SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Verge Genomics, a clinical-stage, tech-enabled biotechnology company pioneering the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and human data to transform drug discovery, announced today that it appointed Diego Cadavid, M.D., as its first Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Cadavid will lead clinical development for Verge, including the company’s recently-initiated Phase 1 trial of VRG50635, a novel therapeutic for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) discovered from its CONVERGE™ platform.
Before joining Verge, Dr. Cadavid served as Chief Medical Officer of X4 Pharmaceuticals where he led the clinical development of mavorixafor and recently delivered positive phase 3 data. He brings more than 24 years of experience in early and late-stage drug development, from small molecules to biologics, across multiple therapeutic areas including neurology. Prior to X4, Dr. Cadavid was the SVP of Clinical Development at Fulcrum Therapeutics, where he led the development of novel biomarker and clinical endpoints and the execution of more than ten clinical trials. His work included the rapid advance of losmapimod from target identification to proof of concept in Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSHD). With Dr. Cadavid as leader of the clinical development group at Fulcrum, the company grew from Series A to a successful public debut. Before Fulcrum, Dr. Cadavid spent nearly nine years at Biogen in positions of increasing importance, leading the clinical development of small and large molecules for central nervous system remyelination, and multiple sclerosis (MS). He worked on the clinical development of several marketed MS medicines, including Tysabri® and Avonex®. Dr. Cadavid has successfully navigated all stages of drug development, from first-in-human through global late-stage and post-approval trials.
“Diego brings his strong leadership and clinical experience to Verge at the perfect time, when we are starting clinical development with our first compound and preparing to scale our discovery and clinical pipeline. What stands out to me most, though, is his knack using disruptive innovation to enable disciplined execution,” said Alice Zhang, CEO and co-founder of Verge Genomics. “He has developed multiple novel clinical endpoints, from using accelerometers and methods for continuous assessment of mobility at home to developing a new repeated needle muscle biopsy biomarker endpoint. This outside-the-box thinking will be critical to unlocking diseases with high unmet need and transforming the drug development and treatment landscape for some of the biggest medical challenges of our generation.”
Dr. Cadavid holds an M.D. in medicine from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia and is board-certified and a U.S. licensed clinical neurologist. He completed his post-doctoral training in microbiology and immunology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas (UTHSCSA), a clinical neurology residency at Georgetown University, and a fellowship in neuropathology at Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Dr. Cadavid has published more than 100 peer review publications, review papers, and book chapters.
About Verge Genomics
Verge uses AI and human data to develop better drugs faster for the most challenging diseases of our generation. Verge has built CONVERGE™, an end-to-end drug discovery and development platform, that integrates multiple technological innovations from discovery to translation to streamline drug development. Its pioneering use of the industry’s most advanced all-in-human, AI-powered drug discovery platform identifies new medicines more efficiently and with an improved probability of success.
Verge is one of the first AI-enabled drug discovery companies to independently develop a clinical candidate from a novel target discovered from its platform. Verge has further demonstrated the power of CONVERGE™ by delivering a broad pipeline spanning diverse therapeutic areas, with its first program, an investigational PIKfyve inhibitor for the treatment of ALS, now in the clinic. The company is led by experienced drug developers and computational biologists with a shared belief that technology has created a new opportunity to deliver life-changing medicines more efficiently.
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