NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Olatec Therapeutics LLC, a leader in the developing class of selective NLRP3 inhibitors, today announced that Mustafa Noor, MD, FACP, joins the Company as Chief Medical Officer (CMO), following the decision of current CMO, Dr. Curt Scribner, to retire from the position.
Dr. Noor remarked: “I believe this is a great time to be joining the Olatec team. I see Olatec at a major value inflection point and am excited to not only build on the world class translational science that has been elucidated, but help this exceptional team take dapansutrile through late-stage development and prospectively its approval in the lead indications.” Dr. Noor continued, “Olatec is at the forefront of a compelling new inflammation target across multiple disease areas, which creates many opportunities for dapansutrile and the OLT Analogue compounds.”
Dr. Charles Dinarello, Olatec’s Chief Scientific Officer, commented: “we are so pleased to welcome Dr. Noor to our team. He brings to Olatec extensive clinical trial expertise and experience as a clinician treating patients that will be valuable to the development of OLT1177® and its analogues.”
Dr. Mustafa Noor’s remarkable career spans over two decades of industry experience. At both large and small pharma companies, Dr. Noor has contributed to numerous clinical drug development programs, leading and collaborating with teams in the development of novel therapeutics for inflammation, cardiometabolism, lipid and endocrine disorders as well as rare diseases. From 2001 to 2006, as medical director at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dr. Noor held positions of increasing responsibility in metabolic, cardiovascular, and antiviral programs. From 2006 to 2014 at GSK and at Pfizer he served as vice president and clinical head for GSK’s Center of Excellence in External Drug Discovery and for Pfizer’s Centers for Therapeutic Innovation focusing on open innovation, translational research and collaboration with biotech and academic partners on a portfolio of early-stage programs in indications for inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and sarcoidosis. For the last several years Dr. Noor has been a consultant CMO to emerging companies in the Boston/Cambridge area. Dr. Noor completed his medical training at the University of Chicago and fellowship training in Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of California, San Francisco. He holds a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation from Vanderbilt University and is a board-certified Internal Medicine specialist in Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Olatec CEO, Damaris Skouras, said: “this appointment marks an important step in the continued development of dapansutrile and our portfolio of OLT Analogue compounds. Given Dr. Noor’s medical and drug development expertise, I am confident that Dr. Noor will make substantial contributions to the strategic direction and oversight of dapansutrile as it advances to late-stage studies and as our product pipeline of OLT Analogues also advances.” Ms. Skouras continued, “I also extend my sincerest gratitude to Dr. Scribner whose contributions as CMO during the early stages of dapansutrile’s clinical development were significant. While retiring from his CMO function, we are pleased that Curt will remain on Olatec’s Scientific Advisory Board and continue to support dapansutrile’s development.”
About Dapansutrile
Dapansutrile (lab code: OLT1177®) is an investigational small molecule, new chemical entity that specifically binds to and blocks NLRP3 (nucleotide-binding and oligomerization domain [NOD]‑, leucine rich repeat-, pyrin domain-containing 3), the sensor molecule integral in the formation of the NLRP3 inflammasome. Inflammasomes are multiprotein complexes involved in intracellular surveillance of danger signals that trigger an intense inflammatory response, via generation of bioactive IL-1β and IL-18 through caspase-1 activation. Dapansutrile has been shown to prevent the formation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, which in turn inhibits the production of IL-1β and IL‑18. NLRP3 is one of the most characterized inflammasome sensors due to its involvement in a wide range of disorders, including sterile inflammation, infections, and rare genetic autoimmune syndromes. Dapansutrile has been well tolerated and shown to improve clinical outcomes in patients with acute gout flare (see The Lancet Rheumatology) and heart failure (see Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology). Dapansutrile has also been observed to have anti-inflammatory properties and other promising activity in a broad spectrum of over 20 preclinical animal models including arthritis, asthma, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure, contact dermatitis, multiple sclerosis, melanoma, pancreatic and breast cancers, spinal cord injury (SCI), Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
About Olatec Therapeutics LLC
Olatec is a privately held, Phase 2 clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a platform of oral NLRP3 inhibitors to treat and prevent a broad spectrum of acute and chronic inflammatory diseases known to be mediated by IL-1. In addition to the lead compound, dapansutrile, Olatec’s platform of proprietary compounds includes approximately 60 analogues (OLT Analogues) being screened as viable drug candidates. An IP portfolio protecting Olatec’s compounds consists of over 130 patents granted, covering dapansutrile and OLT Analogues. Olatec’s drug development team is comprised of experienced management and international experts in translational medicine with unparalleled expertise in inflammation and immunology and has been involved in the discovery and development of first-line inflammation treatments in the market today. For more information, please visit http://www.olatec.com.
Disclaimer & Forward-looking Statement
The information contained herein is being provided for information purposes only. The Company makes no express or implied representation or warranty as to the completeness of this information. Any forward-looking statements contained in this release are based on assumptions made by Olatec at the time this Press Release was prepared. Any forward-looking statement contained in this Press Release is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may be materially different from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements. All information with respect to industry data has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable and current, but the accuracy thereof cannot be guaranteed by the Company. Olatec does not undertake any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained in this Press Release to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date this Press Release was prepared, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
