CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Praxis Precision Medicines, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company translating genetic insights into the development of therapies for people with central nervous system (CNS) disorders, today announced that it has expanded its leadership team as it works to advance its clinical and preclinical-stage portfolio of novel programs for both rare and prevalent conditions. The leadership appointments include Dean J. Mitchell as chairman of the board of directors, Nicole Sweeny as chief commercial officer and Alyssa Wyant as senior vice president, regulatory and quality. Mr. Mitchell replaces former chairman Nicholas Galakatos, Ph.D., global head of Blackstone Life Sciences, who will continue to serve as a director of Praxis.

“We are thrilled to welcome this esteemed group of leaders to the team, each of whom brings significant expertise in their respective functions,” said Marcio Souza, president and chief executive officer of Praxis. “Praxis is at an exciting stage in its evolution following our recent financing, with multiple potential value creating milestones expected over the next year. Dean’s extensive industry track record and wealth of strategy and development insights will be invaluable as we enter the next phase of growth for our company. Nicole’s background leading portfolio and product strategy and Alyssa’s experience leading regulatory functions will be critical as we navigate the clinical development and potential registration paths for our programs in depression, movement disorders, pain and epilepsy.”

Dean J. Mitchell is a pharmaceutical industry veteran, with extensive expertise building and leading biopharmaceutical companies as chairman or chief executive officer across all stages of growth and product development. Mr. Mitchell is the former chairman of Covid Pharma Holdings and PaxVax Corporation, prior to their respective sales, and currently serves as chairman of the board of directors of Kinnate Biopharma Inc., and as a member of the board of directors at Theravance Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: TBPH), ImmunoGen Inc. (NASDAQ: IMGN) and Precigen Inc. (formerly Intrexon Inc.).

Nicole Sweeny has nearly 20 years of commercial experience from product strategy to multiple specialty and rare disease launches across more than a dozen approved products. Ms. Sweeny previously served as franchise head/U.S. general manager at Takeda, and earlier, held U.S. and global roles of increasing responsibility at Shire and Genzyme.

Alyssa Wyant brings more than 20 years of regulatory affairs experience to Praxis, including having led the creation and implementation of global strategies for the development, registration and post-approval activities for numerous approved products across both CNS and rare diseases. Most recently, Ms. Wyant served as senior vice president, regulatory affairs at EryDel S.p.A, and earlier, held senior leadership roles at Edge Therapeutics, Inc. and PTC Therapeutics, Inc.

“Praxis is making swift progress in the advancement of their portfolio of therapies for the treatment of a range of CNS disorders, and I am pleased to join the board at such a pivotal time in its evolution,” said Mr. Mitchell. “The company’s approach to restoring excitatory and inhibitory balance to neuronal circuits in the brain has the potential to address prevalent psychiatric diseases and neurologic disorders, as well as severe pediatric epilepsies, and I look forward to working closely with Marcio and the team to advance this exciting and potentially high-impact pipeline.”

About Praxis

Praxis is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company translating genetic insights into the development of therapies for central nervous system disorders characterized by neuronal imbalance. We are applying insights into genetic mutations that drive excitation-inhibition imbalance to enable us to develop a pipeline addressing prevalent psychiatric and neurologic conditions and rare diseases. We have established a broad portfolio, including five disclosed programs across multiple CNS disorders, including depression, epilepsy, movement disorders and pain syndromes. For more information, please visit www.praxismedicines.com.