13 January 2022 - - US-based biotechnology company Nirogy Therapeutics has appointed life science veteran Simon Pedder, Ph.D., as chief executive officer and to the company's board of directors, the company said.

Dr. Pedder takes over the position from the founding CEO, Vincent Sandanayaka, Ph.D., who will be transitioning to the role of president and chief scientific officer.

Dr. Pedder brings over 30 years of drug development and commercialization experience to Nirogy.

Dr. Pedder joins Nirogy from Athenex Pharmaceuticals, where he served as served as Chief Business and Strategy officer.

Prior to Athenex, he was president and CEO of Cellectar Biosciences and of CEO of Chelsea Therapeutics before that.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Pedder held senior leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Hoffmann-LaRoche, including as an officer of the company, vice president of Oncology Pharma Business, Life Cycle Leader and Global Project Leader of Pegasys/IFN, and as global Head of the Hepatitis Franchise.

Under Dr. Pedder's leadership, he oversaw the development and commercialization of numerous global brands, such as Tasmar, Copegus, Northera, and Kliseryi and Pegasys, which became the standard of care for Hepatitis B and C for over a decade.

Dr. Pedder began his career as a faculty member in the Department of Pharmacology in College of Medicine in the University of Saskatchewan, where he obtained his Ph.D. in Clinical Pharmacology.

In addition to his Ph.D. in Pharmacology, Simon obtained a Master of Science in Toxicology from Concordia University, a Joint Honors Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies/Biology from the University of Waterloo and completed the Roche-sponsored Pharmaceutical Executive Management Program at Columbia Business School.

Nirogy Therapeutics is a biotechnology company based in Boston, Massachusetts developing novel small molecules to target cellular transporters.

The company is currently advancing a class of small molecules intended to disrupt metabolic and immune mechanisms operative in the tumor microenvironment.

Follow-on platform programs are targeting additional disease pathways in oncology as well as autoimmune diseases.