Dive Brief:

• Enanta Pharmaceuticals CEO Jay Luly on Wednesday said the company is mourning the loss of its long-time CFO, Paul J. Mellett, Jr., who recently passed away after taking a medical leave of absence.
• Mellett died on Aug. 31 at the age of 70, surrounded by his wife and children, according to his obituary. The cause of death was not immediately clear.
• “Paul’s legacy will forever be woven into the fabric of Enanta, and his friendship will be missed by all of us,” Luly said in a statement. An Enanta spokeswoman said the company had no further comment.

Dive Insight:

The company announced in an Aug. 27 securities filing that Mellett was taking a medical leave of absence “until such time” as he was able to resume his duties. The reason was not disclosed.

Harry R. Trout, III, Enanta’s vice president of finance, and Kathleen S. Capps, the company’s executive director of accounting, were appointed at the time to serve as principal financial officer and principal accounting officer, respectively, on an interim basis.

Mellett’s corporate finance career spanned nearly five decades, much of it spent in the pharmaceutical space, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Mellett joined Enanta in September 2003 and established the company’s finance department, according to the Wednesday release. He led Enanta’s initial public offering in 2013 and was instrumental in advancing the company’s early partnerships, including a 2006 research and development collaboration with Abbott, now AbbVie, that resulted in commercialization of Viekira Pak and Mavyret, medications used for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infection, the release said.

Prior to joining Enanta, he was senior vice president and CFO of Essential Therapeutics. Before that, he was CFO and vice president of administration at GelTex Pharmaceuticals, a publicly held biotechnology company that was acquired by Genzyme in December 2000.

Mellett also served as CFO of Marshall Contractors, a construction management firm specializing in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and semiconductor industries. Early in his career, he was employed as an audit partner at accounting firm Deloitte & Touche.