22 January 2019 - - US-based biopharmaceutical company Aimmune Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AIMT) has appointed Andrew Oxtoby as chief commercial officer, the company said.

Oxtoby, a proven pharmaceutical executive with two decades of experience in the healthcare and consumer products industries, will join Aimmune in the newly created role on Tuesday, January 22.

Oxtoby joins Aimmune from Eli Lilly and company, where he most recently had responsibility for Lilly's US insulin business as vice president of US Diabetes Connected Care and Insulins, an innovative, patient-focused business unit, after having served as vice president of US Diabetes Sales.

In his more than 16 years with Lilly, Oxtoby also spent five years in oncology, including as vice president of the International Oncology business; served as general manager of Lilly's Netherlands operation; and held positions of increasing responsibility in marketing and sales.

Oxtoby began his career at Procter and Gamble, where he spent four years in the engineering and manufacturing organisations. Oxtoby holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Purdue University.

AR101 is a complex biologic drug under investigation for the treatment of children and adolescents with peanut allergy. The US Food and Drug Administration granted AR101 Fast Track Designation for peanut allergy in September 2014 and Breakthrough Therapy Designation for peanut allergy in ages 4–17 in June 2015.

Aimmune Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for life-threatening food allergies. The company's Characterized Oral Desensitization ImmunoTherapy (CODIT) approach is intended to provide meaningful levels of protection against allergic reactions resulting from accidental exposure to food allergens by desensitizing patients with defined, precise amounts of key allergens.

The company's first investigational biologic product using CODIT, AR101 for the treatment of peanut allergy, has received the FDA's Breakthrough Therapy Designation for the desensitization of peanut-allergic patients 4–17 years of age.

Aimmune's regulatory filing for marketing approval of AR101 in the United States (submitted 4Q18) and Europe are based on data from the pivotal Phase 3 PALISADE clinical trial of AR101, which in 4–17-year-old subjects met its primary and key secondary endpoints, and additional ongoing and completed AR101 clinical trials.

Aimmune has filed an IND application for its second product, AR201, for the treatment of egg allergy and intends to start a randomised Phase 2 clinical trial in the first half of 2019.