Inflazome Appoints Renowned Harvard Cardiologist to its Scientific Advisory Board

DUBLIN & CAMBRIDGE, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Inflazome Ltd., a biotech company developing small molecule drugs that stop harmful inflammation, today announces the appointment of Prof. Paul Ridker to Inflazome’s Scientific Advisory Board. Prof. Ridker is a leading scientific expert in cardiovascular disease and is renowned for his work on inflammation and its role in heart disease. Medical researcher and the Eugene Braunwald Professor of Medicine at Harvard University, Prof. Ridker also directs the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

Dr. Matt Cooper, Co-founder and CEO of Inflazome Ltd, commented: “We’re delighted to welcome Prof. Paul Ridker to Inflazome’s Scientific Advisory Board. Prof. Ridker is a world-renowned cardiologist who has clinically validated the link between inflammation and heart disease. His work has been instrumental in understanding biological mechanisms of heart disease and developing therapeutic approaches to treat the disease. At Inflazome, we are dedicated to improving lives by delivering new medicines that stop inflammation. Prof. Ridker’s scientific and medical expertise will be invaluable to the development and progress of science as we expand our pipeline of novel inflammasome inhibitors into the cardiovascular disease space. Following the recent appointments of Prof. Frances Balkwill and Dr. David Morris, Prof. Ridker’s appointment complements and augments the strength of our Scientific Advisory Board, whose contributions will help us achieve our mission; to improve lives by delivering new medicines that stop harmful inflammation.”

Paul M. Ridker, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, commented: “I am pleased to be joining Inflazome’s Scientific Advisory Board. I believe the NLRP3 inflammasome plays a critical role in driving inflammation associated with cardiovascular disease and that orally bioavailable inhibitors may have the potential to make a significant impact on heart disease patients. I look forward to contributing my knowledge and expertise to help achieve this goal.”

About Prof. Paul Ridker
Prof. Paul M. Ridker MD, MPH, FACC is a Eugene Braunwald Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and serves as a Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Prof. Ridker specialised in atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease including the role of inflammation in the disease process and the role of CRP.

Prof. Ridker’s particular areas of interest involve molecular and genetic determinants of hemostasis, thrombosis, and inflammation with a focus on "predictive medicine", early disease diagnosis, and the underlying causes and prevention of acute coronary syndromes. His research efforts are primarily supported by RO1 research grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), a Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and through philanthropic research grants from the Leducq Foundation and the Donald W Reynolds Foundation.

Prof. Ridker has been the recipient of a Clinician Scientist Award (1992-1997), an Established Investigator Award (1997-2002), and a Distinguished Scientist Award (2013) from the American Heart Association. His pioneering work on inflammation, CRP, and atherothrombosis, was also recognized by Time Magazine who named him among America's Ten Best Researchers in Science and Medicine in 2001 and as one of the "Time 100" in 2004.

In addition to his work in cardiovascular epidemiology, Prof. Ridker has been the Principal Investigator or Study Chairman of several multinational clinical trials including PREVENT, PRINCE, Val-MARC, LANCET, JUPITER, SPIRE-1, SPIRE-2, as well as the Canakinumab Anti-Inflammatory Thrombosis Outcomes Study (CANTOS) and the NHLBI-funded Cardiovascular Inflammation Reduction Trial (CIRT), both designed to directly test the inflammatory hypothesis of atherothrombosis. Prof. Ridker is also Trial Chairman of PROMINENT, an ongoing study of triglyceride reduction among patients with diabetes.

Prof. Ridker is the author of over 800 original articles and 5 textbooks related to cardiovascular medicine. A frequent invited lecturer at national and international conferences, he is also a member of multiple editorial boards and co-inventor on patents filed by the Brigham and Women's Hospital that relate to the use of inflammatory biomarkers in cardiovascular disease.

Members of Inflazome’s Board of Directors include:

• Dr. Manus Rogan, Chair, Managing Partner, Fountain Healthcare Partners

• Dr. Matt Cooper, Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer

• Florent Gros, Managing Director, Novartis Venture Fund

• Prof. Luke O’Neill, Co-founder & Chief Scientific Officer

• Dr. Dhavalkumar Patel, Independent Director

Members of the Inflazome’s Scientific Advisory Board include:

• Prof. Luke O’Neill, Trinity College Dublin

• Prof. Frances Balkwill, Queen Mary University of London

• Dr. Douglas Golenbock, University of Massachusetts Medical School

• Dr. Veit Hornung, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

• David Morris, MD, Novartis Venture Fund

• Prof. Mihai G. Netea, Nijmegen University

• Prof. Paul M. Ridker, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

About Inflazome
Utilising the scientific expertise of our founders and advisors, Inflazome is leading the way in developing orally available drugs to address clinical unmet needs in inflammatory diseases by targeting the inflammasome, which is now thought to drive many chronic inflammatory conditions.

Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Inflazome was founded by leading academics Prof. Matt Cooper, The University of Queensland (Australia) and Prof. Luke O’Neill, Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), following a highly productive joint collaboration. Founding investors are Fountain Healthcare Partners (Dublin, Ireland) and Novartis Venture Fund (Basel, Switzerland). inflazome.com

About Fountain Healthcare Partners
Fountain Healthcare Partners is a life science focused venture capital fund with €176 million ($200 million) under management. Within the life science sector, specific areas of interest to Fountain include specialty pharma, medical devices, biotechnology and diagnostics. The firm deploys the majority of its capital in Europe, with the balance in the United States. Fountain’s main office is in Dublin, Ireland, with a second office in New York. fh-partners.com

About The Novartis Venture Fund
The Novartis Venture Fund (NVF) manages over $700 million in committed capital. NVF invests in companies that have the potential to change a core therapeutic field or explore new business areas that will be critical to patient care. NVF’s primary interest is in the development of novel therapeutics and platforms as well as medical devices, diagnostics, and delivery systems. The Funds invest for financial objectives at all stages, but prefers to invest in the early-stages of company development. With investment professionals located in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, MA the team has extensive experience in pharmaceutical R&D and venture capital. nvfund.com

 

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