--Founder Irene Griswold-Prenner, Ph.D., Focuses on Role as Chief Scientific Officer—
San Francisco, CA – November 2, 2021 – Nitrase Therapeutics, Inc. (formerly Nitrome Biosciences), a biopharmaceutical company deploying its unique NITROME platform to unlock the therapeutic potential of nitrases, a new class of enzymes discovered in-house that offer promise of a pipeline of therapies against a broad variety of diseases, today announced the appointment of seasoned biotech executive Pierre Beaurang, Ph.D., as chief executive officer, and the company’s name change to Nitrase Therapeutics to better reflect the company’s therapeutic discovery platform with this new class of enzymes. In addition, the company announced the expansion of its Series A financing with an investment from Bristol Myers Squibb.
“I’m pleased we attracted such a high caliber talent as Pierre to assume the reigns of Nitrase Therapeutics as we look to aggressively advance our programs and grow the organization,” said Henrijette Richter, Ph.D., member of the Nitrase Therapeutics board of directors and managing partner at Sofinnova Partners. “Pierre’s vision for accelerating the groundbreaking work we’re doing with a novel class of enzymes reflects our science-forward and patient-centric philosophy. His proven track record of growing biotech companies from ideas to multi-program, clinical-stage, public organizations with value-driving partnerships is precisely the background needed to lead us through our next phases of growth.”
Pierre Beaurang, Ph.D., joins Nitrase Therapeutics from Nurix Therapeutics, where he was most recently the company’s chief business officer. During his tenure at Nurix, he was responsible for establishing three transformational collaborations, namely with Celgene (now BMS), Gilead and Sanofi, which resulted in over $300 million in near term revenues and more than $5 billion in potential milestone payments. He also was part of the leadership team that took Nurix public in a $238 million IPO and helped advanced several programs into clinical testing. Prior to joining Nurix, Dr. Beaurang was part of the founding team of Five Prime Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing immune modulators and precision therapies for solid tumor cancers, where he negotiated a number of major collaborations with global pharmaceutical firms, including with GlaxoSmithKline, UCB, and Bristol Myers Squibb, helping secure an aggregate $270 million in near term revenues and more than $2.4 billion in potential milestone payments.
Dr. Beaurang holds a B.A. in Biology and an M.A. in Biotechnology from Boston University, and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Beaurang added, “The discovery of nitrases is a scientific breakthrough that has the potential to change the way we treat devastating diseases, such as Parkinson’s, other neurodegenerative diseases, macular degeneration, fibrosis and cancer. Being the first company to identify and begin development of therapies against an entirely new class of targets implicated in such a broad range of diseases is something that one rarely has the privilege of being a part of. Given the breadth of nitrases and nitro-substrates we have discovered to-date, I am excited at the numerous opportunities to establish collaborative partnerships and accelerate development across therapeutic areas. Our name change encapsulates our groundbreaking discovery, as well as the focus and mission of the company. I look forward to working with the executive team, Board and all employees at Nitrase Therapeutics to deliver on the enormous potential of the company’s programs for the benefit of patients.”
The company also announced the expansion of its Series A financing. The total raised as part of the company’s Series A round is now $45 million, and in addition to Bristol Myers Squibb, includes participation from Sofinnova Partners (a leading European life sciences venture capital firm), AbbVie Ventures (AbbVie’s corporate strategic venture capital arm), the Dementia Discovery Fund, Mission Bay Capital and Alexandria Venture Investments. The financing will support the advancement of the company’s lead program targeting Parkinson’s Disease toward human clinical proof-of-concept studies and to explore the application of the company’s platform technology in other nitrase-dependent disorders.
About Nitrase Therapeutics, Inc.
Nitrase Therapeutics is a pioneering biopharmaceutical company deploying its unique NITROME platform to unlock the therapeutic potential of nitrases, a new class of enzymes that it discovered, to develop a pipeline of therapies against a broad variety of diseases. The medicines that Nitrase Therapeutics is developing will target these enzymes and potentially help slow or halt the progression of a wide variety of diseases in which nitrases and nitro-substrates play a role, including Parkinson’s. Nitrase Therapeutics (under the former name Nitrome Biosciences) has been widely recognized and has won multiple awards including the prestigious Target Advancement grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF). For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.nitrasetx.com.
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