– USA, MA – Karuna Pharmaceuticals, a company focused on targeting muscarinic receptors for the treatment of central nervous system disorders, today announced the appointment of Atul Pande, M.D., to its Board of Directors. Dr. Pande brings to Karuna more than 25 years of experience in the fields of psychiatry and neurosciences and an expertise in drug development.
“Dr. Pande is a seasoned expert in central nervous system disorders and has advanced novel neurological therapies at some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies,” said Andrew Miller, Ph.D., Karuna’s Chief Executive Officer. “Dr. Pande’s impressive background and experience will be a valuable asset as Karuna continues to explore the potential of KarXT for the treatment of CNS disorders.”
Dr. Pande has more than two decades of experience in drug development. Dr. Pande is the former Senior Vice President, Head of Neuroscience, and Senior Advisor, Pharmaceutical R&D at GlaxoSmithKline. Dr. Pande has been active in the development of multiple important central nervous system drugs while holding various senior roles in Pfizer R&D, Parke-Davis/Warner-Lambert, and Lilly Research Laboratories. His experience includes drug development, registration, launch and lifecycle management in the areas of anxiety, depression, epilepsy, neuropathic pain, schizophrenia, traumatic brain injury, and Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Dr. Pande is a psychiatrist and fellow of several scientific societies, including the American Psychiatric Association. He currently serves as Chief Medical Officer and Scientific Advisory Board member at Tal Medical; Senior Advisor to PureTech Health; on the Board of Directors of Axovant Sciences (NYSE:AXON) and Autifony Therapeutics; on the Scientific Advisory Board of Cennerv Pharma; and as President of Verity BioConsulting. Dr. Pande began his career as a faculty member at the University of Michigan Medical School where his research focused on mood disorders. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers and over 100 abstracts, book chapters, and book reviews.
“I’m excited to join Karuna’s Board of Directors and to work with Drs. Ben Shapiro and Ed Harrigan again to address the significant unmet need in CNS disorders, including schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Pande. “Schizophrenia can be severely debilitating, and the millions of people impacted by the disorder continue to seek new and better treatments that can adequately and safely manage their symptoms.”
Dr. Pande joins current Board members including Ben Shapiro, M.D., former Executive Vice President of Research for Merck; Edmund Harrigan, M.D., former Senior Vice President for Worldwide Safety and Regulatory, Head of Worldwide Business Development at Pfizer; Andrew Miller, Ph.D., Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Karuna; Eric Elenko, Ph.D., Co-founder of Karuna and Executive Vice President of Science and Technology at PureTech Health; and Steve Muniz, Executive Vice President of Legal, Finance and Operations at PureTech Health.
About Karuna
Karuna is a clinical-stage drug development company targeting muscarinic receptors for the treatment of central nervous system disorders. Karuna’s lead program, KarXT, is a product candidate consisting of xanomeline, a novel clinical-stage muscarinic acetylcholine receptor agonist (activator) that has demonstrated efficacy in reducing psychosis and improving cognition in placebo-controlled human trials in schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease, and trospium chloride, an FDA-approved and well-established muscarinic receptor antagonist (blocker) that has been shown not to enter the central nervous system.
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