Scheele will guide the advancement of Imara's IMR-687, currently in a Phase 2a clinical trial for the treatment of sickle cell disease, and manage the strategy, direction, and execution of the company's overall clinical drug development efforts
Scheele replaces interim CMO Shi Yin Foo, M.D., Ph.D., MMSC of Cydan, an orphan drug accelerator that launched Imara in 2016.
Willem H. Scheele, M.D., began his career ~30 years ago in internal medicine at Spaarne Hospital in Haarlem, the Netherlands, affiliated with the Vrije Universiteit Medical School in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Prior to joining Imara, he was Executive director, Clinician Group Lead, Rare Diseases, for Pfizer leading the clinical development teams for the company's rare disease portfolio, which included programs for Gaucher disease, a lysosomal storage disorder and transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM), a hereditary form of heart disease.
At the company, Dr. Scheele led the Clinical Development and Operations team responsible for the successful submissions of New Drug Applications for tafamidis for the treatment of ATTR-CM.
Previously, Dr. Scheele was Senior director, Global Innovative Pharma, Medicines Development for Pfizer responsible for clinical strategy through delivery and reporting for clinical studies in patients with Type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Scheele was director, Women's Health and Bone (Global Medicine Monitor) at Wyeth Research and Global Clinical Research Physician and Associate Clinical Research Physician at Eli Lilly and company in Indianapolis and Nieuwegein, the Netherlands, respectively.
IMR-687 was designed to address the underlying pathology of sickle cell disease.
An orally-administered, highly-potent and selective phosphodiesterase 9 inhibitor, IMR-687 is a potentially disease-modifying therapeutic for sickle cell disease as well as other hemoglobinopathies.
Pre-clinical data demonstrate IMR-687 reduces both the sickling of red blood cells and blood vessel occlusion that cause debilitating pain, organ damage, and early mortality in affected patients. A Phase 1 clinical trial in healthy volunteers showed IMR-687 to be safe and well-tolerated.
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MR-687 has been granted both US Orphan Drug Designation and US Rare Pediatric Designation by the Food and Drug Administration.
Imara focused on developing novel therapeutics for patients with sickle cell disease and other hemoglobinopathies.
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