Mission Therapeutics Appoints Dr Suhail Nurbhai as Chief Medical Officer

Nov. 2, 2020 08:00 UTC

CAMBRIDGE, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Mission Therapeutics (“Mission”), a drug discovery and development company focused on selectively inhibiting deubiquitylating enzymes (DUBs), has appointed Dr Suhail Nurbhai as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) with immediate effect.

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Dr Nurbhai has more than 25 years of experience and a strong track record in the strategic and operational leadership of all phases of clinical research and development at companies across Europe and the US. He joins Mission from VHsquared, where he held the position of CMO since 2014.

Prior to VHsquared, Suhail was Senior Vice President and Head of Development and Medical Affairs for Shionogi in Europe. He joined Shionogi from Takeda where he was Vice President and Head of Clinical and Analytical Science in Europe, with responsibility for all Clinical Science activities in Neurosciences, Cardiovascular/Renal/Metabolic, Oncology, Gastrointestinal/Genitourinary and Respiratory Medicine, as well as Clinical Pharmacology, Medical Writing, Statistics and Data Management.

Suhail’s initial industry experience was at Pfizer, where he spent 12 years, initially in Sandwich, UK and then at Global R&D Headquarters in Connecticut, USA. During his time at Pfizer he held roles of increasing responsibility across multiple therapeutic areas including GI/GU, anti-bacterial, sexual medicine and anti-fungal, prior to completing his time at Pfizer as Head of Neuroscience Clinical R&D at the Groton site in Connecticut.

During his career he has led teams bringing multiple compounds from pre-clinical phase into clinical studies in both Europe and US, and achieved multiple successful NDA and MAA submissions and approvals.

Suhail qualified in Medicine at Dundee University in Scotland and completed his post-graduate medical training at Hope Hospital in the University of Manchester.

Commenting on the appointment, Dr Anker Lundemose, CEO of Mission Therapeutics said: “We are pleased to be welcoming Suhail to further strengthen Mission’s leadership team. His in-depth knowledge and proven track record in clinical research will be invaluable as we work to bring our first-in-class USP30 inhibitor compound into the clinic. Suhail’s appointment is the last of a series of organisational changes, including the promotions of Dr Paul Thompson and Dr Nick Edmunds, to ready the Company for this next phase.”

Dr Suhail Nurbhai added: “It’s great to be joining Mission at such an exciting time for the Company. The ongoing collaboration with AbbVie and recently signed agreement with Pfizer represent solid industry validation of the Company’s approach and ground-breaking technology. I look forward to building on this success progressing its lead assets into the clinic.”

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

About Mission Therapeutics

Mission Therapeutics is an early-stage drug development company targeting the ubiquitin pathway for the treatment of kidney disease, neurodegenerative disease, rare mitochondrial diseases and fibrosis. The Company has built a leading platform for the discovery and development of first-in-class, small molecule drugs that selectively target deubiquitylating enzymes (DUBs) – an emerging drug class that is attracting significant commercial interest in the area of protein homeostasis.

Mission has strong links with key academic and research centers, including Prof. Steve Jackson’s Cancer Research UK Laboratories at the University of Cambridge Gurdon Institute, and leading UK centres in neurodegenerative diseases. The Company also has secured major industry partnerships, including its collaboration with AbbVie in November 2018, for the research and preclinical development of specified DUB inhibitors for the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease. The Company is managed by a team with broad international, commercial and clinical-science experience.

To date the Company has received £73 million /$101 million in funding and its investors comprise blue chip institutional and corporate investors including: Pfizer Venture Investments, Sofinnova Partners, Roche Venture Fund, SR One, IP Group and Schroders Adveq. Mission Therapeutics was founded in 2011 and is based at the Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, UK.

For more information, please visit our website, www.missiontherapeutics.com, or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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