US drug-maker Avalyn Pharma has hired Adam Golden as general counsel as the company moves ahead with its plans to go public.
Golden joins from Freshfields, where he was a partner and global head of life sciences. He brings more than three decades of private practice experience advising biopharma companies on M&A, strategic collaborations and corporate governance.
Boston-based Avalyn is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for pulmonary fibrosis and other serious and rare respiratory diseases.
Lyn Baranowski, CEO of Avalyn, said: “Adam brings deep legal experience guiding life sciences companies through critical inflection points involving business development and legal strategy, all of which will be invaluable as we transition to life as a public company.”
She added that Golden’s expertise strengthens its ability “to execute across corporate strategy, business operations and commercial readiness” as its advances its drug pipeline.
Golden takes up his first in-house role after five years at Freshfields in New York. He was previously a partner at Hogan Lovells, where he was head of its New York corporate practice group, having started out at legacy firm Kaye Scholer, where he worked his way up to partner and co-chair of its corporate department.
Avalyn Pharma earlier this month filed for an initial public offering, with the company on Wednesday (29 April) saying it expects to raise about $258.7m from the share sale.
Golden’s arrival at Avalyn is the latest in a string of recent life sciences in-house hires. Earlier this month, commercial-stage biopharma company Ardelyx hired Felecia Ettenberg as chief legal officer from Bristol Myers Squibb, replacing Elizabeth Grammer in the role.
Also in April, Dublin-headquartered late-stage clinical biotech company Prothena promoted deputy GC Michael Isaacs to GC, succeeding Michael Malecek in the role.
Back in February, South Korean biotech company ToolGen hired US litigator Dave Boncheun Koo as chief legal officer, as it steps up its efforts to enforce its gene-editing tech patent rights globally.
And in December, a trio of US biotech companies – Sudo Biosciences, PepGen and Tonix Pharmaceuticals – all hired new legal heads amid a recovery in venture capital funding in the biotech sector.
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