CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Scholar Rock, a biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing drugs that selectively target growth factors in the disease microenvironment, announced today that David L. Hallal has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company. With nearly 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, Mr. Hallal has led companies through strategic growth stages and commercialization of first-in-class therapies for serious and life-threatening conditions, including rare diseases. Amir Nashat, Scholar Rock’s founding Chairman, will remain as a Director.

"We are thrilled to have David join us as Chairman of our Board, bringing expertise as an innovator in product development and commercialization in the biotech industry,” said Nagesh Mahanthappa, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Scholar Rock. “As a leader in directing the prelaunch and commercial path for a range of market-leading drugs, including significant product launches at Alexion and at Amgen, he will offer a unique and valuable perspective as Scholar Rock continues to build its pipeline of innovative medicines, including our lead program SRK-015, which is advancing toward the clinic for the treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy and other neuromuscular diseases.”

“I was drawn to Scholar Rock by the transformational potential of its drug discovery platform, the strength of its leadership team, and the collective breadth of experience represented by the directors on the Board,” said Mr. Hallal. ““Scholar Rock’s therapies, including its lead program with SRK-015, offer a unique approach for many devastating and life-threatening diseases, based on the potential to safely and effectively inhibit pathogenic growth factors in the disease microenvironment. I look forward to working closely with the Board and leadership team as Scholar Rock accelerates its efforts to advance a broad pipeline of therapeutic candidates to meaningfully improve patients’ lives.”

Mr. Hallal most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where he spent more than ten years in executive positions and played a central role in transforming the company from the pre-commercial stage in 2006 to greater than $3 billion in annual revenues by 2016. As CEO, he transitioned the company from a single-product to a multi-product enterprise, including the highly successful launch of Strensiq® and the rapid advancement of Alexion’s highest value pipeline candidate from a preclinical stage to registration trials in multiple diseases in just 18 months. Prior to his appointment as CEO, Mr. Hallal served as Alexion’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Commercial Officer, where he built the company’s commercial infrastructure and a 50-country operating platform, which launched Soliris® for two ultra-rare diseases, Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria and atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, resulting in the most successful commercialization of an ultra-orphan drug in the biotechnology industry.

Prior to Alexion, Mr. Hallal held commercial leadership positions at biopharmaceutical companies where he launched and expanded the adoption of numerous first-in-class and blockbuster products in the therapeutic areas of hematology, oncology, nephrology, immunology, and ophthalmology. At OSI Eyetech, he was Vice President of Sales where he led the U.S. launch of Macugen®, a first-in-class anti-VEGF therapy for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration. At Biogen, he led the immunology sales team, where he built the sales organization to launch Amevive®, a first-in-class biologic for psoriasis. For more than ten years starting in 1992, Mr. Hallal held various leadership roles at Amgen focused on the major oncology and hematology products Epogen®, Neupogen®, Neulasta® and Aranesp®. Mr. Hallal holds a BA in psychology from the University of New Hampshire.

About Scholar Rock

Scholar Rock is discovering and developing a pipeline of innovative new medicines to treat a range of serious diseases in which growth factors play a fundamental role, including neuromuscular diseases, cancer and fibrosis. By focusing on newly elucidated biology of growth factor activation, Scholar Rock has developed insights which allow us to selectively target growth factors in the disease microenvironment, through the mechanism of supracellular activation. Our most advanced drug candidate, SRK-015, is a selective and local inhibitor of the activation of myostatin, a member of the TGF? superfamily of growth factors, and we are initially developing SRK-015 as a treatment to improve muscle function in patients with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) as well as exploring other neuromuscular disorders. Scholar Rock is led by a highly-experienced management team of leaders who have built successful biotechnology companies, and is backed by leading investors.