WALTHAM, Mass. & MONTREAL, January 25, 2021 – Ventus Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative medicines powered by proprietary technologies for structure-enabled small-molecule drug discovery, announced today that Michael Crackower, PhD, has been promoted to the position of Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Crackower will be responsible for further growing Ventus’ pipeline of new medicines to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, neurological disorders and cancer and continuing to build its two platforms for advanced structure-based drug discovery, the ReSOLVE platform and a set of protein capabilities, including the Structural Immunology platform.
“Mike has been at the heart of Ventus’ pioneering approach to structure-based drug discovery since the inception of the company, and even prior to that during the incubation stage,” said Marcelo Bigal, MD, PhD, president and CEO of Ventus. “He has been instrumental in our recent successes, including leading our team to create the ReSOLVE platform which expands our ability to unlock elusive drug targets by understanding protein molecular dynamics with unprecedented resolution. I am very pleased and confident having Mike in the role of CSO, as he brings strong leadership and technical knowledge to contribute to our mission of developing transformative medicines for patients.”
“The pace of our progress at Ventus has been remarkable and rewarding, and it has been a privilege to lead the R&D team to advance technology platforms that offer new ways to reveal drug targets that have historically been out of reach, in spite of their known biological role in a wide range of challenging diseases,” said Dr. Crackower. “I am more excited than ever to explore new ways to apply our leading-edge technologies for structure-based drug discovery so that we can bring new treatments to patients.”
Dr. Crackower has more than 20 years of drug discovery leadership experience, which includes deep expertise in the fields of respiratory, immunology and fibrotic disease drug discovery. He joined Ventus at the company’s inception as the Head of Research and Development. Prior to Ventus, Michael was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Versant Ventures where he played an instrumental role in the formation of Ventus. Prior to joining Versant, Michael held the position of Executive Director and head of late immunology drug discovery and fibrosis research at Celgene where he led preclinical drug discovery in Immunology and Inflammation. Prior to Celgene, Michael was Director of research for tissue injury and fibrosis at Biogen. Michael spent much of his early career working at Merck & Co as a Director in the respiratory and immunology department. Michael has a BSc in biochemistry from the University of Western Ontario and a PhD in molecular and medical genetics from the University of Toronto, working in the lab of Dr. Lap-Chee Tsui and the Hospital for Sick Children. Michael conducted his postdoctoral studies at the Amgen Institute (PMH), where he made seminal discoveries in cardiovascular and reproductive biology.
About Ventus Therapeutics
Ventus Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing novel small molecule medicines by pioneering a unique approach to structure-based drug discovery to address biologically validated, but elusive, drug targets. We are rapidly advancing a pipeline of new medicines to treat autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases and cancer. Our most advanced programs are enabled by our unique protein capabilities which, in the field of innate immunity, power our Structural Immunology platform to unlock rational, structure-based drug discovery for nodal targets in innate immune pathways. In addition, our ReSOLVE platform reveals novel druggable sites for targets thought to be beyond the reach of small molecule medicines, allowing us to expand our pipeline into oncology and neurology. Our team combines experienced biopharmaceutical leadership with a founding team of leading scientists whose discoveries have opened a new understanding of innate immune system mechanisms. Ventus is backed by Versant Ventures, its founding investor, and GV (formerly Google Ventures). The company has locations in Boston, Massachusetts and Montreal, Canada. For more information, please visit www.ventustx.com and engage with us on Twitter @VentusTx or on LinkedIn.
Contact
Kathryn Morris, The Yates Network
914-204-6412
kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com
