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Atea Pharmaceuticals Appoints Claudio Avila, MB, BS, Ph.D., as Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs
BOSTON, June 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of
About this update from Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"BOSTON, June 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of oral therapeutics for severe viral infections, today announced the appointment of Claudio Avila, MB, BS, Ph.D., as Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs. Dr. Avila previously served as Executive Director, U.S. Medical Strategy and Medical Affairs for COVID-19 at Gilead Sciences. “We are very pleased to welcome Claudio to the Atea team. Claudio’s extensive expertise and experience in medical affairs with a focus on COVID-19, hepatitis and HIV as part of his overall interest in serious viral infectious diseases, will complement and strengthen the capabilities of Atea,” said Jean-Pierre Sommadossi, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Atea Pharmaceuticals. “As we continue to advance our late-stage antiviral pipeline, including AT-527 for the treatment of COVID-19, we look forward to integrating Claudio’s broad international medical affairs experience in our efforts to bring new drugs to the market.” “I am delighted to join Atea at such an exciting time and to contribute to its goal of bringing an easily administered oral antiviral to help in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Avila. “In addition, I am looking forward to helping build Atea into a global leader in the discovery and development of oral direct-acting antivirals for the treatment of severe viral diseases.” Dr. Avila joins Atea from Gilead Sciences, where he served in roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as Executive Director, U.S. Medical Strategy and Medical Affairs for COVID-19. Prior roles at Gilead Sciences included Medical Affairs leadership of the Asia Pacific region, including Japan and China; and for HCV in Europe, the Middle East and Australia. Earlier in his career, Dr. Avila was a Global Program Medical Director for Hepatitis B and C development at Novartis Pharma AG and his first industry role was as Medical Advisor in HIV at GlaxoSmithKline (UK). Dr. Avila’s medical career was as honorary infectious diseases physician in the United Kingdom and medical officer in Australia. Dr. Avila received his medical degree (MB, BS) from Sydney University and BSc (Hons) / Ph.D. from Melbourne University. He has authored more than three dozen peer-reviewed publications. About A...