CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Permeon™ Biologics, a biopharmaceutical company pioneering a novel class of intracellular protein biologics, today announced the appointment of Katherine S. Bowdish, Ph.D., as president and chief scientific officer. Dr. Bowdish also joins the Permeon board of directors. Previously, Dr. Bowdish was the co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Anaphore, a platform-based drug development company pioneering Atrimers™, a new class of trivalent protein pharmaceuticals. Before founding Anaphore, she founded Prolifaron, a leading innovator of antibody technologies that grew through large pharma partnerships and ultimately merged with Alexion Pharmaceuticals. Following that merger, Dr. Bowdish served as president of Alexion Antibody Technologies, Inc. and senior vice president antibody discovery of Alexion Pharmaceuticals.
“We are pleased to welcome Kathy to the Permeon team. Her proven expertise and success in leading and building innovative biotechnology companies are invaluable to Permeon as we continue to advance our novel Intraphilin Technology Platform,” said John Edwards, executive chairman of Permeon. “We would also like to thank Dr. Alex Franzusoff for his contributions to the company and his work in positioning Permeon at the forefront of the development of this breakthrough class of intracellular biologics.”
“This is an exciting time for Permeon and for our industry as we are poised to realize a true breakthrough in intracellular protein biologics,” said Dr. Bowdish. “Our approach enables us to discover and develop an entirely new class of naturally occurring human supercharged proteins and address a broad spectrum of previously undruggable targets. I look forward to working with the Permeon team as we make important progress this year, further developing our technology and advancing our programs.”
Earlier in her career, Dr. Bowdish was a research biologist at Monsanto where she created the first insect-tolerant transgenic plants, and worked with Richard A. Lerner, M.D., at The Scripps Research Institute on catalytic antibodies and antibody repertoire cloning. Dr. Bowdish earned her B.S. in Biology at the College of William and Mary and her Ph.D. in the Integrated Program in Cellular, Molecular and Biophysical Studies at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She is the author or co-author of more than 26 peer-reviewed scientific publications and is the inventor on 13 issued U.S. patents and multiple patents pending.
About the Intraphilin™ Technology Platform
Many of today’s blockbuster drugs are protein-based biologics that work outside of cells either as replacement enzymes or by binding to extracellular targets to treat disease. The size and electrical charge of protein biologics normally prevent them from penetrating cell membranes to function inside the cell, limiting the therapeutic utility of this class of drugs. The Intraphilin™ Technology Platform has the potential to enable human biologic drugs to function inside of cells and treat disease.
About Permeon Biologics
Permeon Biologics is pioneering a breakthrough class of intracellular biologics that target a broad spectrum of previously undruggable targets. Leveraging its Intraphilin™ Technology Platform exclusively licensed from Harvard University, the company’s next-generation approach is being developed to unlock the full therapeutic potential of current blockbuster technologies for human biologics. The Intraphilin™ Technology Platform enables protein-based therapeutics to act inside cells to treat disease, opening access to more than 1,500 intracellular targets that are deemed undruggable by existing technologies. Based in Cambridge, Mass., Permeon Biologics is backed by marquee investors, Flagship Ventures and ARCH Venture Partners, and is led by a world-class scientific advisory board and proven management team. For more information, visit www.permeonbio.com. Permeon and Intraphilin are trademarks of Permeon Biologics, Inc.