CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Spero Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPRO) today announced the appointment of Kamal Hamed, MD, MPH, MBA, as Chief Medical Officer (CMO).
“Kamal joins Spero with an impressive track record of building and leading successful anti-infective franchises,” said Ankit Mahadevia, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Spero Therapeutics. “This, together with his unique blend of experience within the biotech industry, at global pharmaceutical companies, and as an infectious disease physician, make him the ideal candidate to join Spero as CMO. I am thrilled to have Kamal on our management team and look forward to working together.”
Dr. Hamed has over 20 years of experience leading various anti-infective clinical development programs in antibacterials, antivirals, antimalarials, and antifungals. Before joining Spero, he was the CMO at Lysovant Sciences, a subsidiary of Roivant Sciences. Prior to his time at Lysovant, Dr. Hamed was Head of Clinical Development & Medical Affairs at Basilea Pharmaceutica. Earlier in his career, he held senior positions in clinical development and medical affairs at Novartis (including Therapeutic Area Head for Anti-infectives), Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Bayer, spearheading the successful global development, approval, and post-marketing medical affairs support of multiple anti-infective products.
Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Hamed worked as an academic physician for 14 years. He holds an MD degree from the American University of Beirut, an MPH degree from Johns Hopkins University, and an MBA degree from the University of South Florida. Dr. Hamed completed a residency in Internal Medicine at UMDNJ–Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is a fellow of both the American College of Physicians and the Infectious Diseases Society of America and has published over 110 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Hamed commented, “The opportunity to lead the development of Spero’s pipeline programs is exciting, as each targets an urgent unmet need in the antibiotic space. If successful, these programs may provide clear benefits, not only to patients, but to the entire healthcare system. Spero’s lead candidate, SPR720, has the potential to be the only novel first-line oral treatment for nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease. SPR206 may be able to provide a new treatment paradigm for multi-drug resistant Gram-negative infections. Finally, tebipenem HBr has proven itself to be worthy of ongoing study and clinical development, given the market size for complicated urinary tract infection and the unmet patient need.”
About Spero Therapeutics
Spero Therapeutics is a multi-asset, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on identifying, developing, and commercializing novel treatments for bacterial infections, including multi-drug resistant bacterial infections and rare diseases.