Alkermes plc announced appointment of Dr. Christopher I. Wright, M.D., Ph.D. to the Board on May 24, 2022. Dr. Wright is a highly accomplished scientific and medical leader with nearly three decades of drug development and clinical expertise in diseases of the central nervous system. Dr. Wright currently serves as Chief Medical Officer at AavantiBio Inc. and previously served in senior medical and clinical roles at Cyclerion Therapeutics Inc., Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc., Axcella Health Inc., and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, where he oversaw the development of ORKAMBI® and KALYDECO®.

In addition to his industry experience, Dr. Wright brings more than 20 years of experience as both a practicing, board-certified neurologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and as an Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School.  As part of the Board's continued refreshment process, Nancy J. Wysenski has been appointed as Lead Independent Director, effective as of the close of the Annual Meeting. Two longer-serving directors, David W. Anstice AO, the company's current Lead Independent Director, and Wendy L. Dixon, Ph.D., will retire from the Board at the close of the Annual Meeting. With the appointment announced, the Board has appointed seven new independent directors since 2019, including three in the last year alone, further strengthening its expertise in targeted areas of importance.

Each of the new directors appointed to the Board is independent and has no previous connections to the company or its leadership team. In addition, five longer-serving directors have retired over the course of the past three years. As a result of these significant board refreshment activities, the Board has increased the diversity of its membership and has reduced the average director tenure from approximately six years as of June 30, 2019 to approximately three years as of the close of the upcoming Annual Meeting.

The recent additions to the Board include three directors appointed with the support of Elliott Investment Management L.P. — Emily Peterson Alva in May 2021, and David A. Daglio and Brian P. McKeon in December 2020 — as well as a director designated by Sarissa Capital Management (together with its affiliates, Sarissa) — Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D. in November 2021. Dr. Wright currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer of AavantiBio Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based company focused on developing precision gene therapies for the treatment of debilitating diseases. Prior to joining AavantiBio, Dr. Wright served as Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer of Cyclerion Therapeutics Inc. (Cyclerion), where he led global development functions across therapeutic areas, and prior to that served as Senior Vice President, Chief Development Officer of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc. Earlier in his career, Dr. Wright served as Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer of Axcella Health Inc. and Senior Vice President of Global Medicines Development and Affairs at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Vertex), where he led global development functions across therapeutic areas, including clinical development and operations, regulatory and medical affairs, and pharmacovigilance.

In his role at Vertex, Dr. Wright directly oversaw the successful submission of medications for approval to the FDA, EMA and other regulatory bodies. Dr. Wright currently serves as a Scientific Advisor for Cyclerion. Dr. Wright was an Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and a practicing, board-certified neurologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital for 20 years.

Dr. Wright earned his A.B., Magna Cum Laude, in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University and his M.D., Magna Cum Laude, in Medicine and Neuroscience from Harvard Medical School. Later, he earned his Ph.D. in Neuroanatomy from Vrije Universiteit and his MMSc. in Clinical Investigation from Harvard Medical School.