Occam Recruits Brent Warner as CEO for Protego Biopharma
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In April 2024, Occam Global placed Brent Warner as CEO of Protego Biopharma, an emerging biotech company in preclinical stage. With groundbreaking science originating from Jeff Kelly’s lab at Scripps Research Institute, Protego Biopharma is dedicated to finding novel treatments for protein misfolding diseases. The company is backed by prominent investors MPM, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Vida Ventures, further positioning Protego Biopharma to push the boundaries of biomedical innovation.
Brent Warner joins Protego Biopharma with over 15 years of biopharmaceutical experience across rare diseases, gene therapy, and other therapeutic categories. He was previously the President of Gene Therapy at Poseida Therapeutics (NASDAQ: PSTX), where he was responsible for leading the research and pre-clinical development of non-viral gene therapy programs and platform technologies for genetic diseases. Prior to his role at Poseida, Brent held various positions across the industry, including VP of Gene Therapy and Rare Diseases at Novartis, a U.S. commercial leader in Hemophilia A at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals, and various strategic and operational roles across Hematology, Immunology, Oncology, and Medical Devices at Baxalta (now a wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda).
About Protego Biopharma
Protego Biopharma is at the forefront of drug discovery targeting protein misfolding diseases. The company focuses on developing first- or best-in-class small-molecule therapeutics aimed at reprogramming protein folding for the treatment of various systemic amyloid diseases, including light chain (LC) amyloidosis, as well as other monogenetic protein misfolding diseases that cause myopathy, cardiomyopathy, stroke, renal disease, retinal diseases, channelopathies, and various degenerative diseases.
The company's approach builds on the proven pharmacological chaperones method, exemplified by tafamidis, which was discovered and developed by Protego's cofounders Dr. Jeffery W. Kelly and Dr. Richard Labaudinière for the treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis. Protego Biopharma employs a comprehensive strategy that includes target selection based on genetic evidence and bioinformatics, an innovative drug discovery platform tailored for specific disease targets, and translational research focused on biomarker discovery for precision medicine. The company has recently secured $51 million in Series A financing to advance its mission of finding novel solutions for protein-misfolding diseases
Occam Global is a biotech executive search, recruiting, and leadership advisory firm with specialties across technological fields, including Biotech, TechBio, AI-ML, Cell/Gene Therapy, Diagnostics/Genomics, Medical Devices, Research Tools, Digital Health, Alternative Energy, AgTech, EdTech, Robotics as well as adjacencies within Venture Capital and Private Equity. Occam helps build biotech executive leadership teams that meet the demands of the rapidly developing, competitive, and challenging industries it serves. Occam Global recruits leading C-Suite executives and board members for the most exciting and innovative clients across the world with a specific focus on the UK, Continental Europe, the US, and Asia.