SalioGen Therapeutics, a privately held biotechnology company developing durable and broadly applicable genetic medicines through Gene Coding, today announced that the Company has strengthened its management team with multiple leadership appointments of renowned experts in their respective fields.
- Sung You, M.S., MBA, appointed as Chief Business and Strategy Officer
- Nancy L. Craig, Ph.D., appointed as Senior Vice President of Genetic Engineering and Mobile Elements
- Sandeep Nema, Ph.D., appointed as Senior Vice President of Technical Operations
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SalioGen Therapeutics, a privately held biotechnology company developing durable and broadly applicable genetic medicines through Gene Coding, today announced that the Company has strengthened its management team with multiple leadership appointments of renowned experts in their respective fields. Sung You, M.S., MBA, will join as Chief Business and Strategy Officer, Nancy L. Craig, Ph.D., will join as Senior Vice President of Genetic Engineering, and Sandeep Nema, Ph.D., will join as Senior Vice President of Technical Operations.
“We are fortunate to welcome these industry leaders to SalioGen, all of whom have already made deep impacts on the fields of genetic medicine and biotechnology,” said Ray Tabibiazar, M.D., Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of SalioGen. “Sung brings unparalleled experience in healthcare strategy, finance and life science company-building to SalioGen. Sung’s unique background, which intersects science, medicine and business, will be invaluable. Nancy is one of the foremost experts on the fundamentals and applications of mobile genetic elements. Nancy’s decades of research and discoveries have built the knowledge base on which we now draw to develop the company’s next-generation genetic therapies. Sandeep has a wealth of background in shepherding novel therapeutics in a broad spectrum of modalities through scale-up and clinical trials. Together and alongside our current management team, they will be instrumental at this critical period as we prepare in vivo proof-of-concept studies and IND-enabling studies to explore the potential of SalioGen’s Gene Coding approach.”
Ms. You currently serves as Managing Partner at PBM Capital, a healthcare-focused investment firm that has supported the earliest iterations of gene therapy companies, where she evaluates new investment opportunities and provides capital markets and business development support for its portfolio companies. Prior to joining PBM Capital, she served as Vice President in the Healthcare Investment Banking group at Morgan Stanley, where she led the executions of M&A and capital raising transactions for large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Prior to her time at Morgan Stanley, she ran clinical research in the Neuroendocrine Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. Ms. You holds an A.B. in Genetics, Cell and Developmental Biology from Dartmouth College, an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and an M.S. from the joint Harvard Medical School – MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. In her position at SalioGen, Ms. You will guide corporate and clinical strategy, focusing the company’s broadly applicable technology platform toward opportunities where it can offer significant impact as a new tool in the field of genetic medicine.
Dr. Craig is widely regarded as a pioneer in the study of mobile genetic elements, the basis for SalioGen’s Gene Coding technology. A member of the National Academy of Sciences since 2010, she currently serves as Professor Emerita in the Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she has directed a research group focused on identifying mobile elements and studied their molecular mechanisms since 1992. She was also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1992-2015. Previously, Dr. Craig held a faculty position in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Craig is the lead author of “Molecular Biology: Principles of Genome Function”, published by Oxford University Press and now in its third edition and also the editor of “Mobile DNA II” and “Mobile DNA III,” published by the American Society for Microbiology, and widely considered to be the definitive volumes on mobile genetic elements. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health with a focus on mechanism of genomic integration. She earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Cornell University for research which focused on cellular responses to DNA damage including the induction of a mobile genetic element. Dr. Craig also holds an A.B in Biology and Chemistry from Bryn Mawr College. At SalioGen, Dr. Craig will direct the development and optimization of SalioGen’s EDIT platform. In addition to her role as Senior Vice President of Genetic Engineering and Mobile Elements, Dr. Craig will continue to serve as the Chairman of SalioGen’s scientific advisory board, to which she was appointed in 2020.
Dr. Nema joins SalioGen after a highly impactful tenure of over 20 years at Pfizer, where he most recently served as Executive Director of Biotherapeutics Pharmaceutical Science, overseeing all biologics candidates from pre-proof-of-concept through Phase 3 clinical trial initiation. He has extensive experience in mRNA-based vaccines, gene therapy, novel drug delivery systems including lipid nanoparticles and CMC development for biologics. He has been involved with more than 100 IND and IMPD filings and numerous regulatory authority interactions. Dr. Nema earned a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee, Memphis, College of Graduate Health Sciences, where he studied the encapsulation of proteins in liposomes. He earned a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from Banaras Hindu University. As head of technical operations at SalioGen, Dr. Nema will lead product development, manufacturing, quality and regulatory affairs for SalioGen’s EDIT-based therapeutic candidates.
About SalioGen Therapeutics
SalioGen Therapeutics is advancing Gene Coding to develop durable, broadly applicable genetic medicines, initially using its Exact DNA Integration Technology (EDIT) platform. EDIT is a genome engineering technology that is mammal-derived, for use in potentially curative non-viral gene therapy. SalioGen is focused on developing durable, safe and affordable non-viral gene therapy to more patients with inherited diseases that are beyond what is addressable with current gene therapies, beginning with inherited macular degeneration and inherited lipid disorders.
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Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Words such as “may,” “believe,” “will,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend” and similar expressions (as well as other words or expressions referencing future events, conditions or circumstances) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based upon current estimates and assumptions and include statements regarding the contributions to be made by each of the additions to the leadership team and the potential of SalioGen’s Gene Coding approach, including its use in potentially curative non-viral gene therapy. While SalioGen believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on any such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations and assumptions from those set forth or implied by any forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, among others, the ability of SalioGen to successfully integrate the new leadership team members and the ability of SalioGen to use its evolved approach to gene therapy, grounded by a mammal-derived genome engineering enzyme, for use in potentially curative non-viral gene therapy and to develop durable, safe and durable, safe and affordable non-viral gene therapy affordable non-viral gene therapies to more patients with inherited diseases that are beyond what is addressable with current gene therapies. All forward-looking statements are based on SalioGen’s expectations and assumptions as of the date of this press release. Actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, SalioGen expressly disclaims any responsibility to update any forward-looking statement contained herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Corporate Contact:
Ray Tabibiazar, M.D.
SalioGen Therapeutics
investors@saliogen.com
Media Contact:
Amy Jobe, Ph.D.
LifeSci Communications
315-879-8192
ajobe@lifescicomms.com
