Former Gilead Exec Kitty Yale Named Akero Chief Development Officer

Kitty Yale has been appointed chief development officer of Akero Therapeutics. She joins Akero from Gilead Sciences, where she was vice president of clinical operations. Akero emerged earlier this year with $65 million in financing and an experimental drug for the liver disease nonalcoholic steatohepatisis (NASH) that was licensed from Amgen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMGN]]). The company, which splits its operations between Cambridge, MA, and San Francisco, plans to start Phase 2 studies testing the NASH drug by mid-2019.

Author: Frank Vinluan

Xconomy Editor Frank Vinluan is a business journalist with experience covering technology and life sciences. Based in Raleigh, he was a staff writer at the Triangle Business Journal covering technology, biotechnology and energy before joining MedCityNews.com as North Carolina bureau chief. Prior to moving to North Carolina’s Research Triangle in 2007 he held business reporting positions at The Des Moines Register and The Seattle Times.