Denali lures Genentech exec Katie Peng to its leadership team

US neurodegenerative diseases focussed biotech Denali Therapeutics (Nasdaq: DNLI) has appointed Katie Peng to the newly created role of chief commercial officer (COO).

“We are excited about Katie joining Denali to build and lead our commercial organization. She is a recognized industry leader with an exceptional track record of successfully building and leading commercial teams and launching novel medicines, including for neurological and rare diseases,” said Denali’s chief executive Ryan Watts, adding: “Katie’s expertise will be tremendously valuable to Denali as we advance our clinical pipeline, including programs for Parkinson’s disease and Hunter syndrome (MPS II) into late-stage clinical development. Katie’s leadership in building our commercial efforts as we expand organizationally and geographically will be key to bringing medicines to people living with neurodegenerative diseases and our ultimate goal to defeat degeneration.”

Ms Peng most recently served as the senior vice president, Head of the OMNI Business Unit at Genentech, a Roche (ROG: SIX) subsidiary, where she was responsible for the neurology, ophthalmology, immunology, respiratory, and rare diseases portfolio representing approximately $14 billion in revenue, and served as part of Genentech’s commercial leadership team.