5 September 2018 - - US-based biotechnology company Applied Therapeutics, Inc. has appointed Dr. Riccardo Perfetti, MD, PhD, to the position of chief medical officer, the company said.

Dr. Perfetti is a distinguished endocrinologist with more than 15 years' experience in drug development. His extensive leadership capabilities have resulted in multiple advances in metabolic disease, which have benefitted patients around the world.

Prior to joining Applied Therapeutics, Perfetti served as senior medical officer and vice president, head of global medical affairs, diabetes and cardiovascular business unit at Sanofi.

Over his decade-long tenure at Sanofi, Perfetti held senior leadership roles and chaired multiple committees, including the R and D Diabetes Clinical Review Committee and the Clinical Study Review Committee. He was also a member of the company-wide Sanofi Senior Leadership Group.

Prior to joining Sanofi, Perfetti was the director and global development Leader in diabetes, obesity, metabolism and endocrinology at Amgen, as well as the early development leader, responsible for transitioning preclinical assets into first-in-human studies.

Before joining industry, Perfetti spent 20 years in academia at UCLA and the NIH. He practiced as an endocrinologist, and served as director of the Diabetes Research Laboratory and director of the Outpatient Diabetes Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. 

Applied Therapeutics is a privately held biotechnology company, focused on developing transformative drugs in areas of high unmet medical need fatal or debilitating diseases for which no therapies are approved.