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Bhagwat leads program aimed at moving promising treatments into clinical trials
Dr. Shripad Bhagwat, a national leader in drug development, has been named the inaugural senior director of the Needleman Program for Innovation and Commercialization at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Dr. Shripad Bhagwat, a drug development expert with decades of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, becomes the first senior director of the Needleman Program for Innovation and Commercialization (NPIC) at Washington University in St. Louis. Appointed. In addition to his role as senior director, Mr. Bhagwat has been appointed research professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. He took up his new position in August.
The Needleman Program for Innovation and Commercialization was established earlier this year to provide researchers with critical funding to accelerate clinical trial development of promising therapeutics. Traditionally, it has been difficult to advance potential drug candidates identified in the laboratory into early-stage clinical trials. This is because this research requires significant funding that is not available through traditional funding sources. Additionally, academic institutions often lack trained faculty in various aspects of drug development.
“Dr. Bhagwat brings significant knowledge and experience in drug development from a successful career in industry, making him an exceptional person to lead the new Needleman Program in Innovation and Commercialization,” said Georgia. said David H. Perlmutter, M.D., executive vice chancellor for state medical affairs. Carol Bauer, Dean of the Department of Medicine, and the Spencer T. Olin and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor. “Innovation and commercialization are key priorities for the School of Medicine and the University as a whole. This program will accelerate the urgent development of new, life-saving treatments, and the treatments WashU produces for the benefit of patients.” We are delighted that Dr. Bhagwat will support our campaign to advance research that advances research.”
The program is supported by a $15 million gift from Philip and Sima Needleman, longtime patrons of the University of Washington. Dr. Philip Needleman, a former executive with the pharmaceutical companies Monsanto, Searle, and Pharmacia, has a long history with the University of Washington, starting at the School of Medicine as a postdoctoral fellow in 1964. He then joined the faculty of the old Faculty of Pharmacy, and from 1976 he headed the department until 1989. During his time at the University of Washington, he discovered COX-2, an enzyme that plays a key role in the pain and inflammation caused by arthritis. He also identified his COX-2 inhibitor, which shows therapeutic potential.
To further this research, Needleman moved into industry, joining Monsanto in 1989 as principal investigator and leading the development of a COX-2 inhibitor approved as a drug called Celebrex in 1998. . This blockbuster nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug is prescribed to millions of people as a treatment for osteoarthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis in adults and children. Ankylosing spondylitis, a type of arthritis that causes inflammation of the ligaments and joints of the spine. and managing acute pain.
“Researchers at the University of Washington are making surprising new discoveries that have the potential to change the lives of patients, and this new program aims to help bring more of these discoveries to the clinic. '' Needleman said. “We are excited to have Dr. Bhagwat lead this new effort to bring therapeutic targets from early discovery stages to a stage where they can be tested in clinical trials. He also works with academia and has experience working with a variety of drug candidates, including small molecule drugs and proteins. He identifies and develops excellent new drug candidates and brings them through the process of obtaining regulatory approval. We understand the standards we need to move forward.”
Mr. Bhagwat comes to the University of Washington after a long 40-year career in drug development, where he helped discover promising drug candidates that progressed to clinical trials. He has a history of collaboration with his academic colleagues and has experience in many therapeutic areas including cancer, cardiovascular disease, virology, neuroscience, and rare genetic diseases.
Most recently, Mr. Bhagwat served as chief scientific officer at biotechnology company AltiBio Inc. There, he oversaw discovery and preclinical development programs focused on rare genetic diseases. Previously, Mr. Bhagwat served as Vice President of Drug Discovery at BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. Under his stewardship, research teams in the Small Molecule and Oligonucleotide Discovery Program identified several drug candidates.
Mr. Bhagwat also served as senior vice president of drug discovery and preclinical development at Ambit Biosciences. His leadership enabled Ambit's drug discovery group to identify his four drug candidates, of which the most advanced compound, quizartinib (AC220, VanFreita), is a candidate for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. It is approved as a medicine in the US and Japan. While at Signal Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Bhagwat served as Vice President of Drug Discovery and oversaw multiple drug discovery programs in cancer and inflammation. There he helped identify six of his drug candidates, two of which advanced to clinical development.
“I am honored to have been selected for this new and exciting role,” said Mr. Bhagwat. “We look forward to collaborating with WashU researchers to accelerate the development of new treatments first identified by the innovative research being conducted here. The cutting-edge research being conducted at WashU I am pleased to be responsible for advancing the University to advanced stages of drug discovery and development, which will give the university greater recognition and ownership when partnering with or spinning off startup biotech companies. It will be.”
The Needleman program provides the same infrastructure as a typical startup, including project management, financial support, external drug development funding, and business and intellectual property management guidance. The program is based on a funding program designed to support early discovery stage drug discovery research, provided through close collaboration with the University of Washington Drug Discovery Center and Office of Technology Management.
The program, which launched in February, recently received its first proposal from WashU researchers. Dr. Dedrick A. Carter, Vice Chancellor for Innovation and Chief Commercialization Officer, said, “This is a critical step in advancing drug development from our labs to promising clinical drug candidates with the potential to become new treatments. We are excited to be in such a favorable position.” “At Shripad, we welcome an accomplished biopharmaceutical leader. His research will help us take the enhancement of drug discovery efforts at the University of Washington to the next level.”
The program plans to announce its first funding awards this fall.
