Scenic Biotech hires new VP for drug discovery with genetic modifiers
Scenic Biotech, a Dutch biotech in discovery of genetic modifiers developing therapeutics to treat severe diseases, announced the appointment of Kristof Van Emelen, PhD, as vice president of Drug Discovery.
Key highlights:
- Scenic Biotech announced the appointment of Kristof Van Emelen, PhD, as vice president of Drug Discovery.
- Dr. Van Emelen brings over 25 years of experience of big pharma and biotech, with years of drug discovery experience with established companies, such as Ermium Therapeutics.
- In his new role, Dr. Van Emelen will be responsible for the development of the company’s pipeline of genetic modifier-based small molecule candidates and supporting their preclinical evaluation.
At Scenic Biotech, Dr. Van Emelen will be responsible for the development of the company’s pipeline candidates based on genetic modifiers, genes that counteract the effect of a disease-causing gene. He joins from Ermium Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing therapies for auto-immune diseases. Dr. Van Emelen brings to the company more than 25 years of big pharma and biotechnology experience.
“Kristof is an exceptionally qualified drug discovery and development expert with a track-record of leading therapeutic platform validation efforts. He also brings Scenic Biotech considerable experience in optimising and executing research and development strategies from his time at large pharmaceutical and contract research organisations,” said Dr. Oscar Izeboud, CEO of Scenic Biotech. “We already have generated four programs from our proprietary drug discovery platform and Kristof will be instrumental in advancing these and more through preclinical evaluation.”
“Through its unique platform, Scenic Biotech can identify drug targets that have not been explored before. I am drawn by the opportunity to leverage these novel targets and develop first-in-class small-molecule therapeutics that have the potential to disrupt the current treatment paradigm. I am looking forward to working with the Scenic Biotech team as we create novel treatment options for patients living with severe diseases,” commented Dr. Kristof Van Emelen, VP, Drug Discovery at Scenic Biotech.
With over 25 years of experience, Dr. Van Emelen has worked with both early-stage biotech and established pharmaceutical companies. Prior to Scenic Biotech, Dr. Van Emelen served as the head of Medicinal Chemistry for Ermium Therapeutics, a French biotech developing therapeutics to treat auto-immune diseases.
In 2019, he joined as entrepreneur-in-residence for the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) and before that, he served as chief operating officer Product Development at preclinical CRO ProDigest. Earlier in his career, Dr. Van Emelen was scientific director-Emerging Sciences and Innovation, for The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. Dr. Van Emelen is a co-author on a range of patent applications, scientific articles, and presentations. He holds a PhD in organic chemistry and a MSc from KU Leuven.