Karuna Therapeutics Announces Appointment of Ronald Marcus, M.D., as Senior Vice President of Medical

Karuna Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:KRTX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company driven to create and deliver transformative medicines for people living with psychiatric and neurological conditions, today announced the appointment of Ronald Marcus, M.D., to Senior Vice President of Medical. In this role, Dr. Marcus will provide strategic and operational leadership of Karuna’s clinical stage pipeline of novel neuropsychiatric medicines, including KarXT.

"We are pleased to welcome Ron to our clinical leadership team at this important time for Karuna,” said Steve Paul, M.D., chief executive officer, president and chairman. "Ron is an exceptionally experienced clinical neuroscientist, and an expert in early- and late-stage clinical development of neuropsychiatric drugs. His strategic thinking and operational skills will be invaluable to us as we continue to develop our lead program, KarXT, for schizophrenia, dementia-related psychosis and potentially other psychotic disorders, as well as to help advance our earlier pipeline of novel neuropsychiatric medicines.”

"Karuna has quickly become an emerging leader in neuropsychiatry, developing medicines with novel mechanisms of action and broad therapeutic applicability in some of the most severe and disabling conditions,” said Dr. Marcus. "I look forward to working alongside an experienced team of neuroscience leaders to leverage our collective expertise in drug development to advance the Company’s clinical programs with the goal of bringing meaningful treatment options to people living with psychiatric and neurological conditions.”

"We welcome Ron as a senior member of the R&D team at Karuna, and look forward to utilizing his considerable expertise in neuroscience to help develop KarXT to its full potential," stated Steve Brannan, M.D., chief medical officer.

Dr. Marcus brings more than 30 years of experience in neuroscience pharmaceutical drug development. He spent 23 years at Bristol-Meyers Squibb (BMS) in senior clinical leadership roles within their Neuroscience division, including Executive Director, Neuroscience Global Clinical Research. In this role, he was the Life Cycle Management Team Leader for Abilify® (aripiprazole), a market-leading antipsychotic, and spearheaded an industry leading lifecycle management program with more than 20 New Drug Applications (NDA) and supplemental NDAs. Dr. Marcus also oversaw the Neuroscience Protocol Review Committee at BMS for more than 20 years, providing rigorous scientific review and input into the study design of approximately 350 clinical trials.

Dr. Marcus received his B.A. in psychology from University of Virginia and M.D. from University at Buffalo (SUNY). He completed his residency in psychiatry at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center. He has authored more than 90 peer-reviewed publications.

About Karuna Therapeutics

Karuna Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company driven to create and deliver transformative medicines for people living with psychiatric and neurological conditions. At Karuna, we understand there is a need for differentiated and more effective treatments that can help patients navigate the challenges presented by these severe and disabling disorders. Utilizing our extensive knowledge of neuroscience, we are harnessing the untapped potential of the brain in pursuit of novel pathways to develop medicines that make meaningful differences in peoples’ lives. For more information, please visit www.karunatx.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding our expectations about the timing of advancing of our planned clinical trials and regulatory filings, our goals to develop and commercialize our product candidates, our identification of additional product candidates, and other statements identified by words such as "could,” "expects,” "intends,” "may,” "plans,” "potential,” "should,” "will,” "would,” or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. Forward-looking statements are not promises or guarantees of future performance, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, and which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements. These factors include risks related to our limited operating history, our ability to obtain necessary funding, our ability to generate positive clinical trial results for our product candidates, the timing and scope of regulatory approvals, changes in laws and regulations to which we are subject, competitive pressures, our ability to identify additional product candidates, risks relating to business interruptions resulting from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and other risks set forth under the heading "Risk Factors” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2020. Our actual results could differ materially from the results described in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements.

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