ONO PHARMA USA Appoints David Trexler as Chief Commercial Officer to Strengthen U.S. Leadership

September 28, 2021

Mr. Trexler to lead the commercial infrastructure for tirabrutinib and other compounds in oncology pipeline

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., -- ONO PHARMA USA, INC. (President and CEO, Kunihiko Ito, “OPUS”) today announced the appointment of David Trexler as Chief Commercial Officer of OPUS. Mr. Trexler will lead and establish the company's commercial capabilities in preparation for the planned commercialization of our investigational lead compound, tirabrutinib hydrochloride (ONO-4059) (“tirabrutinib”), a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (“BTK”) inhibitor and potential treatment for patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma (“PCNSL”) and our multiple products in our oncology pipeline over the next few years in the United States.

"We are delighted to welcome David Trexler to OPUS. He has a proven track record of establishing commercial organizations for various pharmaceutical companies as well as successfully executing oncology product launches and delivering impactful programs and services to patients and healthcare providers in the United States”, said Kunihiko Ito, President and CEO of OPUS. “With his leadership and experience, he is ideally qualified to lead OPUS. We very much look forward to working with him."

"I am enthusiastic about joining OPUS at this exciting time in the company's development," commented David Trexler, Chief Commercial Officer of OPUS. "I look forward to working closely with the entire ONO PHARMA team to build our U.S. organization to enable a successful commercialization of tirabrutinib and our multiple oncology pipeline products under clinical development in this country."

David Trexler, Chief Commercial Officer

Mr. Trexler brings more than 30 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry experience to OPUS. He has built his career in leadership positions for branded pharmaceuticals in marketing, sales, business development and general management. Most recently, he served as President and Member of the Board of Directors of MorphoSys US Inc., a business of MorphoSys AG, Planegg/Munich, Germany, where he was responsible for establishing MorphoSys’ commercial capabilities in preparation for the commercialization of MONJUVI® (tafasitamab-cxix) for R/R diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in the United States. Prior to MorphoSys, he worked for EMD Serono, a business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, as Global Brand Lead, Bavencio® (avelumab) and Senior Vice President, US Oncology Commercial. At EMD Serono, he was responsible for building Merck KGaA's first commercial oncology footprint in the United States and for the successful launch of Bavencio® for metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (mMCC). He previously held leadership roles at Eisai Inc., Mylan Bertek Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi-Aventis Pharmaceuticals.

About ONO PHARMA USA, INC.

ONO PHARMA USA, INC. (“OPUS”), established in 1998 as the U.S. subsidiary of Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. ("Ono”), is pursuing the clinical development of new drug candidates and is aiming to establish its operation from the clinical development until the regulatory approval of the products in preparation for the commercialization of the products in the United States. In addition, OPUS has been engaged in promotion of the discovery alliances and licensing activities to expand Ono’s development pipeline and to pursue the commercialization opportunities in the United States. For more information, please visit the company’s website at us.ono-pharma.com.

Contact

ONO PHARMA USA, INC.
[email protected]