SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Verge Genomics, a drug discovery company developing therapies for neurological diseases by integrating a unique all-in-human genomic platform with machine learning, announced today that Steve Kanes, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer at Sage Therapeutics, a leader in developing therapies that support brain health, has been appointed to its board of directors. Dr. Kanes brings extensive industry experience in advancing drug candidates for neurological diseases from early discovery, through development, regulatory approval, and commercialization.

“We are excited to welcome Steve with his wealth of expertise in neuroscience and drug development to Verge’s board,” said Alice Zhang, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Verge Genomics. “Steve’s experience in taking therapeutic candidates from their early discovery and development to making them a reality for patients will be highly relevant as we grow our clinical pipeline over the next couple years.”

Dr. Kanes is responsible for Sage’s clinical-stage programs and is the company’s primary liaison with the investigator community. His experiences as both a practicing psychiatrist and neuroscience investigator have helped him advance through increasing positions of responsibility at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, culminating in his role as -the Executive Director/Therapeutic Area Clinical Director for the inflammation, neuroscience and respiratory GMED division at the company. He has authored or co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications, in behavioral neuroscience, behavioral pharmacology, genetics, clinical trial, and health economics and serves as an ad hoc reviewer for the journals Neuropsychopharmacology and American Journal of Medical Genetics and Biological Psychiatry. Steve received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and both his Ph.D. and M.D. from State University of New York, Stony Brook. He completed his psychiatry residency at Yale-New Haven Medical Center and postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.

“I am pleased to be joining Verge’s board at a time in its history when it is advancing promising therapies toward the clinic,” said Dr. Kanes. “The unmet medical need in the treatment of brain health disorders is significant. I welcome the opportunity to collaborate with the leadership team and board at Verge in the exciting area of personalized medicine to help develop solutions for such diseases as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson’s Disease with the goal of helping millions of patients.”

About Verge Genomics
Verge is focused on developing therapeutics for neurological diseases using human genomics to accelerate drug discovery. Verge has created a proprietary all-in-human platform, generating one of the field’s largest and most comprehensive databases of ALS and Parkinson’s Disease patient genomic data. The Company is led by experienced computational biologists and drug developers who are successfully advancing therapeutic programs in ALS and Parkinson’s disease toward the clinic. For additional information, please visit www.vergegenomics.com.

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