Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the appointment of Richard J. Daly as its new Chief Executive Officer effective January 1, 2024. Mr. Daly is a seasoned pharmaceutical executive bringing more than three decades of experience to Catalyst. In order to facilitate an orderly transition, Patrick J. McEnany, Founder, Chairman, and CEO, will retire from the CEO position effective December 31, 2023, and at that time will continue in his role as Chairman of the Board.

Mr. Daly has held distinguished positions in multinational corporations and at innovative biotech companies. Prior to his appointment at Catalyst, Mr. Daly served as President of CARsgen Therapeutics Corporation since January 2022. Previously, he served as Chief Operating Officer at Beyond Springs Inc. from 2018 to 2022 and as CEO, President, and Chairman of Neuralstem, Inc., a publicly held biotechnology company specializing in central nervous system therapies based on neuronal stem cell technology from 2016 to 2018.

Throughout his career, Mr. Daly has held prominent leadership positions at leading global pharmaceutical companies, including serving as President of AstraZeneca's U.S. diabetes subsidiary, leading all commercial and medical plans and objectives for a $1.2 billion revenue, 3,000-employee division, and the successful launch of an orphan rare disorder drug, Myalept, for the treatment of Lipodystrophy. Earlier, Mr. Daly served at Takeda and TAP Pharmaceuticals, a joint venture established between Takeda and Abbott Laboratories, where he held several senior leadership positions, including the Executive Vice President at Takeda Pharmaceutical North America and the Senior Vice President of Marketing at TAP Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Daly has served on Catalyst's Board of Directors since February 2015 and will continue to serve on the board as the newly appointed CEO.

He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from the University of Notre Dame.