BeatBio Expands Multi-Disciplinary Advisory Team

Three New Members Join Lead Scientific Advisor Dr. Litsa Kranias

CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES, June 27, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — BeatBio expanded its Multi-Disciplinary Advisory Team (M-DAT), adding three experts in the fields of medicine, financial operations, and pharmaceutical marketing.

As previously announced, Litsa Kranias, Ph.D., a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Systems Physiology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, serves as BeatBio’s lead scientific advisor. Joining her with today’s announcement are Amit Patel, M.D., who will serve as lead medical advisor and Cena Hillard and Eric Anderson who, respectively, will provide expert insights in the areas of finance, university collaboration dynamics and the harmonizing of up-front drug design with downstream commercial criteria.

Amit Patel, M.D., is a cardiac surgeon and former Chief and Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Miami. He was prior Director of Clinical Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, where was also a tenured professor. He is celebrated not only for his surgical skill but also for his pioneering contributions to regenerative medicine and immunotherapy. Dr. Patel previously worked together with Thomas Reed, Ph.D., Chairman, Founder and CEO of BeatBio, as Co-founder of Triple-Gene, an Intrexon subsidiary, and advanced the first multigenic cardiac gene therapy through a Phase I clinical trial that proved safety and early signs of efficacy. Dr. Patel studied medicine at Case Western Reserve University, holds a Masters in Immunophysiology, and a Bachelors in Biological Sciences from Youngstown State University.

Cena Hillard is Associate Dean of Finance, Administration & Business Operations of the Case School of Engineering and works closely with all levels of the Case Western Reserve University administration and Case School of Engineering stakeholders to support administrative operations: financial planning and management, human resources, research administration, business operations, facilities and information technology. She makes recommendations on policy development and strategy alternatives and is responsible for business planning for new initiatives and enhancements to existing programs. Ms. Hillard holds an MBA from Case Western Reserve University, a Masters in Cell and Molecular Biology from University of Wisconsin -Madison, and a Bachelors in Biology from Carnegie Mellon University.

Eric Anderson was formerly Co-founder, President, and Managing Director of GAJE Healthcare Consulting, Inc, a firm specializing in brand development and marketing for the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical markets, including for Alexion (exculizumab), Baxter Healthcare Renal Division, and Pozen Pharmaceuticals. Prior to this he was at Bayer Corporation’s Pharmaceutical Division as Director of Trade Development, responsible for developing all trade marketing and business strategies to ensure consistency with brand management plans and for detailing trends and other analytics for the $2.1 billion in annual Bayer sales that flowed through wholesalers and retail pharmacies. Mr. Anderson holds an MBA from the University of New Haven and a Bachelors in Pharmacy from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science.

BeatBio established the skill-blended advisory team to integrate and synchronize expert inputs that are frequently lost when biotech companies create separate advisory groups that segregate disciplines (ex: Medical Advisory Board or Scientific Advisory Board).

“Successful biotech commercialization efforts require a highly coordinated view of issues that integrates therapeutic design, regulatory, manufacturing, finance, and commercial launch considerations to optimize resources and create the smoothest possible path forward,” said Dr. Reed “We believe this will give us the best shot at formulating the strongest, most holistic drug development strategy for each product candidate as well as across the company’s pipeline.”

Dr. Reed continued, “Open and mature discussions held across disciplines early on, with a keen eye toward the end market and potential commercial licensing partners, can dramatically influence both drug product design as well as selection of KOLs and clinical trial sites. We are highly honored to have such a powerful M-DAT, with skills and experiences across cutting edge research, clinical intervention, academic operations, and deep pharma market understanding.”

About BeatBio
Founded in 2024, BeatBio is pursuing the development of coordinated, multi-modal and multigenic therapies targeting the diverse causes of cardiovascular diseases. The company, headquartered in Cincinnati, is led by Dr Reed, who previously co-developed a multigenic plasmid DNA (pDNA) gene therapy (INXN-4001) at Triple-Gene, a cardiovascular gene therapy subsidiary of Intrexon (now Precigen – PGEN), which showed a functional improvement in 50 percent of heart failure patients after a single dose in early human testing. BeatBio is a spinout of BioSolution Designs, a multigenic gene and cell therapy invention studio and builds on Dr. Reed’s knowledge and expertise and capitalizes on the expertise of the significant scientific community in Ohio’s ‘I-71 Cardiovascular Corridor.’ More information can be found at www.beatbio.com.

About BioSolution Designs
BioSolution Designs (BSD), the parent company of BeatBio, is a biotechnology invention studio developing first-in-class multigenic therapies for complex diseases using proprietary purpose-built multigenic technology platforms to create, control, deliver, and manufacture such therapies for cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, and musculoskeletal diseases. BSD invents multigenic platforms and commercializes them as biotools through its wholly owned OspreyBio operations. BSD also leverages the technology platforms to develop multigenic therapeutics and spin them out into disease area focused therapeutic companies. BSD’s platform/biotools plus its therapeutics spinout business model enables distribution of external investments pursuant to specific investor interests in the platform/biotools business or the therapeutics spinouts, as each have different risks and return profiles. BioSolution Designs was founded in 2020 by Dr. Reed. More information can be found at www.biodzn.com.

About Dr Thomas Reed
Dr. Reed has been a leading creative force and authority on harnessing the power of DNA for a broad range of applications. Dr Reed was the Founder and Chief Science Officer of Genomatix, later known as Intrexon and now Precigen, and was the Co-Founder of Triple-Gene, a subsidiary of Intrexon. During his 20+ year tenure at Intrexon, Dr. Reed pioneered technologies to improve the safety and efficacy of gene and cell therapies. He gained multidisciplinary expertise that enabled advanced technology acquisitions to complement Intrexon’s in-house portfolio and stewarded the growth of commercial operations and business development, including strategic ventures in health, food, environment, and consumer sectors. Dr. Reed architected a genetic platform, as well as therapeutic candidates for oncology, cardiovascular, and rare disease treatments now advancing in the clinic at Precigen. Prior to founding Intrexon, Dr. Reed’s scientific training focused on characterizing the structure and function of genes critical for cardiovascular development and pathophysiology. He received his training at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine where he earned his PhD in the Molecular and Developmental Biology program. He previously earned his Masters in Biological Sciences at Wright State University and a Bachelors in Genetics at the University of California, Davis. He holds more than 30 US and international patents and is pursuing many more patent applications. More information can be found at www.tdrdna.com.

Shruti Abbato
BeatBio
press@biodzn.com