Sarah Sheikh Joins Cerevance’s Board of Directors

BOSTON, Oct. 17, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Cerevance, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company advancing multiple cell type-specific therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative, psychiatric, and central nervous system-controlled metabolic disorders, is pleased to appoint Sarah Isabel Sheikh, M.Sc., B.M. B.Ch., MRCP, to its Board of Directors, effective immediately.  

Dr. Sheikh holds dual responsibilities at Takeda as the Head of Global Development for all therapeutic areas – Gastrointestinal and Inflammation, Neuroscience, Oncology, Plasma-Derived Therapies, and Vaccines – and as the Head of the Neuroscience Therapeutic Area. She is a physician-scientist with over 20 years of experience in both academia and the pharmaceutical industry, encompassing the full spectrum of research and development experience. Her expertise spans from bench research to clinical translation and development, leading to regulatory approvals and direct patient care. Dr. Sheikh received an MSc in Cell Physiology and a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, BM BCh, from the University of Oxford, Corpus Christi College. She completed her clinical training in internal medicine at University of Oxford, where she also served as a clinical tutor. Dr. Sheikh completed a neurology residency and a fellowship in neuromuscular neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, both affiliated with Harvard Medical School in Boston. During her time there, she also held roles as an attending physician and instructor in medicine. Currently, she serves on the Board of Target ALS and is a member of the Royal College of Physicians, London.

“Sarah brings an exceptional blend of scientific expertise and clinical skills to our Board of Directors,” said Craig Thompson, chief executive officer of Cerevance. “Her extensive experience in neuroscience and R&D strategy will be invaluable as we advance and expand our pipeline focused on delivering novel treatments for individuals affected by central nervous system disorders.”

“I am thrilled to be joining Cerevance’s Board as the company progresses into late-stage development on its pivotal programs,” said Dr. Sheikh. “The company’s innovative approach to discovering selectively expressed targets in established brain circuits and developing compounds to modulate them offers the potential to deliver novel treatments with favorable tolerability profiles. I look forward to working closely with the Board and the leadership team to support the company’s continued success.”

About Cerevance
Cerevance is focused on advancing cell type-specific therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative, psychiatric, and central nervous system (“CNS”)-controlled metabolic disorders. Our proprietary platform, Nuclear Enriched Transcript Sort sequencing (NETSseq), allows us to identify targets that are expressed at very low levels, that are present in rare cell types, or that change over time as a disease progresses. Our most advanced product candidate, solengepras (CVN424), is currently in Phase 3 development and has the potential to be a first-in-class, oral non-dopaminergic therapy for both the motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Our second product candidate, CVN766, is designed to be a highly selective oral antagonist of the orexin 1 receptor that we plan to evaluate in a Phase 2 study for the potential treatment of binge eating disorder and schizophrenia. Our third product candidate, CVN293, is a highly selective investigational oral inhibitor targeting potassium two pore domain channel subfamily K member 13 (KCNK13) and represents a potentially novel intervention point for neurodegenerative disorders driven by neuroinflammation. We plan to evaluate CVN293 in a Phase 2 study for the potential treatment of frontotemporal dementia.

Contacts

Cerevance:
Johnna Simões, ir@cerevance.com

Media:
Andrew Mielach, amielach@lifescicomms.com, +1-646-876-5868