Proteostasis Therapeutics Appoints Meenu Chhabra as Chief Executive Officer
CAMBRIDGE, MA--(Marketwired - Jun 30, 2014) - Proteostasis Therapeutics, Inc., a developer of novel therapeutics regulating protein homeostasis to improve outcomes for patients with orphan and neurodegenerative diseases, today announced the appointment of Meenu Chhabra as President and Chief Executive Officer. Ms. Chhabra, who will also serve on the Company’s Board of Directors, has extensive managerial experience in the biopharmaceutical industry with a strong track record of corporate execution. Her initial focus will be driving the development of the Company’s cystic fibrosis franchise while leveraging its proteostasis platform to identify pipeline appropriate assets addressing orphan and neurodegenerative disease indications.
“Meenu brings to Proteostasis an outstanding background of accelerating early stage assets into clinical development and forging successful corporate partnerships,” commented Dr. Chris Mirabelli, Chairman of the Proteostasis Board of Directors. “This is a transformational period for the Company as we progress the cystic fibrosis programs toward the clinic in 2015, and Meenu is the ideal choice to lead Proteostasis forward,” concluded Dr. Mirabelli.
Prior to joining Proteostasis, Ms. Chhabra served as the President and Chief Executive Officer since August 2007 at Allozyne, Inc., a private, Seattle, WA-based biotechnology company developing protein therapeutics based on a site selective bioconjugation platform spun out from Caltech and The Scripps Research Institute. While at Allozyne, she implemented a strategy to maximize the value of the proprietary platform by building a portfolio of risk reward balanced product candidates including antibody drug conjugates. This approach resulted in the lead program advancing directly from Phase 1 to Phase 3 and also triggered a strategic collaboration with a top tier pharmaceutical company that culminated in an eventual acquisition. Before joining Allozyne, Ms. Chhabra served as a Vice President of Business Development and licensing for Novartis AG, and as the chief business officer at BioXell S.p.A., a publically traded spin-off of Roche focused on urology and inflammation. She has also held a number of additional business development and sales roles in the pharmaceutical industry.
“I’m excited to be joining Proteostasis at such an important time for the Company,” said Ms. Chhabra. “The novel scientific platform inherent to the Company is based on the modulation of protein homeostasis pathways and has already produced assets with significant therapeutic potential, including our CFTR correctors for cystic fibrosis. All of us at Proteostasis are dedicated to bringing treatment options to patients with severe unmet medical needs and I look forward to working with the team to facilitate the Company’s corporate and clinical growth.”
About Proteostasis Therapeutics
Proteostasis Therapeutics is developing disease-modifying therapeutics for orphan and neurodegenerative diseases with lead programs in cystic fibrosis and a collaboration with Biogen Idec to develop therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases. The Company’s platform revolves around the modulation of protein homeostasis pathways within the cell. These pathways are part of the cellular ‘quality control’ machinery, called the protein homeostasis network or Proteostasis Network (PN) that regulates protein folding, trafficking, and clearance. By modifying the function and capacity of the PN, the Company’s product candidates correct for imbalances in the PN resulting from the cumulative effects of disease, genetic mutations, environmental factors, and aging. For more information, please visit www.proteostasis.com.
Contact:
Investor
Susan Shepard
Investor Relations Manager
Proteostasis Therapeutics, Inc.
sshepard@proteostasis.com (617) 225-0096 x2113
Malini Chatterjee
Blueprint Life Science Group
mchatterjee@bplifescience.com
(917) 330-4269
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