Herantis Pharma Announces Members of Scientific Advisory Board
Herantis Pharma Plc, Press Release, 25 October 2021 at 9:00 EEST
Herantis Pharma Plc (“Herantis”), focusing on disease modifying therapies for debilitating neurodegenerative diseases, today announced the formation of a Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) comprised of industry leaders in CNS and neurodegenerative diseases, chaired by Dr. Anders Gersel Pedersen (as announcment September 14, 2021). The SAB will work cohesively with management to advance the company’s clinical development plan of rhCDNF (recombinant human CDNF) and HER-096 (xCDNF).
“The prestigious group of scientific thought leaders we have assembled for our Scientific Advisory Board will provide Herantis Pharma with relevant and informed counsel in the months and years ahead, as we continue our research efforts and further the development of our pipeline,” said Dr. Craig Cook, CEO of Herantis. “Each SAB member brings unique experience and impeccable track records in early-stage research through to the late-stage clinical development of human therapeutics. I believe this collection of keen minds and experience will serve us well as we continue to develop our disease modifying therapies, leverage the strengths of our assets including biomarker data as well as neuroprotection and blood brain barrier (BBB) crossing, and design novel research paths for our assets.”
The core members of the Herantis Pharma’s Scientific Advisory Board are:
Anders Gersel Pedersen, M.D. spent nineteen years at Lundbeck from 2000 to 2019, seven years of which he lead the R&D organization as Executive Vice President of Research & Development from 2013 – 2019. Anders is currently a member of the board of Hansa Biopharma, where he also is Chairman of the scientific committee. He has served since 2003 on the board of Genmab (previously as Chairman), a leading biotechnology company focused on development and specialisation of antibody products and he has served since 2009 on the board of Bavarian Nordic (currently as Deputy Chairman), a biotechnology company specialized in vaccines. In November 2020, he joined Aelis Farma as Chairman of the Board. He previously also served for more than 10 years (2000-2011) on the board of TopoTarget and for twelve years on the board of ALK-Abelio (2005-2018. Other notable positions included working for Eli Lilly for eleven years as a director overseeing worldwide clinical research in oncology. Dr. Pedersen received his medical degree and a doctoral degree in neuro-oncology from the University of Copenhagen and a B.Sc. in Business Administration from Copenhagen Business School. He is a member of the Danish Society of Internal Medicine.
Alberto Espay, M.D., MSc. is the director, professor and endowed chair of the University of Cincinnati James J. and Joan A. Gardner Family Center for Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders (OH, USA). Dr. Espay has published more than 300 peer-reviewed research articles, 30 book chapters and seven books. His research efforts focus on the measurement of motor and behavioral phenomena in — and clinical trials for — Parkinson’s disease as well as in the understanding and management of functional movement disorders. Dr. Espay has served as chair of the Movement Disorders Section of the American Academy of Neurology; associate editor of Movement Disorders, the official journal of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society (MDS); and in the executive committee of the Parkinson Study Group. He currently serves as chair of MDS Technology Task Force and as president-elect of the Pan-American Section of the MDS. Dr. Espay is also an honorary member of the Mexican Academy of Neurology. He trained in neurology at Indiana University as well as in clinical and electrophysiology of movement disorders at the University of Toronto, where he obtained a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology and healthcare research.
David Dexter, Ph.D is the Associate Research Director of Parkinson’s UK and visiting Professor of Neuropharmacology at Imperial College London. Over the last four years, he has helped develop the funding strategy for the largest patient-led charity for Parkinson’s in Europe, funding drug discovery to late-stage clinical trials. Professor Dexter started his professional career at Imperial College London, initially as a Lecturer, progressing to Professor in 2012 and Deputy Head of the Division of Brain Sciences in 2014. He founded the Parkinson’s UK Brain Bank in 2002, an internationally acclaimed tissue resource advancing our understanding of Parkinson’s and helping drug development. He has played a key role in drug discovery, identifying three of the six recognised processes which are thought to cause Parkinson’s, and clinically testing iron chelators to slow Parkinson’s. Since joining Parkinson’s UK, he has successfully transformed the peer review processes for grant applications, and is the biology lead for the Parkinson’s virtual biotech a unique funding model for fast-tracking drug development. He received his Ph.D. in Neuropharmacology on the role of iron and oxidative stress in the aetiology of Parkinson’s disease.
Daniele Bravi, M.D. is associate professor at the Movement Disorder research center, S. Raffaele Institute, Rome, looking after clinical research activities about Parkinson’s disease and related disorders. He has 30+ years of experience in executive management and drug development within pharma industry. Previous roles includes Vice President Parkinson’s Disease Strategy at Lundbeck R&D, CMO and VP Drug Development Lundbeck USA, CSO at the Lundbeck Institute and VP, Clinical Development Centre Europe, Latin America and Canada at Lundbeck Pharma in Copenhagen. He has contributed to the development and commercialization of drugs in CNS (Depression, Schizophrenia, Parkinson and Alzheimer), Diabetes, Endocrinology, Oncology and Bone diseases. He has been member of the EFPIA Clinical Development Group, a Speaker of the European School for Scientific and Regulatory Affairs and published several papers in the field of Neuroscience.
For more information, please contact:
Julie Silber/Gabriela Urquilla
Tel: +46 (0)7 93 486 277/+46 (0)72-396 72 19
Email: ir@herantis.com
Certified Advisor: UB Securities Ltd, Finland: +358 9 25 380 225, Sweden: +358 40 5161400
Company website: www.herantis.com
About Herantis Pharma Plc
Herantis focuses on disease modifying therapies for debilitating neurodegenerative diseases by restoring the neuronal protective mechanism of proteostasis, a key system in neurodegenerative disease. Proteostasis regulates proteins within the body and influences the fate of every protein from synthesis to degradation. Its failure results in a vicious cycle of pathological accumulation of protein aggregates, neuroinflammation and various forms of cellular stress that is widely implicated with the development of many neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s and other diseases. CDNF (a biological protein) is Herantis’ lead program and a clinical stage asset; and xCDNF (HER-096) (a synthetic peptide version of CDNF) is Herantis’ follow-on program. CDNF is a natural protein that occurs naturally in the body whose natural role is to protect neurons by balancing and supporting proteostasis, thereby preventing and counteracting disease generating mechanisms. Herantis is taking this natural ability and harnessing it as a treatment for neurodegenerative disease. Both CDNF and xCDNF (HER-096), via their multimodal mechanism of action, have the potential to improve neuronal survival and stop the progression of Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases with a significant therapeutic impact on the quality of patients’ lives.
The shares of Herantis are listed on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market Finland and Nasdaq First
North Growth Market Sweden. For more information, please visit https://www.herantis.com