Apollo Medicals Pvt Ltd.

Nov. 18, 2021 13:00 UTC CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & CAMBRIDGE, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apollo Therapeutics, a portfolio-based biopharmaceutical company rapidly advancing transformative treatments based on breakthrough discoveries, today announced the appointment of Dr. Sanjay Aggarwal as the company’s chief medical officer. Dr. Aggarwal will be based in the company’s U.S. facility located at the Cambridge Innovation Center in Cambridge, Mass. “Sanjay is a highly accomplished clinical leader whose experience developing promising therapeutics through to regulatory approval will be incredibly valuable to Apollo as we move our lead programs forward,” said Dr. Richard Mason, CEO of Apollo. “We are proud to have him as a leader of our newly opened Boston facility where we look forward to growing our presence in the United States.” Dr. Aggarwal joins Apollo with more than 20 years in the biopharmaceutical industry, including extensive experience in building and leading clinical development teams, as well as a track record of taking drugs through development to successful regulatory approvals. Dr. Aggarwal was most recently chief medical officer at Angiocrine Bioscience, a clinical-stage cell and gene therapy company. Before this, he was the architect of the Rezurock™ (belumosudil) Phase 2 and 3 development programs at Kadmon, leading to its FDA approval for chronic graft versus host disease. Prior to joining Kadmon, Dr. Aggarwal was the global development lead for Kyprolis® (carfilzomib) at Amgen, leading to its approval in multiple myeloma in the U.S., E.U. and numerous additional countries. Earlier in his career, Dr. Aggarwal held positions of increasing responsibility in both biotech (Exelixis, Onyx Pharmaceuticals) and pharma (GSK, Novartis and Sanofi), overseeing development of early- and late-stage assets across several therapeutic areas with roles in the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific. He studied mathematics and medicine to earn his medical degree from The University of Cambridge. He has an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Clinically, he trained in internal medicine and public health and is a member of the Royal College of Physicians. “Apollo has built an impressive pipeline of therapeutic programs based on breakthrough discoveries that hold tremendous promise across multiple disease areas,” said Dr. Aggarwal. “I look forward to advancing the lead programs into clinical investigation and working with the team to further build the company by acquiring clinical-stage assets.” About Apollo Therapeutics Apollo Therapeutics is a portfolio-based biopharmaceutical company rapidly advancing a robust pipeline of potentially transformative therapeutic programs based on breakthrough discoveries. Through deep relationships with world-leading scientists and inventors, the company identifies programs with strong biological hypotheses and potential to become meaningful new treatment options. Apollo's model combines drug development 'architects' and deep subject matter experts to build an expansive and de-risked pipeline in oncology, major inflammatory disorders and rare disease. For more information, visit .

Deerfield Management-backed Jaguar Gene Therapy, and its ciliopathy-focused subsidiary Axovia Therapeutics, launched today with an undisclosed Series A to develop adeno-associated virus serotype 9 (AAV9)-driven gene therapies. Jaguar’s C-suite cut their teeth at another Deerfield company, AveXis, which developed Zolgensma gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy, and was subsequently purchased by Novartis in 2018 for $8.7 billion. AveXis was renamed Novartis Gene Therapy last year. The companies have been in stealth mode for the past year. Jaguar is developing gene replacement therapies for severe genetic diseases, using a platform based on the AAV9 capsid, the same vector used for Zolgensma. The first three preclinical programs in Jaguar’s pipelines are JAG101, in development for galactosemia; JAG201, targeted at a genetically driven form of autism spectrum disorder; and JAG301, to be targeted at a subpopulation of newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetes patients. Jaguar’s President and CEO is Joe Nolan, who was previously AveXis’s General Manager for the U.S. He is joined by Sukumar Nagendran, President of R&D, who led development of AVXS-101, which is now being groomed for regulatory submission in older patients with spinal muscular atrophy by Novartis Gene Therapy. Jaguar’s Executive Chairman Sean Nolan was previously President and CEO at AveXis, and the company’s Chief Operating Officer Andrew Knudten, Chief Operating Officer Phil Donenberg, and Chief Legal Officer Michael Johannesen all came from AveXis as well. "We believe that the combination of our proven management team and gene therapy expertise coupled with the financial resources and access to academic institutions provided by Deerfield Management will facilitate our ability to identify critical clinical needs," said Sean Nolan, “and address them by expediting the development of gene therapies from bench to bedside as safely and quickly as possible." Meanwhile, Axovia – a majority-owned subsidiary of Jaguar that has also received funding from the UCL Technology Fund – is working on an AAV9-delivered gene replacement therapy for Bardet-Biedl Syndrome-1 (BBS1), a subset of patients with the rare ciliopathy BBS, with symptoms including early onset retinal blindness. The subsidiary was cofounded by BBS research pioneer Philip Beales, who developing diagnostics for the disease and helping identify the genetic causes of cilial dysfunction while head of genetics and genomic medicine at University College London (UCL). Another gene therapy, Luxturna, has been approved for genetic retinal diseases Leber congenital amaurosis and retinitis pigmentosa. Deerfield’s strategy in recent years has been to ink research deals with academic institutions in order to access early-stage opportunities, most recently signing a new $130 million collaboration with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Axovia’s program is based on a program licensed from UCL and Apollo Therapeutics last year. Deerfield will help Jaguar access academic labs that could supply the company with future gene therapy candidates. Zolgensma, a one-time therapy, costs $2.125 million per dose, making it among the most expensive medicines in the world. Most Read Today