Ciara Kennedy, Ph.D., is president and CEO of Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Initially, Ciara Kennedy was appointed chief operating officer of Amplyx in October 2015, following a successful, $50 million Series B financing. Prior to joining Amplyx, Dr. Kennedy served as chief operating officer at Lumena Pharmaceuticals until the company was acquired by Shire Pharmaceuticals in June 2014; she remained with Shire for one year post-acquisition as vice president and head of the cholestatic liver disease program. As COO of Lumena, Dr. Kennedy played a critical role in the development of assets licensed from Pfizer and Sanofi, raising $78M from venture capital to fund operations and preparing to take the company public. Ciara has a proven track record of delivering significant results and advancing therapeutic and diagnostic programs across multiple therapeutic areas and stages of development in the biotechnology industry. Prior to Lumena, she was vice president of operations and senior director of strategy and corporate development at Cypress Bioscience Inc., where she played a key role in obtaining FDA approval for Savella, a therapy for fibromyalgia, and also oversaw corporate acquisitions and in-licensing of several clinical assets.  Ciara Kennedy, Ph.D., is president and CEO of Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Initially, Ciara Kennedy was appointed chief operating officer of Amplyx in October 2015, following a successful, $50 million Series B financing. Prior to joining Amplyx, Dr. Kennedy served as chief operating officer at Lumena Pharmaceuticals until the company was acquired by Shire Pharmaceuticals in June 2014; she remained with Shire for one year post-acquisition as vice president and head of the cholestatic liver disease program. As COO of Lumena, Dr. Kennedy played a critical role in the development of assets licensed from Pfizer and Sanofi, raising $78M from venture capital to fund operations and preparing to take the company public. Ciara has a proven track record of delivering significant results and advancing therapeutic and diagnostic programs across multiple therapeutic areas and stages of development in the biotechnology industry. Prior to Lumena, she was vice president of operations and senior director of strategy and corporate development at Cypress Bioscience Inc., where she played a key role in obtaining FDA approval for Savella, a therapy for fibromyalgia, and also oversaw corporate acquisitions and in-licensing of several clinical assets. 

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