AstraZeneca's Juhana Heinonen on the move to Faron

Clinical stage biopharmaceutical company Faron Pharmaceuticals announced the appointment of Dr Juhana Heinonen as its chief commercial officer on Friday, to join the firm in January.

The AIM-traded company said Dr Heinonen was joining it from AstraZeneca, where he served as the global marketing director for Fasenra (benralizumab) for the treatment of asthma - the first biologic medication launched from the AstraZeneca respiratory unit.

He led global market shaping and patient and healthcare professional support strategy development for the new monoclonal antibody, which met the primary endpoints in two Phase III clinical trials in 2016.

Before that, Dr Heinonen held a variety of positions in sales and marketing at Roche between 2008 and 2015, successfully leading the launch and development of a global marketing strategy for the blockbuster treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, RoACTEMRA (tocilizumab).

At Faron, the board said Dr Heinonen would be directly responsible for the development and execution of a pre-launch and launch commercialisation strategy for Faron's wholly-owned lead candidate, Traumakine.

Traumakine is currently in late stage Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

The board said that work would pave the way for Traumakine to enter markets following the approval of the European MAA and US BLA.

“I am delighted to announce the appointment of Juhana to the new role of chief commercial officer,” said Faron CEO Dr Markku Jalkanen.

“He has a wealth of expertise in the commercialisation and marketing of blockbuster drugs, and will be a key addition to the Faron team as we continue our preparations to enter commercialisation.

“We look forward to benefitting from his experience and valuable insights as our wholly-owned lead product, Traumakine, approaches the completion of its pivotal Phase III INTEREST trial.”