Prolynx strengthens leadership and obesity pipeline

USA-based biotech company Prolynx has expanded its senior leadership, appointing Simon Harnest as chief financial officer and Amer Mirza as chief scientific officer, as the Emeryville, California, firm pushes a portfolio of long-acting obesity and metabolic disease candidates toward first-in-human testing.

The two hires deepen the management bench at a company that only emerged into wider view late last year, when it closed a $70 million series A round and installed industry veteran Chris Boulton as chief executive. Prolynx is betting that medicines dosed as infrequently as once a month or once a quarter can carve out space in a weight-loss market still built almost entirely around weekly injections.