Maxion Therapeutics appoints Joel Edwards as CBO

Cambridge, UK-based Maxion Therapeutics today announced the appointment of Joel Edwards as Chief Business Officer (CBO), effective immediately.

The biotech is developing antibody-based KnotBody drugs for ion channel and G protein coupled receptor (GPCR)-driven diseases.

Mr Edwards brings over 25 years of global experience in corporate strategy, operations, business development and alliance management, having secured more than $3.5 billion in strategic partnering revenue from top 20 pharmaceutical companies. He has overseen multiple collaborations leading to Food and Drug Administration approvals and commercial launches, including Kynamro (mipomersen sodium), Spinraza (nusinersen) and Tegesedi (inotersen). His expertise in partnering novel platforms and assets in cardiometabolic, oncology, neurology, and rare disease areas, will be instrumental as Maxion advances its KnotBody technology targeting complex membrane proteins in multiple indications.

Prior to joining Maxion, Mr Edwards served as CBO at Abilita Therapeutics and Biosion where he closed major discovery collaborations and licensing transactions with Orion, ImmunoGen, and Pyxis Oncology. He has acted as a senior strategic advisor, providing business development guidance to multiple private startup biotech companies, including Creyon Bio where he played a key role in negotiating terms for their discovery collaboration with Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY). He also held various leadership positions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: IONS), where he most recently had an instrumental role in the commercial launch of Tegsedi and led numerous strategic initiatives to enable Ionis’ current commercialization capabilities. Earlier in his career, Joel completed formative business and R&D posts at Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Lexicon Pharmaceuticals.