1 November 2018 - - US-based biotechnology company Axial Biotherapeutics has appointed Jeffrey Young as the company's first chief financial officer, the company said.

Young brings over 20 years of finance and capital markets experience, a background in financial planning and operations, management and strategy, and knowledge of the life sciences sector.

In addition, Axial Biotherapeutics also appointed Dennis Yamashita, Ph.D., as vice president, medicinal chemistry.

Young most recently served as CFO, treasurer and secretary at Juniper Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he played an instrumental role in Juniper's acquisition by Catalent.

Prior to that, Young served as CFO and treasurer of OvaScience, a global fertility company focused on new treatment options for women. Young was previously the CFO and treasurer of Transmedics, a developer of medical devices for the maintenance and transport of organs between donors and recipients.

Before that, he served as CFO and treasurer at Lantheus Medical Imaging, where he led and managed multiple public debt offerings.

Young began his career holding various positions of increasing responsibility in finance at Critical Therapeutics, PerkinElmer, Inc. and PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP. Young holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgetown University.

Yamashita is an experienced drug developer and medicinal chemist with leadership experience at GSK and in biotech.

Axial Biotherapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company harnessing the link between the human gut microbiome and the central nervous system to develop a new class of biotherapeutics to improve the quality of life for people with neurological diseases and disorders.