NEWTOWN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Palladio Biosciences, Inc. (Palladio) http://palladiobio.com/, a private biopharmaceutical company founded to develop medicines that make a meaningful impact on the lives of patients with orphan diseases of the kidney, announced today the appointment of Frank C. Condella, Jr., to the Company’s Board of Directors as an independent Director. Frank is the immediate past Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PKD Foundation, the only organization in the U.S. solely dedicated to finding treatments and a cure for Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD). Palladio is developing its lead drug, lixivaptan, for PKD, an orphan kidney disease for which there are no drug treatments approved in the United States.
“I am excited to welcome Frank Condella to our Board of Directors. Frank brings extensive healthcare and pharmaceutical executive experience as well as PKD patient advocacy to Palladio Biosciences,” said Lorenzo Pellegrini, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Palladio. “His expertise will be a valuable resource as we continue to develop lixivaptan for PKD and build Palladio Biosciences to develop transformative medicines for orphan diseases of the kidney.”
“I look forward to working together with Lorenzo and the entire Board of Palladio to build a uniquely focused company,” added Mr. Condella. “It is both a personal and professional commitment of mine to help advance new treatments that improve the lives of patients with kidney disease.”
Mr. Condella brings to Palladio Biosciences over 30 years’ experience in senior executive roles in the pharmaceutical industry. In addition to serving on the Board of Trustees of the PKD Foundation for several years, he most recently was President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Juniper Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNP), a position he held from 2009 until 2016. Previously, he was Chief Executive Officer of Skyepharma plc, President of European operations at IVAX, Chief Executive Officer of Faulding Pharmaceuticals, Vice President of the specialty care products business at Roche and Vice President and General Manager of the Lederle unit of American Home Products (Pfizer). He currently is Vice Chairman of Vectura Group plc and a Board Director of Juniper Pharmaceuticals. Previously he has served as Chairman SkyePharma plc, and as an independent Director of Prosonix ltd and Fulcrum Pharma plc. Mr. Condella earned an MBA from the D’Amore-McKim School of Business and a BS in Pharmacy from Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University.
About Lixivaptan:
Lixivaptan is an orally active, selective vasopressin V2 receptor antagonist. This mechanism of action has clinical proof of concept to delay the progression of the autosomal dominant form of PKD. Lixivaptan was previously administered to more than 1,600 subjects across 36 clinical studies as part of a prior clinical development program for the treatment of hyponatremia. Palladio expects to leverage this extensive data package and the learnings from recent PKD drug development activities to advance lixivaptan for PKD.
About Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) - Key Facts and Figures:
PKD is an inherited genetic disease that affects thousands of people in the United States and millions globally. The disease is characterized by uncontrolled growth of fluid-filled cysts in the kidney, which can each grow to be as large as a football. The continued enlargement of cysts and replacement of normal kidney tissue can cause irreversible loss of renal function. In the United States, approximately 2,500 new people with PKD require dialysis or a kidney transplant every year, making PKD the 4th leading cause of kidney failure. There is no cure for PKD.
About the PKD Foundation:
The PKD Foundation has been dedicated since its founding in 1982 to finding treatments and a cure for Polycystic Kidney Disease. These efforts are accomplished through promoting research to find treatments and a cure as well as providing education, advocacy and awareness on a national level. The Foundation provides direct services to local communities nationwide and is the largest private funder of PKD research. For more information, please visit https://pkdcure.org.
About Palladio Biosciences, Inc.:
Palladio Biosciences is a privately-owned, clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing medicines for orphan diseases of the kidney and is located in Newtown, PA. For more information, please visit www.palladiobio.com.
Please note that lixivaptan is for investigational use only.
