BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gelesis, a biotechnology company focused on developing first-in-class products to safely induce weight loss and improve glycemic control, today announced the appointment of David Pass, Pharm.D., as Chief Operating Officer. Dr. Pass will lead operations, including commercial planning, business development and all commercialization efforts. His initial focus will be on Gelesis100, Gelesis’ lead product candidate.
Dr. Pass joins Gelesis with more than 20 years of commercial expertise across multiple therapeutic areas with a focus on diabetes and metabolics. Dr. Pass gained a broad range of commercial experience from his time with Johnson & Johnson, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Most recently, Dr. Pass served as Vice President of Marketing at Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) for Diabetes, where he built a billion-dollar franchise. In this role, Dr. Pass also led the BI alliance with Eli Lilly & Company to develop and commercialize a portfolio of diabetes compounds in mid- and late-stage development.
“We are excited to have David onboard as we prepare for the potential launch of our first product, Gelesis100,” said Yishai Zohar, Chief Executive Officer of Gelesis. “David brings invaluable commercial, strategic and business development experience across a broad range of therapeutic areas and has a proven track record of building successful franchises.”
William Aschenbach, Ph.D., MBA, also joins Gelesis as the Vice President of Medical Affairs. Dr. Aschenbach brings with him 13 years of diverse research and development and medical affairs experience from his tenure as Scientific Director of U.S. Medical Affairs for EMD Serono. He also previously served as the Director of Global Medical Research at Biogen Idec, where he led global external research and medical communications efforts for the company’s central nervous system franchise.
About Gelesis
Gelesis
is focused on the development of novel therapies to induce weight loss
and improve glycemic control in people who are overweight or have
obesity, including those with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.
Gelesis100, one of the company’s product candidates and a first-in-class
therapeutic, is currently being evaluated in a six-month pivotal study.
Gelesis is also developing Gelesis200, created from the same proprietary
technology platform as Gelesis100, as a product optimized to induce
weight loss and improve glycemic control in patients with type 2
diabetes.
The Gelesis executive and advisory teams comprise leading experts in obesity and its related comorbidities, clinical research and development and advanced biomaterials, including Caroline Apovian, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine; Louis J. Aronne, M.D., FACP, Director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Program at Weill Cornell Medicine, who also holds equity in Gelesis; Arne Astrup, M.D., Head of Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at University of Copenhagen; Ken Fujioka, M.D., Director of the Nutrition and Metabolic Research Center and the Center for Weight Management at the Scripps Clinic; Allan Geliebter, Ph.D., Senior Attending Psychologist, St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital; James Hill, Ph.D., Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Colorado; Lee M. Kaplan, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Obesity, Metabolism and Nutrition Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital; Bennett Shapiro, M.D., Co-founder and Non-Executive Director at PureTech and former Executive Vice President of Research for Merck; and Angelo Tremblay, Ph.D., professor, Department of Kinesiology at Laval University.
Gelesis investors include Cormorant Asset Management, PureTech Health PLC (LSE: PRTC), Invesco Asset Management, the Pritzker/Vlock Family Office, and other prominent biotech and finance investors.
Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains
statements that are or may be forward-looking statements, including
statements that relate to the company's future prospects, developments
and strategies. The forward-looking statements are based on current
expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance and
achievements to differ materially from current expectations, including,
but not limited to, those risks and uncertainties described in the risk
factors included in the regulatory filings for PureTech Health plc.
These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding the
present and future business strategies of the company and the
environment in which it will operate in the future. Each forward-looking
statement speaks only as at the date of this press release. Except as
required by law and regulatory requirements, neither the company nor any
other party intends to update or revise these forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
