Carmot Therapeutics expands leadership team with appointment of Manu Chakravarthy, MD, PhD as Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of R&D
Berkeley, CA – March 16, 2021
Carmot Therapeutics, Inc. (Berkeley, CA), a clinical stage biotechnology company advancing transformative therapies for patients with metabolic diseases, announced today the appointment of Manu Chakravarthy, MD, PhD as Chief Medical Officer and EVP of R&D, and member of the executive leadership team. Dr. Chakravarthy will be based in Boston and lead the expansion of Carmot with an east-coast presence.
“Dr. Chakravarthy joins Carmot at a very exciting time, as we initiate phase 1 and 2 clinical studies in metabolic diseases and advance our rapidly growing portfolio of pre-clinical programs” commented Stig K. Hansen, PhD, Carmot’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. “Treatment of type 2 diabetes and associated metabolic diseases is currently undergoing a paradigm shift with the advent of dual modulators of the GLP-1 and GIP incretin pathways. Carmot is at the forefront of this transformation with novel therapeutics built on unique insights into GLP-1 and GIP biology supported by Chemotype Evolution, our proprietary drug discovery platform. Manu is a highly respected medical expert and a scientific leader with a strong research background and will guide the success of our growing pipeline.”
“I am thrilled to join Carmot at this stage of the Company’s evolution”, said Dr. Chakravarthy. “Carmot’s ability to dissect biological pathways and discover novel chemical matter has enabled new treatment modalities including CT-868 and CT-388, Carmot’s dual incretin receptor modulators, entering phase 2 and 1 studies in 1H21. I am excited to apply my experience to complement Carmot’s science-driven culture and transform the treatment of diabetes and its many co-morbidities.”
Dr. Chakravarthy joins Carmot Therapeutics from Axcella Health, where he has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer and a member of the executive team with direct oversight of all phases of clinical development, regulatory affairs, quality, and scientific communications.
Prior to Axcella, Dr. Chakravarthy served as the Vice President and Global Head of External R&D and Innovation Strategy in Diabetes and Cardiovascular Research at Eli Lilly. Before his global leadership role at Lilly, Dr. Chakravarthy worked across the R&D spectrum at Merck from discovery, clinical pharmacology, biomarker development and late-stage drug development covering diverse disease areas. His work in clinical pharmacology supported regulatory filings for successful drug approvals in endocrine, neuroscience, and infectious diseases. He assumed positions of increasing responsibility and leadership within Merck, and as a Distinguished Scientist, led Discovery Medicine for the Diabetes and Cardiometabolic therapeutic area. Dr. Chakravarthy earned his M.D. from the University of Texas Houston Medical School and a Ph.D. in Cell Biology & Physiology from the MD Anderson Cancer Center and University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences combined MD-PhD program. He trained in Internal Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Dr. Chakravarthy continues to serve patients as an Adjunct Clinical Asst. Professor of Medicine at the Rutgers School of Medicine in New Jersey. He is internationally recognized as a thought leader in metabolic diseases, reflected by his published work in numerous high-impact peer-reviewed scientific journals and invited speakerships.
About Carmot Therapeutics, Inc.
Carmot Therapeutics (“Carmot”) is focused on the discovery and development of transformative therapies for patients with metabolic disease and oncology. Carmot applies Chemotype Evolution (CE), a pioneering drug discovery technology, in combination with unique biological expertise to identify innovative and superior therapeutics. In metabolic disease, Carmot is combining CE with novel insights into incretin receptor signaling to develop a broad, valuable pipeline of peptide-based and small molecule therapeutics. Carmot’s lead program, a dual GLP-1/GIP receptor modulator, is entering phase 2 development and has the potential to be best in a new class of treatment for type 2 diabetes and other related indications. In addition, Carmot is internally, and with partners, using CE to identify novel covalent inhibitors and to develop new therapeutics targeting major oncogenic pathways. Carmot has successfully applied CE with strategic partners including the discovery collaboration with Amgen that led to AMG 510, the first KRAS inhibitor to enter the clinic.
Contact information:
James D. Watson, Chief Business Officer
[email protected]
www.carmot.us