Azeria Therapeutics Announces Appointment of Dr Julian Blagg DPhil. FRSC as VP Drug Discovery
CAMBRIDGE, England, November 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --
Azeria Therapeutics Limited, a newly formed drug discovery company, today announced the appointment of Dr Julian Blagg as VP Drug Discovery.
Dr Blagg has over 30 years' experience in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery; he was most recently Deputy Director and Head of Chemistry at The CRUK Cancer Therapeutics Unit at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London, UK where he focused on the discovery of small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and became a strong advocate for the use of quality chemical probes in biomedical research. Dr Blagg joined the ICR in 2007 following 19 years in the pharmaceutical industry at Pfizer in the US and the UK, where he was responsible for the progression of multiple development candidates into clinical trials across four therapeutic areas.
Stephen Myatt, Chief Executive Officer of Azeria Therapeutics said: "We are very pleased to welcome Julian to the Azeria management team at this exciting time for the Company. Azeria was created to accelerate R&D and build on the discoveries made by its founder Dr Jason Carroll at CRUK's Cambridge Institute at the University of Cambridge in the pioneer factor field, an untapped target class in oncology. Having previously been appointed to Azeria's Scientific Advisory Board, we believe Julian's commitment to Azeria's approach combined with his drug discovery experience and track record of delivering small molecule drugs into clinical trials, will add significant value and help us advance our programmes to help cancer patients."
Dr Julian Blagg, newly appointed VP Drug Discovery of Azeria commented: "I am delighted to take on the role of VP Drug Discovery at Azeria. I strongly believe in Azeria's unique and differentiated approach to treating unmet clinical need in breast and prostate cancer and look forward to advancing this innovative research rapidly towards clinical trials and patient benefit."
Azeria recently raised £4m ($5.3m) in a Series A fundraising from the CRT Pioneer Fund, which is managed by Sixth Element Capital LLP. The company aims to use the proceeds to develop a pipeline of small molecules designed to selectively inhibit pioneer factors, with the first target being FOXA1.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Azeria Therapeutics
Azeria Therapeutics is the world's first pioneer factor drug discovery company developing breakthrough treatments for hormone resistant breast and prostate cancer patients where there are significant areas of unmet clinical need.
Founded in 2017 by the leading expert in pioneer factors in cancer, Dr Jason Carroll, Azeria is using its proprietary drug screening platform to develop a pipeline of small molecules designed to selectively inhibit pioneer factors.
Azeria is initially targeting the essential pioneer factor FOXA1, which has shown to be pivotal in the tumour development and maintenance of Estrogen receptor (ER) positive luminal breast cancer and is also thought to be critical in the development of prostate cancer.
Based in Cambridge, Azeria successfully raised £4 million in a Series A financing in 2018, provided by specialist oncology investment fund, the CRT Pioneer Fund, managed by Sixth Element Capital.
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