RNA Expert Dr. Phillip Sharp Joins as Advisor to Skyhawk Therapeutics

Dr. Sharp, winner of the Nobel Prize for his work discovering RNA splicing, joins as special advisor to Skyhawk Therapeutics’ Scientific Advisory Board.

WALTHAM, Mass., Sept. 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Skyhawk Therapeutics, Inc. (“Skyhawk”), today announced Dr. Phillip Sharp has joined as special advisor to its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Sharp’s groundbreaking work as the geneticist and molecular biologist who co-discovered RNA splicing earned him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1993.  In his role at Skyhawk, Dr. Sharp will help guide the company’s development of small molecules that modulate RNA splicing for a wide range of disease targets, using Skyhawk’s SkySTAR^TM technology platform.

“Skyhawk’s platform to develop small molecules that can modulate RNA splicing, has potentially groundbreaking implications,” said Dr. Phillip Sharp. “Founded by the team that helped design the first small molecule splicing modifier for Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Skyhawk’s approach may provide therapeutics for hundreds of diseases including those previously considered ‘undruggable.'”

Phillip Sharp, Ph.D. is a world-renowned geneticist and molecular biologist who is a cofounder both Biogen and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. He shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Richard J. Roberts for “the discovery that genes in eukaryotes are not contiguous strings but contain introns, and that the splicing of messenger RNA to delete those introns can occur in different ways, yielding different proteins from the same DNA sequence.” 

Dr. Sharp currently serves as an Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and member of the Department of Biology and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.  Dr Sharp’s service includes the presidency of the AAAS (2013) and chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee, SU2C Project, AACR. He is also an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Royal Society, UK. Among his many awards are the Gairdner Foundation International Award, the Lasker Basic Medical Research Award and the National Medal of Science. He has authored more than 400 papers. A native of Kentucky, Dr. Sharp earned a B.A. degree from Union College, Barbourville, Ky., and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.

“We are delighted to have Dr. Sharp’s incredible depth of expertise to guide Skyhawk’s development of small molecules that correct RNA splicing,” said Bill Haney, co-founder and CEO of Dragonfly Therapeutics. “In addition to his gifts as a scientist, Phil’s wide range of biotech business expertise will guide Skyhawk’s development drugs for patients with some of the most challenging conditions – from major cancers to neurological and autoimmune conditions.” 

About Skyhawk Therapeutics
Skyhawk Therapeutics is committed to discovering, developing and commercializing therapies that use its novel SkySTAR^TM (Skyhawk Small molecule Therapeutics for Alternative splicing of RNA) platform to build small molecule drugs that bring breakthrough treatments to patients.

For more information visit: www.skyhawktx.com, https://twitter.com/Skyhawk_Tx , https://www.linkedin.com/company/skyhawk-therapeutics/

SKYHAWK MEDIA CONTACT:
Maura McCarthy
maura@skyhawktx.com

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SOURCE Skyhawk Therapeutics