Akcea Therapeutics, Inc. announced that Alex Howarth has joined the company as chief operating officer. In this role, Mr. Howarth will oversee a broad range of operational areas including corporate strategy, business development, management of stakeholder alliances, legal and compliance, as well as product supply chain. Mr. Howarth has more than 25 years of experience in healthcare and financial advisory roles at various companies. Prior to Akcea, Mr. Howarth served as president at Lycera Corp. Before that, Mr. Howarth served as chief financial officer of moksha8. Mr. Howarth was a founding member of moksha8 where he played a leading role in defining corporate strategy as well as establishing and leading key operational functions comprising corporate development, finance, legal and compliance, supply chain and information technology. Prior to joining moksha8, Mr. Howarth was chief business officer at Vitae Pharmaceuticals and previously spent over ten years at GSK in a variety of corporate development and finance roles, including leading GSK Venture Partnerships. Prior to joining GSK, Mr. Howarth worked at KPMG in London where he qualified as a chartered accountant. Mr. Howarth has an honors degree in biochemistry from the University of Bath, England.