SAN FRANCISCO, June 11, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Neurona Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on advancing regenerative cell therapies for disorders of the nervous system, today announced the appointment of Manher (AJ) Joshi, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer.
“We are excited to welcome AJ, and we are confident that his extensive cell therapy expertise and executive leadership skillset will complement the Neurona team and guide our company’s next phase of growth,” said Cory R. Nicholas, Ph.D., Neurona’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “AJ’s decades of clinical development and commercialization experience, across a variety of neuro-focused indications, strengthen our capabilities as we advance our pipeline of cellular therapeutic candidates for neurological diseases, including NRTX-1001 in drug-resistant focal epilepsy.”
“I’m delighted to be joining Neurona Therapeutics at such a critical time in the company’s history,” said Manher Joshi, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Neurona Therapeutics. “The data presented to date from the ongoing Phase 1/2 trial in drug-resistant unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy point to a potential disease modifying profile for NRTX-1001. For many of these patients, the current best option is tissue destructive brain surgery. We look forward to working with the epilepsy patient and physician community to advance NRTX-1001 through clinical development with the aim of bringing this potential regenerative treatment option to patients as expeditiously as possible. Moreover, based on its mechanism of action, there are multiple potential expansion indications for NRTX-1001, highlighting its exciting pipeline-in-a-drug opportunity.”
AJ has previously orchestrated and successfully executed strategy across multiple neurologic indications in various stages of development. Prior to joining Neurona, AJ served as Atara Biotherapeutics’ Chief Medical Officer and EVP, Head of Clinical Development. There, AJ led the development organization through key milestones across several programs in neurology, oncology, and autoimmune diseases, including multiple IND filings, Ph I-III clinical studies, and securing the first-ever approval for an allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy. Prior to that, he held senior leadership roles in clinical development, medical affairs and biopharma investing at Allergan, Synageva, Genzyme, and Hunt Bioventures.
AJ earned his B.A. from Boston University and his MD from the Boston University School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Yale.
About Neurona Therapeutics
Neurona is developing allogeneic, off-the-shelf, regenerative neural cell therapy products with curative potential to provide long-term repair of the nervous system after a single administration. The company’s lead asset NRTX-1001, comprising GABAergic interneurons, is currently being studied for safety and efficacy in two ongoing open label multicenter Phase 1/2 trials (NCT05135091) for drug-resistant unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy (UTLE) and (NCT06422923) for drug-resistant bilateral temporal lobe epilepsy (BTLE), with neocortical focal epilepsy (NFE) and other indications planned in the future. A positive clinical update from the Phase 1/2 trial in UTLE was presented at the AAN 2024 Annual Meeting. In February 2024, Neurona raised $120 million in a private financing co-led by Viking Global Investors and Cormorant Asset Management. For more information about Neurona, visit: www.neuronatherapeutics.com
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