BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Enveda Biosciences, a leading biotechnology company harnessing the power of nature’s chemistry to develop next-gen therapeutics, has appointed Sotirios Karathanasis, Ph.D. as the company’s new Chief Science Officer. Dr. Karathanasis will spearhead the company’s small molecule drug discovery portfolio and work closely with Enveda’s preclinical team to advance the company’s lead programs for NASH and Wilson's Disease, along with a number of undisclosed programs.
As former CSO of endocrine and cardiovascular research at Lilly Research Laboratories, Dr. Karathanasis will accelerate Enveda’s current portfolio in metabolic and cardiovascular diseases and oversee its expansion to other complex disorders. He will collaborate closely with the data science team to investigate the vast untapped potential of naturally derived compounds and build cutting-edge tools to quickly enable their successful translation into therapeutics.
“Having generated the largest dataset of medicinally-important plant metabolomes purpose-built for machine learning, Enveda is unlocking a new era of small molecule discovery,” said Dr. Karathanasis. “I see tremendous potential in Enveda’s technology to address challenging targets and fundamental disease-causing processes.”
Beyond his important work at Lilly, Dr. Karathanasis has held a number of other key positions in the pharmaceutical industry, including Vice President and Head of Biosciences at AstraZeneca and Director of Cardiovascular Pharmacology at Pfizer Global Research & Development. During the course of his career, Dr. Karathanasis has led drug discovery teams with as many as 250 scientists across diverse geographic locations, disciplines, and functional interfaces. He holds 23 patents and has published over 100 original manuscripts, review papers, and book chapters.
“Sotirios will bring critical expertise and proven executive leadership to our mission of developing a world-class portfolio in cardiovascular, metabolic, and other complex diseases that have proven refractory to conventional methods,” said Viswa Colluru, Ph.D., Enveda’s Founder and CEO. “His experience will help our team of biologists and medicinal chemists deliver validated, first-in-class drug candidates inspired by unique chemical starting points.”
Enveda is building the world’s first high-resolution chemical map of the natural world to inspire new medicines for the toughest diseases. The company’s platform is unlocking this massive, high-potential chemical space for drug discovery by growing its proprietary metabolomics dataset, rapidly iterating the technical capabilities of its platform, and advancing its portfolio through preclinical development. The company sees great promise in applying its technology to develop molecules that will ultimately have the same transformative impact on medicine as aspirin, metformin, and statins.
About Enveda Biosciences
Enveda Biosciences is a biotechnology company building the first high-resolution chemical map of the natural world to tackle the toughest problems in drug discovery. Enveda’s platform is the world’s most advanced drug discovery search engine for dark chemical space, building on years of cutting-edge advancements at the intersection of metabolomics and machine learning. Complementing its breakthrough technology, Enveda’s team includes seasoned drug hunters with decades of experience in the pharmaceutical industry working alongside world-leading data scientists. For more information on Enveda, visit envedabio.com.
