WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., Dec. 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARQT), a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing meaningful innovations in immuno-dermatology, today announced the appointment of Mas Matsuda, Esq. as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Mr. Matsuda joins Arcutis from Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. and succeeds Keith Klein, Esq. who announced his retirement after a successful 30-year industry career. In this role, Mr. Matsuda will oversee all legal and compliance matters for the Company.

“On behalf of our entire team, we’d like to thank Keith for his considerable contributions to our efforts in establishing Arcutis as a leading medical dermatology company. He has been an invaluable advisor and partner to me during his tenure,” said Frank Watanabe, President and CEO of Arcutis.

Watanabe added, “Mas brings substantial corporate and commercial legal experience within biotechnology, which will be instrumental as we focus on the growth of Arcutis and the potential approval and ultimate commercialization of a diverse pipeline of topical therapies for immune-mediated skin diseases.”

“I am thrilled to be joining Arcutis at this exciting time as we prepare for a potential approval and launch of topical roflumilast cream in psoriasis, and advance pivotal studies across multiple dermatological conditions,” said Mas Matsuda. “I look forward to joining this dynamic and experienced team as we deliver on the promise of bringing meaningful innovation for millions of patients with serious skin diseases.”

Mr. Matsuda brings over 20 years of legal experience, including corporate law, compliance, commercial law, employment, and mergers and acquisitions. Previously, he was Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary at Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to Halozyme, Mr. Matsuda worked at Amgen for 18 years in positions of increasing responsibility with his last role serving as Vice President, Law, Global Commercial Operations at Amgen, where he was responsible for strategic commercial legal support to the U.S. Commercial Operations organization, as well as Medical Affairs, Compliance, Global Value, Access & Policy, Global Marketing and Biosimilars division. Mr. Matsuda received his B.S. in Business Administration with a dual emphasis in Corporate Finance and International Finance from the University of Southern California, and his J.D. from University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

About Arcutis
Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARQT) is a medical dermatology company that champions meaningful innovation to address the urgent needs of patients living with immune-mediated dermatological diseases and conditions. With a commitment to solving the most persistent patient challenges in dermatology, Arcutis harnesses our unique dermatology development platform coupled with our dermatology expertise to build differentiated therapies against biologically validated targets. Arcutis’ dermatology development platform includes a robust pipeline with multiple clinical programs for a range of inflammatory dermatological conditions, with one NDA submitted to the FDA and three Phase 3 clinical data readouts anticipated by the end of 2022. The company’s lead program, topical roflumilast, has the potential to advance the standard of care for plaque psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, scalp psoriasis, and seborrheic dermatitis. For more information, visit www.arcutis.com or follow Arcutis on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements, including, among others, statements regarding the potential for roflumilast to be approved for the treatment of adults and adolescents with plaque psoriasis, and the potential for roflumilast to advance the standard of care in plaque psoriasis and other inflammatory dermatological conditions. These statements involve substantial known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results to differ include risks inherent in the clinical development process and regulatory approval process, the timing of regulatory filings, and our ability to defend our intellectual property. For a further description of the risks and uncertainties applicable to our business, see the “Risk Factors” section of our Form 10-K filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February 16, 2021, as well as our subsequent filings with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to revise or update information herein to reflect events or circumstances in the future, even if new information becomes available.

Contacts:
Media
Amanda Sheldon, Head of Corporate Communications
asheldon@arcutis.com

Investors
Eric McIntyre, Head of Investor Relations
emcintyre@arcutis.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b2384871-f81d-4a6a-b735-dd8f73b6fa09