Sanjay Kakkar

Tensive S.r.l., is an innovative biomedical company on a mission to offer breast cancer survivors a natural breast reconstruction and breast augmentation patients a superior clinical and aesthetic outcome. The company is pioneering a new class of bioabsorbable implants that potentially offer an easy-to-use, effective and practical option to manage breast disease following lumpectomy ultimately providing a natural breast shape and feel in a single-step, minimally invasive and potentially cost-saving procedure.

Endurance Bio (www.endurance-bio.com) is a clinical stage biotech developing small molecules that upregulate PGC-1a and TFEB to restore mitochondrial and lysosomal health in neurodegenerative, metabolic and other diseases. Endurance Bio is the successor to Tranquis Therapeutics (see below)

Tranquis (now Endurance Bio, www.endurance-bio.com) is a clinical-stage biotech company discovering and developing innovative medicines with the potential to revolutionize the management of neurodegenerative and aging-related diseases. Built on the ground-breaking immuno-neurology research of Dr. Edgar Engleman, and his team at Stanford, the company was created to discover and develop novel small molecule therapeutics designed to target and normalize myeloid immune cell dysfunction linked to immune-mediated and mitochondrial diseases. During my tenure, we have built a discovery platform with the ability to identify drug candidates capable of reprogramming dysfunctional myeloid immune cells, including microglia and monocytes, by targeting and resetting key regulators of their energy metabolism, such as PGC1α, which is central to healthy cell function. This has generated a pipeline of orally bioavailable brain penetrant small molecules led by TQS 168 which has successfully completed Phase 1 and is positioned for ALS and other orphan neurodegeneration indications. In addition, the lead and other pipeline compounds have demonstrated potential applicability in a range of CNS, inflammatory, metabolic, hematologic, ophthalmologic and ageing-related diseases. • I have led the company since seed stage through a $30 million Series A financing, beginning with a virtual model to initially focus on establishing pre-clinical proof of concept with the lead compound (the sole asset a seed stage) before building a highly regarded in-house team that has been able to build a platform and discover a pipeline of molecules while taking the lead compound into the clinic.

• Peptilogics (www.peptilogics.com) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company utilizing its proprietary computational drug design platform to rapidly and effectively develop novel peptide therapeutics, with an initial focus on anti-infectives, oncology and rare genetic diseases. During my tenure the company went from early pre-clinical to clinical stage development, achieving the objectives of the Series A financing and positioned itself to pursue a major niche/orphan anti-infectives opportunity. • Milestones achieved during my time: Completion of the Series A financing, initiation and completion of GLP tox studies, obtaining Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) designation from FDA, completion a successful pre-IND meeting and receiving authorization to initiate Phase 1 studies.

• Armetheon, Inc., is a privately held, specialty pharmaceutical company developing and commercializing innovative medicines addressing major unmet needs in cardiovascular disease, initially in thrombosis and cardiac arrhythmias. Armetheon's lead product candidate, tecarfarin, an innovative, potential best-in class oral Vitamin K antagonist anticoagulant is in Phase 3 development for the prevention and management of thrombosis. Armetheon’s second clinical stage product, is a novel, potentially best-in class anti-arrhythmic drug candidate, budiodarone, for the treatment of atrial fibrillation patients. Armetheon has a focused commercialization strategy enabling a proprietary strategy for the United States market and establishing strong partnerships for commercialization outside the United States.

• The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD (Garfield) is the largest, ongoing, prospective, multicentre, international registry of patients newly diagnosed with atrial fibrillation (AF). Garfield is an academic research initiative led by the Thrombosis Research Institute, London and funded by Bayer. Garfield has recruited 57,262 patients worldwide.

• Founder of the first personalized healthcare company developing technologies for the prevention and management of heart disease and other major non-communicable diseases (NCDs) for the emerging markets of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). • Designed and developed Jai Heart – the first genomics‐based risk estimation test for heart disease developed for the IOR. Jai Heart has been developed as a web-enabled solution and is in the process of being commercialized in India by leading healthcare companies and diagnostic laboratories. • Led a 2068 subject study clinically validating Jai Heart in India. The study demonstrated that Jai Heart is significantly better than the internationally accepted gold‐standard Framingham risk score at estimating the risk of heart disease in the Indian population and was selected for prime-time oral presentation by the Cardiology Society of India (CSI) at the December 2013 CSI annual conference.

• The Thrombosis Research Institutes consist of two research establishments in London and Bangalore and are dedicated to the study of thrombosis and related disorders.

HSPH Competitive Strategy Student of the Year 1997

Legg Prize in Surgical Pathology 1989