BURLINGAME, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Parvus Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing disease-modifying nanomedicines to halt or reverse autoimmune disease without causing general immune suppression, announced today the appointment of Curtis Ruegg, Ph.D., as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Company’s Board of Directors. Dr. Ruegg brings to Parvus over 25 years of leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry.
“Curtis possesses an industry-leading track record in advancing successful R&D programs through clinical development, launch and commercialization,” stated Janice M. LeCocq, Parvus’ Chairman of the Board. “During his career, Curtis has spearheaded programs that have advanced multiple novel biotherapeutic products from research through IND-enabling and clinical development, resulting in outcomes including the expedited FDA review and approval of a drug/device combination therapeutic for an orphan disease and commercialization of novel immune-oncology therapeutics. His experience will be invaluable as Parvus progresses its novel Navacims™ into clinical testing to meet compelling patient needs across diverse therapeutic indications in autoimmune disease.”
Pere Santamaria, Ph.D., MD., Founder & Chief Scientific Officer of Parvus, stated, “Parvus’ Navacim programs represent a transformative approach to treating disease, employing a mechanism that reprograms disease-causing immune cells to suppress autoimmunity without affecting normal functions of the immune system. Based on broad validation across preclinical in vivo models of a variety of autoimmune diseases, Parvus is poised to progress its lead efforts toward the clinic, including in our partnered program with Novartis. We are very pleased that Curtis, with his exceptional experience advancing novel therapies, will take the helm of the Company at this critical time.”
Dr. Ruegg commented, “I am thrilled to work with Parvus’ accomplished team, Board members, and advisors to launch the next chapter for the Company as our Navacims move through formal preclinical development and toward the clinic. Our Navacim programs are advancing on plan, including internal development candidates targeting autoimmune liver disease and inflammatory bowel disease, as well as our lead program in Type 1 diabetes in collaboration with Novartis. Our goal at Parvus is to leverage the power of our immunoregulatory technology to produce breakthrough nanomedicines that will usher in a new treatment paradigm for patients suffering from autoimmune diseases who are underserved by current approaches.”
Prior to joining Parvus, Dr. Ruegg held leadership positions at Revance, including as Executive Vice President, Technical Operations. During his tenure, he established and managed the biologics development program and supply chain to support the company’s lead candidate, DaxibotulinumtoxinA for Injection (RT002), from IND through Phase 3 development. Previously, he was Senior Vice President, Technical Operations at Cotherix, where he was instrumental in the NDA filing and expedited FDA review and approval for VENTAVIS® (iloprost), a drug/pulmonary delivery device combination therapeutic for pulmonary arterial hypertension. Dr. Ruegg also served in the leadership roles of Vice President, Preclinical and Process Development at InterMune (acquired by Roche), and Vice President, Research and Development at AP Cells. He began his career at Dendreon playing a key role in the development of Provenge® (sipuleucel-T). Dr. Ruegg received his Ph.D. degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine pursuing research on retroviral-mediated immunosuppression. He was a Cancer Research Institute Fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine working on novel immune cell surface receptors for therapeutic development under Dr. Edgar Engleman in the Department of Pathology and Stanford Medical Center Blood Center.
About Parvus Therapeutics Inc.
Parvus Therapeutics Inc. is a privately-held biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development and commercialization of Navacim therapeutics, novel nanoparticle based immune complexes that induce the in vivo expansion of specific regulatory cells resulting in the restoration of immune homeostasis. Navacims can be readily tailored to target a broad range of autoimmune diseases and have the potential to radically improve the lives of patients suffering from these diseases. Navacims were discovered by Pere Santamaria, M.D., Ph.D. Chief Scientific Officer and Founder of Parvus, Julia McFarlane Diabetes Research Professor of the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary.
