Pragma Bio Strengthens Strategic Leadership with Addition of Esteemed Advisors and an Independent Board Member
May 22 2024 - 12:37PM
Business Wire
Pragma Bio, an AI-enabled biotechnology company proudly
announces the appointment of three distinguished individuals to its
leadership team. The new additions include Stuart Chaffee, PhD, as
Independent Board Member, and Raquel Izumi, PhD, and Abbas Kazimi,
M.S., as Strategic Advisors.
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Stuart Chaffee, PhD, Raquel Izumi, PhD,
and Abbas Kazimi, M.S., join Pragma Bio's leadership team, bringing
decades of expertise in biotechnology, clinical development, and
business strategy. Their collective experience in advancing
groundbreaking therapies and driving key transactions will propel
Pragma Bio's mission of transforming healthcare and drug discovery.
(Graphic: Business Wire)
Stuart Chaffee, PhD, brings nearly three decades of
experience in the biotechnology and biopharma industry to Pragma
Bio's board. Stuart has contributed to the inception of four
publicly traded biotechnology companies and raised over $900
million in private and public capital. With a recent role as
Chief Business Officer (CBO) at Affinivax, Inc. exiting for $3.3
billion to GSK, Chaffee's strategic acumen and leadership are
invaluable. "I am honored to join Pragma Bio's board at such an
exciting time in the company's journey," remarked Chaffee. "Pragma
Bio's commitment to innovation and patient-centric approach align
closely with my own values and experiences. I am eager to
contribute to the company's growth and success."
Raquel Izumi, PhD, joins Pragma Bio's advisory team with a
wealth of knowledge and experience in clinical development.
Izumi has played a pivotal role in advancing breakthrough therapies
for cancer patients as the co-founder of Acerta Pharma and Aspire
Therapeutics LLC, and with a distinguished tenure at Pharmacyclics
LLC. She played an instrumental role in bringing two medicines,
CALQUENCE and IMBRUVICA, to market, which exited to AstraZeneca and
Abbvie, respectively. AstraZeneca bought 45% of Acerta for $4
billion in 2016. After phase 3 milestones were met, AstraZeneca
acquired the remaining 45% for nearly $3 billion.
Pharmacyclics did a co-development deal with J&J for nearly
$1 billion and a few years later, Abbvie bought
Pharmacyclics for $21 billion. Abbvie and J&J now
co-market IMBRUVICA. These two medicines currently are in the top
15 highest revenue generating oncology treatments on the market.
Izumi’s story has been portrayed in Nathan Vardi’s “For Blood and
Money: Billionaires, Biotech and the Quest for a Blockbuster Drug.
"Joining Pragma Bio as a strategic advisor is a thrilling
opportunity to be part of a team dedicated to pushing the
boundaries of biotechnology," commented Izumi. "As a trained
microbiologist, I have a deep personal interest in unraveling the
value that microbes bring to medicine. I am excited to lend my
expertise and contribute to the advancement of therapies that have
the potential to impact patients' lives".
Abbas Kazimi, M.S., has over 15 years of experience in
biotechnology business development and commercialization.
Currently serving as CBO at Nimbus Therapeutics, Kazimi has been
instrumental in driving key transactions resulting in over $600
million in equity financing and deals worth over a total value
of $7 billion, including the landmark $6 billion
acquisition by Takeda of the allosteric TYK2 inhibitor program and
the associated subsidiary. "It's truly exciting to support Pragma
Bio as their team shares my passion for leveraging cutting-edge
technologies to address unmet medical needs," said Kazimi. "I look
forward to sharing my experience to help Pragma Bio drive its
mission forward."
With these strategic additions, Pragma Bio reaffirms its
commitment to innovation and excellence in biotechnology. The
company looks forward to leveraging the expertise of Stuart
Chaffee, Raquel Izumi, and Abbas Kazimi as it continues to pursue
its vision of transforming healthcare.
About Pragma Bio
Pragma Bio pioneers a tech-driven small molecules discovery
pipeline, mapping nature-inspired chemicals within humans for
health benefits. Harnessing cutting-edge machine learning and
synthetic biology, we drive intelligent discovery and iteratively
biomanufacture novel enzymes with potent biological signals to
create new medicines and support biotech discoveries. Our
exceptional team, along with our CSO and scientific co-founder,
Professor Mohamed Donia from Princeton University, leads our
pursuit of innovative solutions. Currently, our exclusive strategy
involves mining human multi-omics and Real-World Evidence (RWE) for
small molecule discovery to be validated in preclinical models
in-house.
For more information, visit www.pragmabio.com.
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For media/business inquiries, please contact Orly Levitan, VP
Partnerships and Business Development, at orly@pragmabio.com.