Acadia Pharmaceuticals has hired Big Pharma veteran Thomas Andrew Garner as its new chief commercial officer (CCO). The company is looking to consolidate its older drug, Nuplazid, while boosting its new offering, Daybue.
Garner comes to Acadia from Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, where he led the relaunch of heart failure drug Inpefa (sotagliflozin), a drug that had a long, troubled and twisting road to FDA approval last year.
Acadia knows a little something about that; its drug Nuplazid, originally FDA-approved in 2016 for hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson’s disease psychosis, has followed a similarly tortuous path.
The biopharma spent years trying to boost the drug’s label in other indications but came up short. Back in March the company finally called it quits on future testing of Nuplazid after a series of trial setbacks, most recently in negative symptoms of schizophrenia, as well as in dementia-related psychosis.
Acadia is now seeking to move past efforts to expand Nuplazid's label and focus more heavily on its newer offering, Daybue.
Last year, Daybue scored FDA approval as the first approved treatment for neurodevelopmental disorder Rett syndrome. The drug generated $177 million in sales during 2023, while Nuplazid picked up $549 million.
Both drugs will be the focus for Garner, who starts his new CCO role immediately. More launches could be on the horizon, however, with Acadia also working on a phase 3 trial of ACP-101 for hyperphagia in Prader-Willi Syndrome, with a midstage study of ACP-204 in Alzheimer’s disease psychosis also in the pipeline.
While most recently working at Lexicon, Garner has pharma experience stretching back 25 years, including roles at BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly.
“Tom is an accomplished commercial executive with a demonstrated history of driving brand growth across a wide range of therapeutic areas and global businesses,” said Acadia CEO Catherine Owen Adams in a release.
“His experience includes a breadth of successful brand launches, including those in neuropsychiatric and rare cardiac diseases. We are thrilled to welcome him into this pivotal commercial leadership role as we continue our launch of Daybue in the U.S., while also preparing for launches outside the U.S. and building a strong foundation for the potential introduction of new therapies in the future.”
“I am honored to join Acadia in a commercial leadership role that aligns seamlessly with my experience,” added Garner.
“Acadia has two exceptional franchises in Nuplazid and Daybue, both with significant growth potential, as well as an impressive pipeline that has strong commercial potential. I am particularly enthusiastic about the opportunity to launch and grow our innovative therapies in rare diseases and CNS in the coming years.”