OXFORD, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ochre Bio, an RNA therapeutics company focused on chronic liver and cardiometabolic diseases, announced today the formation of its scientific strategy board (SSB) to support the maturation of its platforms and pipeline of liver disease therapeutics. The SSB comprises leading experts across liver disease R&D, clinical development, and pharmaceutical partnering. This mix of expertise, from both academia and industry, will augment the company’s management team and help to shape strategic planning as it progresses its pipeline towards the clinic. Ochre recently announced the successful close of $30M in Series A financing.
The members of Ochre’s SSB include:
- Sangeeta Bhatia - Wilson Professor of Engineering, MIT
- Chinwe Ukomadu - SVP & Head of GI Therapeutic Area Unit, Takeda
- Chas Bountra - Pro Vice Chancellor for Innovation & Professor of Translational Medicine, Oxford University
- Scott Friedman - Professor and Chief, Division of Liver Diseases, Mount Sinai
- Troy Dale - Head of Strategic Partnerships Unit, Novartis; Former CMO (Greater China), Sanofi
- Joel Dudley - Partner at Innovation Endeavors; former Chief Scientific Officer, Tempus Labs
- Michael Hodges - RNA Therapeutics Consultant; former CMO and Head of Development, Santaris Pharmaceuticals
- Leanne Hodson - Professor of Metabolic Physiology, Oxford University
- Eduardo Martins - Chief Medical Officer, Sagimet; former VP of Clinical Development, Allergan/Abbvie
- Alex K. Shalek – Core Member of IMES, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Extramural Member of the Koch Institute, MIT; Institute Member, Broad Institute; Member, Ragon Institute
“True to Ochre's philosophy of highly transdisciplinary expertise from technology through to biology, we are honoured to have a strong group of advisors who will challenge us to do the best possible science and help us advance our therapies to patients," said Quin Wills, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer & Co-Founder, Ochre Bio.
“The company is developing a novel strategy that has potential to positively impact all patients with liver diseases. The opportunity to validate targets in actual human livers is something no other company is doing,” said Chas Bountra, Pro Vice Chancellor for Innovation & Professor of Translational Medicine, Oxford University. “The potential to benefit a large proportion of future liver transplant recipients, and the idea that you can test and develop drugs quickly is remarkable.”
“The scientific, meticulous approach Ochre takes in the discovery and development of their targets is amazing. Ochre is basically de-risking clinical trials, so more of the trials in liver disease will hopefully be successful. The idea that you could make drugs and test their efficacy really quickly in human tissues is quite frankly insane," said Alex K Shalek, Ph.D., faculty at MIT, the Broad Institute, and Ragon Institute.
Liver disease is a top ten cause of death globally. Without effective therapies for patients, the only resort is a liver transplant. The current supply of healthy donor organs cannot meet current patient demand and the quality of healthy donor livers is declining due to the obesity epidemic, with minorities disproportionately disadvantaged. Ochre is working to improve the viability of marginal donor livers, and in doing so, uncovering insights that will lead to treatments for a wider set of chronic liver diseases.
About Ochre Bio
Ochre Bio is a biotechnology company developing RNA therapies for chronic liver diseases. Using a combination of deep phenotyping, precision RNA medicine, and testing in live human donor livers, Ochre is developing therapies for important liver health challenges, from increasing donor liver supply to reducing cirrhosis complications. To learn more, please visit www.ochre-bio.com.
