BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cardurion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Cardurion), a Boston-based, clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing next-generation therapeutics for the treatment of heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases, today announced the appointment of Chris Morabito, M.D., as chief medical officer (CMO). Dr. Morabito joins Cardurion from Takeda Pharmaceuticals, where he most recently served as senior vice president and head, research and development (R&D), plasma-derived therapies, and where he previously served as vice president and global program leader, specialty cardiovascular (CV) disease.
"We are thrilled that Chris is bringing to Cardurion his strong industry and operational leadership at a time when our lead program in heart failure is advancing in the clinic and our pipeline is maturing,” said Peter Lawrence, chief executive officer of Cardurion. “Chris has a deep background in cardiovascular drug development from his time at Takeda, Sanofi and Merck, as well as broad experience and skills in leading large groups and an array of mission critical projects. His vision and leadership will be essential to our ongoing work to bring transformative therapies to people with cardiovascular diseases."
As head, R&D, plasma-derived therapies at Takeda, Dr. Morabito established a complete R&D organization and built a pipeline of life-transforming medicines for patients with rare and difficult-to-manage diseases. Prior to that, he served as head, pipeline strategy for global R&D at Takeda, where he influenced the integrated development of R&D programs across Takeda’s therapeutic areas. While in this role, Dr. Morabito was instrumental in the acquisition and integration of Shire that occurred in 2019. Dr. Morabito has extensive experience in cardiovascular disease drug development. He has led numerous programs in heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, atrial fibrillation, hypertension and diabetes mellitus at Merck, Sanofi and Takeda. He has overseen numerous Phase 1, proof-of-concept and pivotal studies, including CV outcome studies. Dr. Morabito trained initially as a neonatologist at the Cardiovascular Research Institute at University of California, San Francisco, where he focused on neonatal cardiology and was an NIH-funded scientist interrogating mechanisms of cardiomyocyte development.
"I am excited to join Cardurion at this important time, when both our lead program and broader pipeline are entering important phases in the development cycle,” said Dr. Morabito. “Cardurion has the opportunity to deliver life-changing therapies against previously un-drugged targets in heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases. I am delighted to be partnering with our experienced leadership team and look forward to helping the company bring transformative new medicines to patients."
About Cardurion Pharmaceuticals
Cardurion Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of novel, next-generation therapeutics for the treatment of heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases. Built by a team of physician-scientists and industry experts with extensive experience in cardiovascular science, medicine and drug development, Cardurion Pharmaceuticals is pursuing unique drug discovery and development programs to target major unmet needs in cardiology. Cardurion Pharmaceuticals has facilities in Boston, Massachusetts and Shonan, Japan. For more information, please visit the company’s website at http://www.cardurion.com.
