Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MRNS) recently announced the appointment of Lorianne K. Masuoka MD, as the new CMO of the company. Dr. Masuoka is a board certified neurologist and has over 20-years of experience in the development and expansion of high-value product pipelines, within the industry. She is also credited with being responsible for several drug approvals and strategic alliances. In her new capacity as the CMO, Dr. Masuoka would be responsible for the development of clinical programs, for postpartum depression, pediatric orphan indications and status epilepticus.
Christopher M. Cashman, the CEO of MRNS, welcomed the new CMO and stated that they plan on executing their phase-2 clinical trials in postpartum depression and status epilepticus, very soon. He also noted that Dr. Masuoka’s experience would be invaluable to the company, as it looks to expand ganaxolone development into areas of high-therapeutic benefits. Dr. Masuoka was last serving as the CMO of InVivo Therapeutics. Previously she also served in the same capacity, at Cubist Pharmaceuticals and Nektar Therapeutic.
Upon her appointment, the new CMO expressed her excitement to join Marinus at a transformative time, in its development. She further stated that she was impressed by the efficacy and tolerability profiles of ganaxolone and was looking forward to shaping and executing MRNS’ strategy for advancing ganaxolone into targeted patient populations. It should be noted here that the company recently released data from the phase-1 clinical trials of ganaxolone IV.
The data from the recent trial was made public at the London-Innsbruck Colloquium on Status Epilepticus and Acute Seizures. The event was held in Salzburg, Austria, on April 6-8, 2017. The company’s poster was also selected as one of the twenty best posters, at the Colloquium. The poster presentation was delivered by Dr. Julia Tsai, the executive director of clinical development, at the company.
Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MRNS) closed at a share price of $1.44, after having lost 3.36% of its share value, at the end of the April 28 trading session.