ANN ARBOR—Esperion Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ESPR) announced the appointment of Sheldon Koenig as president, CEO, and board member, effective immediately.
He succeeds Tim Mayleben, whom company officials said “decided to step down” after a decade as the company’s CEO. Mayleben will continue to serve as a senior advisor “to help ensure a smooth transition,” company officials said in a news release.
Koening, who has more than 30 years of commercial and operational experience in the cardiovascular industry, has served as the company’s chief operating officer since December 2020.
“As Esperion enters this critical growth phase, Sheldon’s extensive commercial leadership and product launch experience will be invaluable,” said Nicole Vitullo, lead independent director for Esperion. “On behalf of the board, we want to recognize Tim’s contributions over the last decade as he led the team’s successful development and approval of two new cholesterol lowering medicines, Nexletol and Nexlizet, in the U.S. and Europe and established strong partnerships outside of the U.S. We appreciate Tim’s years of service and wish him the best in the future.”
Added Koenig: “I believe strongly in the promise of our medicines and the role they can play in managing lipids and cardiovascular disease for patients. With two products recently launched in the U.S. and Europe, our U.S. commercial structure in place, leading partners and passionate colleagues, Esperion is positioned for success in our mission of Lipid Management for Everyone. I am thrilled to work with this team and lead this exciting period of growth for our company.”
And Mayleben said in a news release: “Sheldon has distinguished himself throughout his career as an accomplished leader in the commercialization of first in class products and he has particularly deep expertise in cardiovascular disease medicines. Since joining Esperion in December, he has shown exceptional leadership across almost all facets of the company. I believe this is an appropriate time for this leadership transition and I look forward to supporting Sheldon in his new role.”
Previously, Koenig was chief commercial officer at Portola Pharmaceuticals until the company was acquired by Alexion Pharmaceuticals. At Portola, he built the U.S. commercial and operations functions as well as the global organization. Earlier, Mr. Koenig was senior vice president and head of the cardiovascular franchise for Sanofi, where he led U.S. business operations and product launches in more than 20 countries. Koenig began his career at Merck, where he served for more than 25 years in roles of increasing responsibility within the company’s cardiovascular thrombosis franchises. At Merck, he served as vice president and global brand leader for the cardiovascular division. He holds an MBA from Monmouth University and a Bachelor of Science from Drexel University, and completed the leadership program at The Wharton School.
More at www.esperion.com.