WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2019 / Arcutis, Inc., a privately held immuno-dermatology drug development company addressing significant unmet needs in dermatology, today announced the appointment of John W. Smither as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Mr. Smither will be responsible for all financial and administrative aspects of the company including financing, business planning and analysis, investor relations, tax, accounting, treasury, human resources, and information technology.

“We are delighted for John to join Arcutis as our Chief Financial Officer,” said Frank Watanabe, Arcutis’ President and Chief Executive Officer. “John is an exceptionally experienced finance executive with more than 40 years of professional experience, over 20 years of which is in the life science industry, and an unsurpassed understanding of both private and public equity markets for biotechnology companies. John and I have previously worked together, and I look forward to his counsel and contributions as we continue to expand and advance Arcutis’ robust dermatology development pipeline, build company capabilities and prepare for our next round of funding and potentially accessing public markets in the future.”

Mr. Smither previously served as CFO for Sienna Biopharmaceuticals from January 2016 to March 2017 and again from March 2018 to April 2019. From October 2017 to April 2018, he was interim CFO for Kite Pharma during its integration with Gilead, and prior to that, was CFO at Unity Biotechnology from January 2016 to 2017. Earlier, he served as CFO of Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. from November 2007 until it was acquired by Allergan in October 2015 for $2.1 billion. In his various CFO positions, Mr. Smither oversaw multiple private and public financing rounds, including Kythera’s initial public offering, and initial IPO preparations at Unity and Sienna. He also serves on the Board of Directors of both eFFFECTOR Therapeutics and Achaogen, Inc.

From 1998 to 2007, Mr. Smither held various positions at Amgen. From 2001 to 2004, he served as vice president of finance and administration for Amgen’s European Division, where he was responsible for financial operations in 28 European countries. Prior to that, Mr. Smither served as head of internal audit, and following his time in Europe was executive director of corporate accounting. Prior to joining Amgen, he served as audit partner at Ernst & Young LLP, a public accounting firm, and following his time at Ernst & Young served as CFO of several early stage companies. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from California State University, Los Angeles. Mr. Smither is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the California Society of Certified Public Accountants and Financial Executives International.

About Arcutis – Bioscience, applied to the skin.

Arcutis is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing drugs that address significant unmet medical needs in immuno-dermatology. Arcutis exploits recent innovations in inflammation and immunology to develop best-in-class molecules against biologically validated targets, leveraging our industry-leading development expertise to bring to market novel dermatology treatments in less time, at lower cost and with lower risk than other approaches. Arcutis is currently developing two novel compounds (ARQ-151 and ARQ-250) for multiple indications including, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and eczema. For more information, please visit www.arcutis.com or follow the Company on LinkedIn.

Contact:

T. Frank Watanabe
Chief Executive Officer
tfw@arcutis.com

Investors and Media:

Derek Cole
720.785.4497
derek.cole@IRadvisory.com

SOURCE: Arcutis, Inc.