BEDFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Verseau Therapeutics, Inc. today announced the appointment of Karen Tubridy, Pharm.D. as Chief Development Officer. Karen brings over 25 years of drug development experience within the biopharmaceutical industry. As CDO, Karen will play a leadership role in advancing Verseau’s pipeline of first-in-class monoclonal antibodies that are directed at repolarizing macrophages to enable the immune system to mount a potent attack on cancer.
“Karen has decades of experience advancing therapeutic programs into the clinic and through to commercialization,” said John Edwards, Chief Executive Officer of Verseau Therapeutics. “Her product development leadership will be instrumental in guiding Verseau as we prepare to become a clinical stage company with the anticipated first-in-human dosing of our lead program, VTX-0811, over the coming months.”
“Verseau’s macrophage repolarizing programs are being developed to be clinically relevant across a broader patient population and with a more potent antitumor response than currently available immunology-based therapies,” said Karen. “I look forward to joining the team at this pivotal time to help guide the development of this new class of oncology therapeutics.”
Karen previously served as Senior Vice President, Global Programs and Chief Development Officer at Akebia Therapeutics, where she was responsible for driving program strategy with operational responsibilities for its lead clinical asset through NDA and J-NDA. Prior to joining Akebia, Karen was Chief Development Officer at Eleven Biotherapeutics, where she led clinical, regulatory, quality, program management and development strategy. She previously served as Senior Vice President, Clinical Development and Medical Affairs at Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals. Before this, she held senior positions in clinical and regulatory operations at Taligen Therapeutics and stayed on following the company’s acquisition by Alexion Pharmaceuticals. Karen also served as Vice President, Clinical Operations at Syntonix Pharmaceuticals and Biogen Idec Hemophilia. Karen holds a B.S. in pharmacy and a Pharm.D. from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences.
About Verseau
Verseau Therapeutics is advancing a new class of cancer immunotherapies to stimulate the conversion of immuno-suppressive, pro-tumorigenic macrophages into pro-inflammatory macrophages. This transformation, called macrophage repolarization, induces a coordinated immune response to fight cancer. Preclinically this approach has been found to offer both a broader and more potent antitumor approach than with currently available T cell-based immunotherapies. Verseau’s macrophage repolarization target discovery engine leverages human and disease biology, as well as computational approaches in a patient-focused discovery process. This led to the discovery and validation over 20 novel macrophage targets. Verseau’s first-in-class monoclonal antibody candidates, VTX-0811 targeting PSGL-1 and VTX-1218 targeting VSIG4, are progressing toward clinical trials. https://www.verseautx.com/
