On March 15, 2022 Olatec Therapeutics LLC, a leader in the developing class of selective NLRP3 inhibitors, reported 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 (Press release, Olatec Therapeutics, MAR 15, 2022, View Source [SID1234610141]).
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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.