Belgian biopharmaceutical stem cells focused company TiGenix NV has made two senior appointments to reinforce its U.S. operations, who will both report to the TiGenix Chief Medical Officer Dr. Marie Paule Richard.
Dr. Gregory Gordon has been appointed Head of Medical Department (U.S.), and Annette Valles-Sukkar has been appointed Associate Director, Clinical Project.
Dr. Gordon has a strong background in clinical and academic medicine and extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry driving broad-based, cross-functional teams in executing all aspects of clinical development. He joins TiGenix from Nestle Health Science where he was Global Clinical Affairs Lead, Gastrointestinal Health. In this role he helped design a pharmaceutical development strategy for gastroenterology and oversaw clinical development programs in the GI field. He previously held roles at Stealth BioTherapeutics, Inc., Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, and Parexel International. Dr. Gordon was awarded his MD by the State University of New York at Stony Brook School of Medicine and is a qualified lawyer and member of the New York State Bar.
Ms Valles-Sukkar has a successful track record in the clinical research industry and joins TiGenix from Alexion Pharmaceuticals, where she was responsible for all aspects of clinical trial development including management of a global Phase III clinical trial in neurology. Annette previously held a number of clinical development roles across a range of indications and technology areas, leading multiple global clinical trials from Phase I through Phase III and to successful completion. Ms Valles-Sukkar was awarded a Masters in Health Policy from Northeastern University, Bouve College of Health Sciences in Boston, MA.
Dr. Marie Paule Richard, Chief Medical Officer at TiGenix welcomed the two new appointments to TiGenix saying that Gordon’s experience in drug development generally and specifically with gastrointestinal products, and Valles-Sukkar’s ability to manage large-scale late-stage clinical trials will help the US-based team. “Together with the rest of the TiGenix team, I am confident both will make significant contributions as we continue to work hard on the development of Cx601 in the U.S. for the treatment of patients suffering from complex perianal fistulas and in other indications in the future,” sad Dr. Richard.