the following distinguished medical and healthcare professionals who have made significant contributions to advancing their respective fields:
Carmen Bozic, M.D., Senior Vice President, Portfolio Transformation at Biogen
Adam Gazzaley, M.D., Ph.D., Founding Director of Neuroscape and Professor in Neurology, Physiology and Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco; Akili co-founder and member of the Board of Directors
Scott H. Kollins, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Duke University School of Medicine; Director of the Duke ADHD Program
Philip Ninan, M.D., Affiliate Professor of Psychiatry at the Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University and Founder; Chairman of eMindScience, a health-tech platform focused on self-tracking and reporting around mental health
Bennett Shapiro, M.D., former Executive Vice President of Research for Merck; former Professor and Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Washington
“Anil brings to our team an incredible breadth of industry and clinical experience across many therapeutic areas, and leadership that will continue to drive us to deliver effective medicine with a new type of patient experience. We are thrilled to have him lead our growing team of experienced medical affairs professionals and work with the highly respected scientific and medical leaders that have joined our Clinical Advisory Committee,” said Eddie Martucci, Ph.D., CEO of Akili. “We’re just beginning to tap the potential of our platform technologies. Our Clinical Advisory Committee’s guidance and support will be extremely valuable as we take full advantage of our IP, prepare for our first product launch and aggressively grow our pipeline.”
Dr. Jina and the Clinical Advisory Committee will work with Akili’s management team to identify and prioritize clinical opportunities where novel digital approaches have potential to change the treatment paradigm in areas of growing patient need. Together, they will advance the most promising technologies with the potential to address unmet needs in patients across a multitude of diseases and disorders.
Akili is regularly evaluating new technologies, both through strategic licensing of breakthrough neuroscience from across the world and internal discovery efforts. These innovations fuel the Company’s pipelineof investigational digital medicines in indications including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), major depressive disorder (MDD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and various inflammatory diseases.
About Akili
Akili is a prescription digital medicine company combining scientific and clinical rigor with the ingenuity of the tech industry to reinvent medicine. Akili is pioneering the development of digital treatments with direct therapeutic activity, delivered not through a pill but through a high-quality action video game experience. Akili is advancing a broad pipelineof programs to treat cognitive deficiency and improve symptoms associated with medical conditions across neurology and psychiatry, including ADHD, MDD, ASD and various inflammatory diseases. Akili is also developing complementary and integrated clinical monitors and measurement-based care applications. The Company was co-founded by PureTech Health(PRTC.L) and is a founding member of the Digital Therapeutics Alliance. For more information on Akili, please visit: www.akiliinteractive.com.
Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains statements that are or may be forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to the company's future prospects, developments and strategies. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from current expectations. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and undue reliance should not be placed on them. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding the present and future business strategies of the company and the environment in which it will operate in the future. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as at the date of this press release. Except as required by law and regulatory requirements, neither the company nor any other party intends to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contacts
Akili Interactive
Julie DiCarlo, 1-800-862-7807
julie@akiliinteractive.com