Sarepta Therapeutics names Kaye interim CEO

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc., an RNA-targeted therapeutics developer, on Tuesday announced that Edward Kaye has been appointed as interim CEO.

Kaye will continue as chief medical officer in addition to serving as CEO. He replaces Christopher Garabedian, who resigned as president, CEO and board member.

Kaye’s efforts will be focused on leading the regulatory and clinical process for the company’s lead product candidate, eteplirsen, and follow on exon drug candidates for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).

“We believe this change will facilitate the company’s clinical and regulatory discussions and relationships with the goal of meeting its stated timelines for bringing a potentially disease-modifying treatment to patients with DMD as soon as possible,” Sarepta’s interim chairman of the board John Hodgman said.

Kaye has been chief medical officer of Sarepta since 2011. During that time, he has held responsibility for the company’s medical and clinical operations. Previously, he was group vice president of Clinical Development at Genzyme Corp., where he supervised clinical development programs for rare diseases, including lysosomal storage diseases and genetic neurological disorders

“Dr. Kaye has a proven track record of leading teams that have brought some of the most successful rare-disease drugs to market, including Myozyme, Lumizyme and Fabrazyme,” Hodgman said. “Further, he has excellent relationships with the clinical, regulatory and patient advocacy communities so critical to making this treatment a reality for this underserved patient population.”