Sanifit appoints Alexander M. Gold, M.D., F.A.C.C. as Chief Medical Officer and President of its US subsidiary
Former SVP and Head of Clinical Development at Portola Pharmaceuticals appointed as Chief Medical Officer
Palma, Spain and San Diego, USA, 14 December 2017 – Laboratoris Sanifit S.L., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on treatments for calcification disorders, today announces the appointment of Alexander M. Gold, M.D., F.A.C.C. as Chief Medical Officer and President of its US subsidiary Sanifit Inc., based in San Diego, USA.
Dr Gold is a cardiologist with over 16 years of experience in development of new therapies. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. He has held numerous leadership positions in multiple companies and therapeutic areas, including hematology, thrombosis, cardiometabolic, inflammation, renal and oncology. He was a key driver for FDA and global regulatory approvals of several medicines currently being used by patients all over the world, such as CRESTOR, ONGLYZA, BRILINTA, as well as recent approval of BEVYXXA.
Commenting on the appointment, Joan Perelló, CEO of Sanifit said, “We are very happy to have Dr. Gold join our leadership team. Alex arrives here with first class operational and clinical development expertise in novel drug therapies, targeting cardiovascular and metabolic disease and kidney disease amongst others. In addition, his work in regulatory and medical affairs will be invaluable as we continue to take our novel clinical programmes through to approval.”
Dr Gold added, “I am very pleased to be joining the Sanifit team and to be assuming responsibility for leading the development of its primary asset, SNF472. There are currently no approved drugs for patients with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) undergoing haemodialysis in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases linked to calcification. SNF472’s orphan drug status for calciphylaxis already has the potential to address the significant morbidity and mortality for these patients.”
Dr Gold was most recently Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Development at Portola Pharmaceuticals. Previously, Dr Gold was Head of Clinical Development at Reata Pharmaceuticals after 11 years at AstraZeneca, where he had multiple leadership positions, including the Executive Director and Development Leader for Brilinta®, Crestor® and Onglyza®.
Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Dr Gold completed his residency in Internal Medicine and Fellowship in Cardiology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/ Harvard Medical School in Boston and conducted translational and clinical research as a fellow in cardiovascular research at the Harvard Clinical Research Institute and was Scholar in Clinical Science. Dr Gold received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and his B.A in Biology from Brandeis University.
Sanifit is currently conducting a phase IIb study in ESRD patients and conducting the orphan-designated development program in calciphylaxis.
For media enquiries:
Sanifit
Joan Perelló, CEO
Antonio Jiménez, VP Operations
Hume Brophy
Conor Griffin, Alexander Protsenko, Jonothan Blackbourn
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7862 6475
Email: sanifit@humebrophy.com
About SNF472
SNF472 is an intravenous formulation with a novel mechanism of action for haemodialysis patients with cardiovascular diseases linked to calcification. SNF472 is being developed for two indications: cardiovascular disease in dialysis patients and for the treatment of calciphylaxis. SNF472 has orphan drug status for the treatment of calciphylaxis from both the EMA and FDA. SNF472 selectively blocks the pathological cardiovascular calcification progression and poses an innovative solution for these unmet medical needs. The intravenous route is promising for dialysis patients as it assures 100% compliance.
About Sanifit
Sanifit is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of SNF472. The company was founded in 2007 as a spin-off of the University of the Balearic Islands and expanded its activities in the USA in 2016 with the incorporation of a subsidiary with offices in San Diego. SNF472 is an experimental drug for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases linked to calcification in the End Stage Renal Disease population undergoing haemodialysis. Sanifit has completed Phase I studies with healthy volunteers and haemodialysis patients, and after a recent series C funding round of $41.3M (€36.6M), Sanifit has launched two Phase II programs in ESRD and in the orphan space in calciphylaxis. For more information please visit www.sanifit.com