IRVINE, Calif. & BASEL, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Urovant Sciences, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitovant Biopharma Ltd., today announced the appointment of Laura Pala Genatossio as senior vice president and general manager, Europe. The company also announced the promotion of Alana Darden Powell as vice president, corporate communications, and Mark Niemaszek as senior vice president, corporate planning. Genatossio, Darden Powell and Niemaszek join the Urovant Sciences executive leadership team and report to Urovant Sciences President and Chief Executive Officer James Robinson. In addition, Ted Chan has been promoted to senior vice president, associate general counsel and head of intellectual property, reporting to General Counsel Ryan Card.

“I am very pleased to welcome Laura Genatossio to Urovant Sciences to lead our company’s ambitious plans to expand our corporate presence in Europe. She brings a global mindset gained from the commercial leadership roles she has held outside the U.S. in the global biopharmaceuticals industry,” said Jim Robinson, president and chief executive officer of Urovant Sciences. “This is an exciting time for all of us at Urovant Sciences, and our newly appointed senior leadership team members at Urovant will help drive our company’s growth and evolution so that we may bring medical breakthroughs to more patients around the world.”

Genatossio will be responsible for leading the European business strategy and operations for Urovant Sciences and will be based at the company’s European headquarters office in Basel, Switzerland. Most recently, Genatossio was vice president and general manager in Europe, Middle East and Africa for Sarepta Therapeutics, where she was responsible for leading regional strategy and operations, including medical affairs and administration, as well as local commercial, market access and patient affairs functions. Earlier in her career, she held global strategic marketing roles with Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, and served as interim country manager for Aegerion in Canada. Prior to her roles with Aegerion, Genatossio held brand leadership roles at Astra Zeneca for the company’s oncology and cardiovascular portfolios in Europe. Genatossio holds an MBA in marketing, with honors, from the University of Massachusetts College of Management, and a Bachelor of Arts in business law, with honors, from Bologna University.

Darden Powell will be responsible for leading the Urovant Sciences internal and external corporate communications programs and serves as a member of the Urovant executive leadership team. Darden Powell joined Urovant in May 2019 as executive director of marketing, transitioning to executive director of business unit operations, communications, and alliance management in September 2020. Previously, she served as senior director for consumer marketing at Avanir Pharmaceuticals, where she was responsible for consumer marketing and brand public relations programs supporting the company’s neurology franchise. Prior to that, Darden Powell spent over eleven years at Allergan, supporting the BOTOX® neurology and urology franchises in roles spanning consumer and professional marketing, communications, and sales. Darden Powell holds a Bachelor of Science from Auburn University and an MBA in marketing from Brandman University.

Niemaszek joined Urovant Sciences in 2020 as vice president of commercial operations. In his new role, he takes on additional responsibilities for driving execution of the company’s geographic expansion, enterprise-wide, long-range strategic planning and budget process, infrastructure investment planning, and program integration. Niemaszek brings extensive sales, marketing, and operations experience from decades of experience in the global biopharmaceuticals industry. Niemaszek previously served as vice president of U.S. commercial operations for Astellas, where he led the development of enterprise capabilities for the Astellas global business across a range of brands, sales teams, and business units. Niemaszek also held prior roles leading the accounting department, as well as the sales, marketing and medical affairs operations for Fujisawa Pharmaceutical. Niemaszek holds a Bachelor of Arts in finance/economics from St. Joseph’s College and an MBA in international business from Roosevelt/DePaul University.

Chan will continue to oversee global intellectual property protection as the company expands its presence and operations to new geographic regions. Prior to joining Urovant Sciences in 2018, Chan served as senior patent counsel for Allergan, where he managed the international patent portfolio for the neurology and urology franchises, extended patent exclusivity for the company’s key marketed and development products, enforced and defended patents in patent litigation and post-grant patent proceedings, and conducted due diligence on the company’s global business development targets. Earlier in his career, Chan managed the international patent and trademark portfolio for Biovail Corporation (now Bausch Health Companies). Prior to joining the biopharma industry, Chan served in private practice, focusing on patent prosecution matters in the biopharma and medical device industries. He earned a Bachelor of Science in biology from Western University and a J.D. from the University of Victoria.

About Urovant Sciences

Urovant Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapies for urologic conditions. The Company’s lead product, GEMTESA® (vibegron), is an oral, once-daily (75 mg) small molecule beta-3 agonist for the treatment of adult patients with overactive bladder (OAB) with symptoms of urge urinary incontinence, urgency, and urinary frequency. GEMTESA was approved by the U.S. FDA in December 2020 and launched in the U.S. in April 2021. GEMTESA is also being evaluated for the treatment of OAB in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia. The Company’s second product candidate, URO-902, is a novel gene therapy being developed for patients with OAB who have failed oral pharmacologic therapy. Urovant Sciences, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitovant Biopharma Ltd., intends to develop novel treatments for additional urologic diseases. Learn more about us at www.urovant.com.

About Sumitovant Biopharma Ltd.

Sumitovant is a global biopharmaceutical company leveraging data-driven insights to rapidly accelerate development of new potential therapies for unmet patient conditions. Through our unique portfolio of wholly-owned “Vant” subsidiaries—Urovant, Enzyvant, Spirovant, Altavant—and use of embedded computational technology platforms to generate business and scientific insights, Sumitovant has supported development of FDA-approved products including GEMTESA^® for overactive bladder and RETHYMIC^® for pediatric congenital athymia, and has advanced a promising pipeline of early-through late-stage investigational assets for other serious conditions. Sumitovant is the majority-shareholder of Myovant (NYSE: MYOV) whose marketed products include ORGOVYX^® for advanced prostate cancer and MYFEMBREE^® for uterine fibroids. Sumitovant is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma. For more information, please visit https://www.sumitovant.com.

About Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd.

Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma is among the top-ten listed pharmaceutical companies in Japan, operating globally in major pharmaceutical markets, including Japan, the U.S., China, and other Asian countries. Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma is based on the merger in 2005 between Dainippon Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. Today, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma has more than 7,000 employees worldwide. Additional information about Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma is available through its corporate website at https://www.ds-pharma.com/.

To read our news release, visit urovant.com/news-releases.

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