Brings a successful track record in clinical development and regulatory approval of innovative neuromuscular therapies
TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Satellos Bioscience Inc. (TSX: MSCL, OTCQB: MSCLF) (“Satellos” or the “Company”), a biotech company developing new small molecule therapeutic approaches to improve the treatment of muscle diseases, today announced the appointment of Wildon Farwell, M.D., MPH, as chief medical officer (“CMO”). Dr. Farwell joins Satellos from Dyne Therapeutics (Nasdaq: DYN), where he most recently served as CMO and medical advisor.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Farwell as our CMO,” said Frank Gleeson, Satellos co-founder and CEO. “He brings deep expertise in global clinical development — particularly in neuromuscular and rare diseases — and a strong track record of successfully advancing novel therapies through regulatory approval. His experience will be invaluable as we move SAT-3247 into a global, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 2 clinical trial in children living with DMD, with the goal of delivering a transformative treatment.”
At Dyne, Dr. Farwell built the development organization, led the protocol development and regulatory submissions for their Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) programs, oversaw the conduct of multiple potentially registrational clinical studies, and contributed to several successful capital raises. Before joining Dyne, he spent a decade at Biogen in increasing leadership roles, including vice president of Late-Stage Clinical Development and global medical head of Neuromuscular Diseases. During his time at Biogen, Dr. Farwell led the development and lifecycle management of SPINRAZA®, the first approved treatment for spinal muscular atrophy. He also initiated late-stage development of QALSODY®, an investigational therapy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Dr. Farwell also led biomarker development and pharmacovigilance for therapies across multiple indications. Prior to moving into industry, Dr. Farwell served as an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and was a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the VA Boston Healthcare System. He earned his medical degree from the University of Missouri School of Medicine and holds a Master of Public Health in clinical effectiveness from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
“I’m honored to join Satellos at such a pivotal point in its growth,” said Dr. Farwell. “Throughout my career, I’ve been fortunate to lead the development of several therapies that have had profound impacts on the lives of specific populations of people with serious neuromuscular diseases. Now, working to advance SAT-3247 and support Satellos’ novel approach to muscle regeneration represents a natural and meaningful next chapter. I look forward to working with the team to drive clinical progress and bring forward a treatment that may have a profound impact across a broad population of people living with Duchenne and other serious muscle diseases.”
Dr. Farwell succeeds Jordan Dubow, MD, who has served as Satellos’ part-time CMO since January 2024. Dr. Dubow will continue to serve as a consultant to Satellos and chair of its Clinical Advisory Board.
About Satellos Bioscience Inc.
Satellos is a clinical-stage drug development company focused on restoring natural muscle repair and regeneration in degenerative muscle diseases. Through its research, Satellos has developed SAT-3247, a first-of-its-kind, orally administered small molecule drug designed to address deficits in muscle repair and regeneration. SAT-3247 targets AAK1, a key protein that Satellos has identified as capable of replacing the signal normally provided by dystrophin in muscle stem cells to effect repair and regeneration. By restoring this missing dystrophin signal in DMD, SAT-3247 enables muscle stem cells to divide properly and more efficiently, promoting natural muscle repair and regeneration. SAT-3247 is currently in clinical development as a potential disease-modifying treatment initially for DMD. Satellos also is leveraging its proprietary discovery platform MyoReGenX™ to identify additional muscle diseases or injury conditions where restoring muscle repair and regeneration may have therapeutic benefit and represent future clinical development opportunities. For more information, visit www.satellos.com.
Notice on Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking information or forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws regarding Satellos and its business, which may include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the potential for SAT-3247 to represent a disease modifying approach to the therapeutic treatment of people living with Duchenne; anticipated benefits to patients from a small molecule treatment for Duchenne; the advancement SAT-3247 through clinical trials; the pharmacodynamic properties and mechanism-of-action of SAT-3247; the potential of our approach in other degenerative muscle diseases; its/their prospective impact on Duchenne patients, patients with other degenerative muscle disease or muscle injury or trauma, and on muscle regeneration generally; and Satellos’ technologies and drug development plans. All statements that are, or information which is, not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, occurrences or developments, are “forward-looking information or statements.” Often but not always, forward-looking information or statements can be identified by the use of words such as “shall”, “intends”, “believe”, “plan”, “expect”, “intend”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “potential”, “prospective” , “assert” or any variations (including negative or plural variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “might”, “can”, “could”, “would” or “will” be taken, occur, lead to, result in, or, be achieved. Such statements are based on the current expectations and views of future events of the management of the Company. They are based on assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties. Although management believes that the assumptions underlying these statements are reasonable, they may prove to be incorrect. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release, may not occur and could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting the Company, including, without limitation, risks relating to the pharmaceutical and bioscience industry (including the risks associated with preclinical and clinical trials and regulatory approvals), and the research and development of therapeutics, the results of preclinical and clinical trials, general market conditions and equity markets, economic factors and management’s ability to manage and to operate the business of the Company generally, including inflation and the costs of operating a biopharma business, and those risks listed in the “Risk Factors” section of Satellos’ Annual Information Form dated March 26, 2025 (which is located on Satellos’ profile at www.sedarplus.ca). Although Satellos has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements or information. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Except as required by applicable securities laws, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Satellos does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether resulting from new information, future events, or otherwise.
Contacts
Investors: Liz Williams, CFO, ir@satellos.com
Media: Emily Williams, Senior Director, Communications, eawilliams@satellos.com
