CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tiaki Therapeutics, a company developing novel treatments to target the neuroinflammation that drives cognitive decline in patients with dementia, announced that Suzanne L. Bruhn, PhD, has been appointed as chief executive officer and president and joins the Board of Directors. Dr. Bruhn brings over 20 years of experience in executive leadership and drug development in the biopharmaceutical industry. Dr. Bruhn succeeds interim CEO Barbara Tate, PhD, the chief strategy officer of the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF), who will remain on Tiaki’s Board of Directors.
Angus Grant, PhD, CEO of the DDF and a member of Tiaki’s Board of Directors said, “Sue’s appointment comes at an exciting time for Tiaki, as we launch the company into drug discovery based on targets emerging from its systems biology platform. Her broad experience in drug development and company building will galvanize Tiaki’s progress toward novel treatments for dementia and neurodegenerative diseases.”
“Tiaki has an exciting drug discovery platform uniquely capable of modeling and addressing the neuroinflammatory signature linked to cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease patients,” said Dr. Bruhn. “Seeded by the DDF, our company is poised to create a new generation of treatments based on biological insights from targeting microglia, the immune cells of the brain that play a critical role in neuroinflammation. Tiaki’s mission is aligned with and inspired by the DDF, to bring new science and transformational approaches to the significant public health crisis of dementia.”
Dr. Bruhn’s experience building biotechnology companies includes her most recent role as president and chief executive officer of Proclara Biosciences, a clinical-stage company that focused on a novel approach to treat disorders of protein misfolding, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Prior to Proclara, she served as president and CEO of Promedior, Inc., a clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing targeted therapeutics to treat diseases involving fibrosis. She successfully negotiated an exclusive agreement for the right to acquire Promedior by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2015.
Previously, Dr. Bruhn spent 13 years at Shire Human Genetic Therapies (HGT), a division of Shire PLC specializing in the development and commercialization of treatments for orphan diseases, where she held a series of positions of increasing responsibility that led to the role of senior vice president of strategic planning and program management. During her tenure at Shire HGT, Dr. Bruhn was responsible for establishing the program management function, driving strategic planning and portfolio management, and for global regulatory affairs. She played a key role in the development, registration and global expansion of Shire HGT’s products, and in portfolio expansion through licensing and acquisitions. Prior to her time at Shire HGT, Dr. Bruhn held various positions at Cytotherapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company. Dr. Bruhn holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Human Genetics at Harvard Medical School.
About Tiaki Therapeutics
Tiaki Therapeutics is developing first-in-class therapeutics that target microglia, the immune cells of the brain, to address inflammatory-driven CNS disorders and protect cognitive function. The company has developed a proprietary systems biology platform that preserves the complex biological interactions of brain cells and models the specific transcriptomic signature of neuroinflammation in dementia patients. This discovery engine recapitulates the fully integrated cellular communication that is dysregulated in CNS disease and facilitates identification of novel therapeutic targets and biomarkers. Tiaki’s near-term focus is on therapeutics that counteract the neuroinflammation associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Tiaki was founded by the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF), a mission-driven venture capital fund at the forefront of therapeutics for the treatment of dementias. For more information, visit www.tiakitx.com.
Follow Tiaki on social media: @TiakiTx and on LinkedIn.
About the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF)
The DDF is a venture capital fund which invests in projects and companies to discover and develop novel, effective disease-modifying therapeutics for dementia. Seven leading pharmaceutical companies (Biogen, Eli Lilly and Company, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Otsuka (Astex), Pfizer and Takeda), AARP, Aegon, Bill Gates, British Patient Capital, NFL Players Association, Quest Diagnostics, UnitedHealth Group, the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care and charity Alzheimer’s Research UK have invested in the DDF to date. Heads of Neuroscience represent these strategic investors on the DDF Scientific Advisory Board and work closely with SV’s dedicated team of neuroscientists and experts to identify and evaluate novel approaches for the treatment of dementia. SV won the bid to become Manager in a competitive selection process held in 2015. www.theddfund.com
