Circle Pharma Appoints James Aggen, PhD as Its Vice President, Medicinal Chemistry

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--James Aggen, PhD has joined Circle Pharma as its Vice President of Medicinal Chemistry and will lead Circle’s chemistry team in its discovery and development of macrocycle therapeutics against intractable cancer targets.

Dr. Aggen has over 20 years of experience in medicinal chemistry. He most recently served as the Senior Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Revolution Medicines and earlier in his career held positions at Oligiasis, Achaogen, Chemocentryx, Gilead Sciences and Theravance. In addition, Jim held the role of Associate Professor of Medicinal and Natural Products Chemistry at Northeastern University. He also served in the US Marine Corps Reserves. Dr. Aggen was awarded a doctorate in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of California, Irvine, where he studied under Prof. Richard Chamberlin.

“We are delighted to have Jim join the Circle team,” said Raj Singh, PhD, Circle’s Chief Scientific Offer. “Jim brings deep medicinal chemistry experience and has successfully led teams engaged in targeted drug discovery against multiple oncology targets including mTORC1 and KRAS. Notably, Jim also has experience in the medicinal chemistry of larger molecules, having been the project lead from inception to IND submission for the novel aminoglycoside antibiotic plazomicin which is now marketed as Zemdri. We are excited to add Jim’s experience to our team as we work to bring Circle’s cancer therapies to patients.”

About Circle Pharma, Inc.

Circle is developing a new paradigm for macrocycle drug discovery based on rational design and synthetic chemistry. Circle’s technology facilitates the design and synthesis of intrinsically cell-permeable macrocycles that can address both intra- and extra-cellular therapeutic targets, and can be delivered by oral administration. Circle’s macrocycle development platform is applicable across a wide range of serious diseases; the company is initially focusing its development efforts on intracellular protein-protein interactions that are key drivers in cancer. Its lead programs target cyclins A and E, which are part of the regulatory machinery that controls the progression of cells through the cell growth and division cycle. Inhibition of Cyclin A has been shown to be synthetically lethal in cancers driven by mutations in the Rb pathway. Cyclin E upregulation is associated with resistance to drugs that target cdk4/6 activity and is also found across several cancer types.

More information: www.circlepharma.com