NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LB Pharmaceuticals Inc, (“LB”, or the “Company”), a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing novel and improved versions of successful CNS treatments, today announced the appointment of Dr. Anna Eramo as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Eramo joins LB from Lundbeck, where she led US Clinical and Medical Affairs with primary responsibilities extending across Lundbeck’s entire US psychiatric and neurology portfolio of products. Dr. Eramo will assume a leadership role in overseeing the clinical development of LB-102, including a Phase 2 study in schizophrenia planned for mid-2021.
“Dr. Eramo’s passion for bringing a novel benzamide to the United States for the treatment of schizophrenia is a vision shared by all of us here at LB,” stated Zachary Prensky, President and CEO. “With an accomplished career at Lundbeck, AstraZeneca, and Bristol-Myers Squibb in roles directly overseeing clinical programs within CNS, Anna is exactly the right leader at the right time to work alongside Dr. Vaino and our scientific team in completing the clinical development milestones needed to commercialize LB-102.”
“I am excited to join LB at such a promising moment,” added Dr. Eramo. “LB-102 is an exciting new molecule that has the potential to build upon the best-in-class qualities of amisulpride and may improve the quality of care for thousands of US schizophrenia patients who are not being adequately treated by existing therapeutic options. My experience in treating schizophrenia in Italy, along with my regulatory experience in the US and globally, has taught me that benzamides can play an important role in the treatment of schizophrenia. The opportunity to bring a first-in-class benzamide asset to the US market is truly a career-defining opportunity for me.”
“I am thrilled to be working alongside Dr. Eramo in continuing the clinical development of LB-102,” commented Dr. Andrew Vaino, Chief Scientific Officer of LB. “Anna brings the type of in-depth clinical skillset that LB needs as we transition from a discovery stage company into a mid-stage clinical development organization.”
Dr. Eramo served as the Clinical and Medical Affairs Head of the US division of Lundbeck since 2017. Prior to this appointment, and starting in 2007, Anna served in various senior roles at Lundbeck in both Copenhagen and Milan. Throughout her career at Lundbeck, Dr. Eramo worked closely with both outside collaborators and key opinion leaders to shape the clinical development of many of Lundbeck’s key psychiatric products, including brexpriprazole, vortioxetine, and Abilify Maintena. From 2003 to 2007, Dr. Eramo held a number of positions at AstraZeneca Italy and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Anna holds both an academic degree in medicine and a specialty degree in psychiatry and psychotherapy from the University Medical School of Naples, Italy.
About LB-102
LB-102, or N-methyl amisulpride, is a patented benzamide designed to be an improved version of amisulpride, a drug successfully used to treat schizophrenia in Europe for decades. LB-102 was designed to improve on amisulpride’s low permeability across the blood brain barrier. LB-102 has the potential to offer schizophrenia patients the benefits of amisulpride at a lower dose than amisulpride.
The Company recently completed a Phase 1 study in healthy volunteers (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT04187560). A first-in-patient, placebo-controlled, Phase 2 study designed to test the effectiveness of LB-102 in the treatment of schizophrenia is planned for mid 2021.
About LB Pharmaceuticals
LB is a clinical stage CNS-focused life science company devoted to commercializing novel and improved versions of successful CNS treatments used extensively overseas but never developed, approved, or marketed, in the United States. LB-102, or N-methyl amisulpride, is the Company’s lead clinical asset. LB was founded in 2015 and is based in New York City.