Oak Hill Bio Appoints Tauhid Ali as First Chief Executive Officer

Biopharma Veteran Brings 25+ Years of Experience, including Development of Multiple Novel Drug Candidates through Takeda’s Rare Disease Biotech Incubator

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oak Hill Bio (“Oak Hill”), a clinical-stage neonatology and rare disease therapeutics company developing life-changing medicines for extremely preterm infants and patients suffering from rare autoimmune diseases, today announced that Tauhid Ali, Ph.D. has been appointed the Company’s first Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Ali has more than 25 years of experience in the global biopharmaceutical industry, with broad management and leadership experience in translational research, drug development, and corporate strategy.

“I’ve known Tauhid for nearly a decade. He is a talented leader with a deep knowledge of rare disease drug development,” said Daniel Curran, M.D., a member of the Oak Hill Board of Directors and Head of the Rare Genetics and Hematology Therapeutic Area of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda). “His deep knowledge of these programs, combined with his track record of advancing drug candidates from discovery through clinical trials, makes him the ideal choice to guide Oak Hill on its ambitious mission to address major unmet medical needs for very vulnerable patients.”

Dr. Ali has served as an advisor to Oak Hill Bio since inception. He has public market experience as the Chief Operating Officer and Director of JATT Acquisition Corp, a special acquisition company with a focus on the life science sector. His prior experience also includes serving as Executive Vice President of Translational & Clinical Science at Cambrian Biopharma, a biotech venture capital holding company. Prior to that, he spent five years at Takeda, where he served as Vice President of Search & Translational Science (Rare Diseases Therapy Area Unit) and also founded and led TAKcelerator™, a virtual rare disease biotech unit within Takeda. Within its first two years, TAKcelerator™ initiated the development of multiple investigational therapies, including drug candidates to treat acute-on-chronic liver disease, CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder (a genetic developmental and seizure disorder), and Stargardt disease (a rare genetic condition causing blindness). Dr. Ali has previously worked with UCB Pharma, Ipsen Group, and Shire Pharmaceuticals.

Oak Hill Bio was established with the licensing of two clinical-stage and four preclinical investigational therapeutics from Takeda. OHB-607 (formerly TAK-607) is a proprietary, recombinant version of human insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) designed to help promote continued development and maturation of vital organs, and the vasculature that supports them, in infants born extremely prematurely. OHB-101 (formerly TAK-752) is being investigated for the treatment of an array of rare autoimmune diseases. In 2022 Oak Hill intends to advance the ongoing Phase 2b clinical study of OHB-607 for complications of premature birth and initiate Phase 2 trials of OHB-101 in rare autoimmune diseases.

“I am thrilled to officially join Oak Hill and to continue to work with the exceptional management team and Board to build a powerhouse rare disease company. Oak Hill launched with an exciting, broad, and promising portfolio and I look forward to shepherding the development of these potentially transformative therapies toward market approval,” said Dr. Ali. “We are highly motivated to move with urgency to progress these novel medicines to benefit patients born extremely prematurely and those suffering from rare autoimmune diseases.”

About Oak Hill Bio
Oak Hill Bio is a clinical-stage neonatology and rare disease therapeutics company developing life-changing medicines for extremely preterm infants and patients suffering from rare autoimmune diseases. The company, which has operations in the United States and United Kingdom, was launched to develop a pipeline of six promising clinical-stage and preclinical investigational therapeutics acquired and licensed from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (“Takeda”). For more information on Oak Hill Bio, visit the company’s website at www.oakhillbio.com.