CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sage Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SAGE), a biopharmaceutical company committed to developing novel therapies with the potential to transform the lives of people with debilitating disorders of the brain, today announced the appointment of Chris Benecchi as Chief Commercial Officer. In his new role, Mr. Benecchi will lead Sage’s global commercial efforts across all Sage programs, new product planning, strategy, and competitive intelligence.
“Chris Benecchi is an innovator, a transformative global commercial leader and a strategic launch expert,” said Barry Greene, Chief Executive Officer at Sage Therapeutics. “He has a track record of designing winning commercial strategies and launching novel therapies that have sustained long-term growth in highly competitive markets. I am confident that Chris will provide the vision, leadership and strategic thinking needed to drive the commercialization efforts across Sage’s portfolio and with our partners as we continue on our mission to successfully build a top tier biopharmaceutical company.”
As a highly engaged, cross-functional leader, Mr. Benecchi will work in collaboration with internal partners to create a shared, mission-driven, launch vision that reflects the input we receive from external stakeholders. Among his responsibilities will be to ensure smooth working relationships with Sage’s partners and an integrated commercialization plan for zuranolone – a once-daily, two-week therapy in Phase 3 clinical development for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) and postpartum depression (PPD). Mr. Benecchi will also lead commercialization strategies across the company’s leading portfolio of treatments for brain health disorders.
“With a robust pipeline of differentiated products being studied for their potential to improve brain health, it is an exciting time to join Sage and help execute plans to accelerate development of innovative treatments on a global level with a potential impact, if we are successful, on several hundred million people around the world,” said Chris Benecchi. “It is an honor to join Sage’s world-class team at such a pivotal moment in the advancement of multiple programs across the company’s depression, neurology, and neuropsychiatric franchises.”
Chris Benecchi joins Sage from Alexion, where he served as Vice President, Global Head of Commercial Excellence. Previously, he spent eight years at UCB in commercial roles of increasing responsibility including Global Launch Head, Commercial and Medical Affairs, Immunology and Global Commercial Strategy Lead, Immunology. He began his career in sales at J&J and held sales leadership and senior marketing roles at Takeda as well. Mr. Benecchi received an MBA from Duke University and a BA from Colby College.
About Sage Therapeutics
Sage Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company committed to developing novel therapies with the potential to transform the lives of people with debilitating disorders of the brain. We are pursuing new pathways with the goal of improving brain health and our depression, neurology and neuropsychiatry franchise programs aim to change how brain disorders are thought about and treated. Our mission is to make medicines that matter so people can get better, sooner. For more information, please visit www.sagerx.com.
