Pharmaceutical company hires CTO

Pharmaceutical company hires CTO

Andrew Knudten. Courtesy Cirius Therapeutics

A clinical-stage pharmaceutical company has added a chief technical officer to its leadership team.

San Diego-based Cirius Therapeutics, which has a location in Kalamazoo, named Andrew Knudten to the role, according to the company this week.

Knudten will be responsible for advancing the company's manufacturing and supply chain operations.

Cirius Therapeutics focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of liver and metabolic diseases, including nonalcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH.

"Given our clinical development plans, adding expertise to our manufacturing and supply operations is a logical next step in our growth as a company," said Bob Baltera, CEO, Cirius Therapeutics.

Knudten said Cirius' approach to treating NASH has "the potential to help patients who are battling this disease, as the increase in the prevalence of NASH is rapidly becoming a major contributor to health care costs — both directly related to adverse liver pathologies, as well as other co-morbidities associated with NASH."

Knudten's background

Most recently, Knudten was SVP of technical operations at AveXis, where he played a critical role in building a team to support commercial-scale manufacturing and approval of a gene therapy.

Previously, he held numerous manufacturing and operations executive positions at Amgen, Hospira and Novartis.

He holds a B.S. in biological sciences, health and secondary education from Concordia University, an M.S. in cell biology and genetics from the University of Nebraska and an M.B.A. from The Anderson School of Management at UCLA.