9 April 2019 - - Biopharma finance executive Christopher J. Senner has been elected to the board of directors of US-based biopharmaceutical company Cortexyme, Inc., the company said.

Senner has nearly three decades of finance experience at industry-leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

He currently serves as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Exelixis, Inc., a commercially successful, oncology-focused biotech advancing medicines for difficult-to-treat cancers.

At Exelixis, Senner leads a team responsible for providing the financial infrastructure for the company's growing commercial oncology franchise, broad clinical development operations, and reinitiated drug discovery activities.

Before joining Exelixis, Senner served for five years as vice president, Corporate Finance at Gilead Sciences.

Prior to Gilead, he spent eighteen years at Wyeth, including as CFO of its US pharmaceuticals business and BioPharma Business Unit. Senner holds a B.S. in Finance from Bentley College.

Cortexyme is a privately held, clinical-stage pharmaceutical company pioneering a novel disease-modifying therapeutic approach to treat a key underlying cause of Alzheimer's disease and other degenerative diseases.

Cortexyme is targeting a specific, infectious pathogen found in the brain of Alzheimer's patients and tied to neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation in animal models.

The company's lead compound, COR388, is beginning the Phase 2/3 GAIN trial in Alzheimer's disease in 2Q19.