HemoShear Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company developing drugs for rare diseases, today announced the appointment of Brian Wamhoff, PhD, as interim chief executive officer. Dr. Wamhoff is a founder of HemoShear where he co-developed HemoShear’s REVEAL-Tx™ drug discovery platform, which combines biological and computational models of human diseases to accelerate drug development. He has led the company’s drug discovery programs in rare metabolic diseases and has forged successful drug discovery partnerships with Takeda and Horizon. Most recently he led the company’s development of HST5040, a small molecule in a phase 2 clinical trial for the rare metabolic diseases methylmalonic acidemia (MMA) and propionic acidemia (PA).
Dr. Wamhoff succeeds Jim Powers who is retiring after 14 years as CEO and chairman of HemoShear.
With the retirement of Jim Powers from the HemoShear board, Robert Gould, PhD, will step into the role of board chair. Dr. Gould brings extensive industry experience and leadership that will help guide HemoShear’s strategic path towards clinical, regulatory, and commercial success. During his career, he has been instrumental in advancing more than 20 compounds from discovery into clinical development in multiple therapeutic areas, several of which are changing the lives of patients. Dr. Gould has served as a director of the HemoShear board since 2015.
“Brian has been a source of inspiration, a relentless advocate for patients, a trusted collaborator and scientific visionary for HemoShear since it was founded,” says Dr. Gould. “As the company advances HST5040 through clinical trials and expands its pipeline, we could not find a better leader than the very person who built and championed the company through its many phases of growth and scientific success.”
“We have created an amazing clinical, drug development and scientific team that consistently works to advance our mission of improving the lives of people affected by rare devastating diseases,” says Dr. Wamhoff. “Our team is incredibly dedicated and we will continue to advance our lead candidate, build out a world-class pipeline and ensure our mission is the hallmark of what we do every day.”
Dr. Wamhoff, selected as one of the PharmaVOICE 100 most inspiring people in the industry in 2021, served as head of innovation and chief operating officer of HemoShear before being appointed as interim CEO. As a former associate professor at the University of Virginia, he has been at the inception of multiple therapeutics and medical device companies. He has authored or co-authored 70 papers and has been issued 18 patents. Dr. Wamhoff obtained a BS in biology with a minor in business administration from Rhodes College and received his PhD in medical physiology from the University of Missouri.
Dr. Gould served as president and CEO of Fulcrum Therapeutics, Inc., a drug discovery and development company with a focus on genetically defined diseases, from its founding in 2016 through its successful initial public offering in 2019 and thereafter until retirement in 2021. Prior to Fulcrum, Dr. Gould was president and CEO of Epizyme, Inc., where he led the company through its successful initial public offering in 2013. Dr. Gould previously served as director of novel therapeutics at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He had a 24-year tenure at Merck Research Laboratories where he held a variety of leadership positions, including vice president, licensing, and external research. Dr. Gould received a BA in chemistry from Spring Arbor College, a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Iowa, and completed postdoctoral studies at Johns Hopkins University. He also serves on the boards of Fulcrum, Turnstone Biologics, Rubedo, and Spring Arbor University.
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