Aravive Announces Management Changes

Aravive has announced the appointment of Rekha Hemrajani as president, chief executive officer and director of the company. Jay Shepard, who last year announced plans to step down as Aravive’s CEO, will transition to the role of chairman of the board of directors.

"It is with great confidence that I welcome Rekha to Aravive’s leadership team as the company explores additional indications and prepares to advance AVB-500 into late stage clinical development in ovarian cancer," said Shepard. "Rekha brings invaluable experience and a strong track record related to all aspects of corporate development, financing and operations in the biotechnology industry. Rekha’s insights, leadership and expertise will be beneficial to the company as we continue to make progress on our therapeutic programs."

Rekha Hemrajani has more than 20 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience and has extensive expertise in all aspects of corporate strategy, corporate and business development, financing, and operations. Prior to joining Aravive, Hemrajani served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Arcus Biosciences, Inc. where she led corporate strategy, finance, investor relations, corporate communications, business and corporate development, strategic planning, and human resources. Previously, she has held roles of increasing responsibility at various public biotech companies, including FLX Bio (now RAPT Therapeutics), 3-V Biosciences (now Sagimet Biosciences), Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Exelixis. Hemrajani began her career in investment banking at Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers. She Hemrajani earned a B.S. in Economics and Computer Science from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Hemrajani is a member of the Board of Directors of Adverum Biotechnologies, a clinical-stage gene therapy company.

"I am excited to join Aravive on its mission of halting the progression of cancer and fibrosis, and I look forward to working with the team to help translate the potential of AVB-500 into meaningful benefit for patients," Hemrajani said. "I see tremendous value in the company’s novel cancer therapeutic approach that has the potential to augment existing standard of care regimens without adding to the treatment burden for patients."

As part of this leadership transition, Shahzad Malik, M.D., has stepped down from the board of directors.

"We are pleased that Jay will continue to contribute to Aravive’s ongoing success in his new role as board chairman," said Srinivas Akkaraju, M.D., Ph.D., who previously served as board chairman and will remain a director of Aravive. "We also appreciate the contributions of Dr. Malik during his tenure as a director of the company. We wish him the best in all of his future endeavors."

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