CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Abiologics, a company reimagining biologics with the creation of a new class of supranatural and programmable medicines called Synteins, today announced the appointment of Maria-Chiara Magnone, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer. Magnone brings two decades of experience in all stages of drug development across a wide range of therapeutic areas.
“Maria-Chiara has the skills, experience and drive to match Abiologics’ ambitious vision to transcend the limits of biology and offer a new class of medicines with significant advantages compared to today’s biologics,” said Avak Kahvejian, Ph.D., Co-Founder and CEO of Abiologics and General Partner at Flagship Pioneering. “I’m thrilled to welcome her to the team at this critical inflection point for the company as we leverage our platform to create a strong pipeline of supranatural biologics.”
Magnone joins Abiologics from Johnson & Johnson (J&J), where she was initially Vice President, Kidney Disease Research and Boston Site Head, and more recently Vice President, Head of Discovery for the Cardiovascular, Metabolic, Retina and Pulmonary Hypertension therapeutic area. During her time at J&J, she led efforts to develop the kidney disease area strategy and pipeline through internal programs and external asset acquisition, and played a key role in advancing several programs to clinical candidate selection. Prior to J&J, she served as Head of Translational Sciences at AstraZeneca, where she led the establishment and implementation of the translational strategy across the cardiovascular, metabolism and renal portfolio. Magnone began her career in drug discovery and early development and held positions of increasing responsibility at Roche, Novartis and Serono in discovery and development in metabolism and neuroscience.
“The specificity and broad applicability of biologics have transformed medicine. By going beyond nature’s toolbox, Abiologics is creating a new class of programmable medicines with extraordinary properties, with the vision to transcend the potential of biologics,” said Magnone. “I look forward to working with the team to apply the company’s unique platform to create a breadth of new medicines that can redefine what therapeutics can achieve for patients.”
About Abiologics
Abiologics is pioneering a new class of supranatural and programmable biologics, called Synteins™. The Abiologics platform leverages cutting-edge generative artificial intelligence and high-throughput chemical protein synthesis to computationally-design Synteins de novo using a broad set of artificial building blocks, far beyond the 20 naturally occurring amino acids that form the basis of today’s biologic medicines. Synteins have powerful, desirable pharmacological properties, and can be programmed to interact with virtually any therapeutic target while evading the body’s natural defenses, offering significant advantages compared to today’s biologics, such as less frequent dosing, oral delivery and the ability to reach parts of the body that were previously impossible to access and treat. Abiologics was founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2021. For more information, visit us at www.abiologics.com and follow us on LinkedIn and X/Twitter.
