Neurona Therapeutics Appoints Brad Margus to its Board of Directors
21 October 2021 - 7:02AM
Neurona Therapeutics, a biotherapeutics company advancing
restorative neural cell therapies for the treatment of chronic
neurological disorders, today announced that it has appointed Brad
Margus to its board of directors. Mr. Margus brings over 30 years
of company building and corporate leadership experience including
over 20 years in the development of therapeutics for central
nervous system (CNS) diseases.
“It is my great pleasure to welcome Brad to the Neurona board of
directors,” said Cory Nicholas, Ph.D., Neurona’s president and
chief executive officer. “Determined to decode devastating
neurodegenerative disease, he has worked tirelessly to advance new
technology platforms that fuel novel diagnostic and therapeutic
pipelines. He has done everything from forming non-profit
initiatives, organizing scientific conferences, creating research
funding opportunities and resources and more recently to building
successful CNS disease-focused companies. We look forward to
benefitting from his broad expertise and passion for advancing
therapeutic solutions for disorders of the brain as we work to
advance our first NRTX-1001 program into a clinical trial for
epilepsy this year.”
“I am excited by Neurona’s innovative regenerative cell therapy
platform and its initial application in an off-the-shelf therapy
that has the potential to broaden treatment options for people with
drug resistant focal epilepsy,” said Mr. Margus. “I look forward to
working with the talented Neurona team and board of directors to
help build and grow the company as it brings its neural cell
therapy candidates to patients as expeditiously as possible.”
Mr. Margus is a co-founder and the chief executive officer of
Cerevance, a private, clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused
on diseases of the central nervous system. His drive to advance new
therapeutics for brain diseases was ignited in the mid- 1990s when
he formed a nonprofit (the A-T Children’s Project), raised over $50
million from donors through nationwide grassroots efforts,
organized scientific conferences, funded research projects
worldwide, created tissue banks, established a clinic at Johns
Hopkins Hospital, and coordinated clinical trials. He also
advocated for other genetic disorders, frequently testifying before
Congress.
In addition to Cerevance, Mr. Margus has co-founded several
biotechnology companies including Perlegen Sciences, a tools and
diagnostics company focused on using genetic variation to improve
clinical decision making, and Envoy Therapeutics, focused on
advancing a pipeline of compounds that acted on proteins
selectively expressed in the disrupted circuitry of brain diseases.
Envoy Therapeutics was acquired by Takeda Pharmaceuticals in
2012.
Mr. Margus helped to form the Global Alliance for Genomics and
Health, a coalition of over 500 academic medical centers, funding
organizations, patient groups, technology providers and government
agencies to establish technical and ethical standards for the
secure sharing of genomic data, and served as founding CEO of
Genome Bridge, a non-profit subsidiary of the Broad Institute of
Harvard and M.I.T., to build a scalable computational platform for
aggregating, analyzing and sharing genomic and clinical data.
Mr. Margus also serves on the board of Arvinas (Nasdaq: ARVN), a
protein degradation company, as volunteer Chairman of the A T
Children’s Project, Co-chair of the Network for Excellence in
Neuroscience Clinical Trials External Oversight Board at the NIH
and the board of Global Genes, a non-profit organization that
advocates on behalf of all rare diseases.
He has previously served on the Advisory Council to the National
Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the NIH; the
Secretary of Health and Human Services’ Advisory Committee on
Genetics, Health and Society; as a member of the National Center
for Advancing Translational Sciences Advisory Council and the Cure
Acceleration Network Review Board (both at the NIH), the Board of
the Genetic Alliance, an umbrella organization representing
hundreds of genetic disease advocacy organizations; as an advisor
to Counsyl, Inc. (acquired by Myriad Genetics); the Board of
Children’s Neurobiological Solutions, an organization aimed at
applying brain repair and regeneration to pediatric neurological
disorders; the Board of Cellular Research, a molecular biology tool
company (acquired by Becton Dickinson); the Board of Second Genome,
a microbiome company; the Board of Presage Biosciences, an oncology
company, as a Harvard Business School Global Advisor; and on the
Stanford University School of Medicine’s Stem Cell Research
Oversight Committee. Mr. Margus holds an MBA from Harvard Business
School.
About NRTX-1001NRTX-1001 is an inhibitory nerve
cell therapy derived from human pluripotent stem cells. The nerve
cells, called interneurons, secrete the inhibitory
neurotransmitter, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Delivered as a
one-time dose, the human interneurons integrate and innervate
on-target, providing long-term GABAergic inhibition to repair
hyperexcitable neural networks that underlie epilepsy as well as
other disorders of the nervous system. Neurona is initially focused
on developing NRTX-1001 as a restorative treatment for mesial
temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE), which is the most common type of
focal epilepsy.
About MTLE Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE)
involves the internal structures of the temporal lobe. Seizures
often begin in a structure of the brain called the hippocampus.
MTLE accounts for almost 80% of all temporal lobe seizures. For
people with seizures that are resistant to drugs, epilepsy surgery,
where the damaged temporal lobe is surgically removed or laser
ablated, can be an option for some. However, current surgical
options are not available or effective for all, are
tissue-destructive, and can have significant adverse effects.
About NeuronaNeurona’s cell therapies have
single-dose curative potential. Based on a novel neural cell
lineage developed by the company’s scientific founders, Neurona has
built a robust regenerative platform and is developing restorative
neuronal, glial, and gene-edited cell therapy candidates that
provide long-term integration and repair of dysfunctional neural
networks for multiple neurological disorders. For more information
about Neurona, visit www.neuronatherapeutics.com
Neurona TherapeuticsInvestor and Media
Contacts:
Sylvia WheelerWheelhouse LSAswheeler@wheelhouselsa.com |
Elizabeth Wolffe, Ph.D.Wheelhouse LSAlwolffe@wheelhouselsa.com |
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