The company's scientific advisory board includes scientific leaders in the field of type 2 diabetes, immunology, and inflammation. They include co-founder Steven Shoelson M.D, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School and Joslin Diabetes Center; Jerry Olefsky, M.D., University of California San Diego and founder of Metabolex, Inc.; Diane Mathis, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School, member, National Academy of Sciences and founder of Tempero Pharmaceuticals; C. Ronald Kahn, M.D. Harvard Medical School, Joslin Diabetes Center and member, National Academy of Sciences; Ruslan Medzhitov, Ph.D., Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Yale University and founder of VaxInnate; and Ben Cravatt, Ph.D., Scripps Research Institute and founder of ActivX Biosciences, Inc.

"Type 2 diabetes rates continue to skyrocket and we need to explore new safe and effective therapeutic approaches to treat the root cause of the disease," said Dr. Shoelson. "Recent studies suggest that salsalate may provide a new avenue for treatment in type 2 diabetes. Catabasis is 'rethinking' inflammation by pairing salicylate and omega-3 fatty acids to produce synergistic efficacy. This should target the inflammatory pathways that contribute to the pathogenesis of many diseases, including type 2 diabetes, thereby returning the body to homeostasis or balance."

Catabasis' board of directors includes leading experts in the life sciences industry with an outstanding track record of building biopharmaceutical companies. The board of directors includes Jill Milne, Catabasis chief executive officer; Mike Ross, Ph.D., managing partner at SV Life Sciences; Jeff Leiden, M.D., Ph.D., managing director at Clarus Ventures; and Maggie Flanagan LeFlore, Ph.D., managing director at MedImmune Ventures, Inc.

Maggie Flanagan LeFlore, managing director at MedImmune Ventures, commented, "Type 2 diabetes is an area of high unmet need and a key therapeutic area of interest to AstraZeneca. We are impressed with the advances that the company has made in this early stage of development." Clarus' Jeff Leiden added, "Catabasis' proprietary technology platform has many opportunities for additional drug leads in a number of different inflammatory and metabolic diseases with large unmet need."

SOURCE Catabasis Pharmaceuticals