PharmaLive: Celladon Names Dr. Stephen Grant Chief Medical Officer
July 13, 2005
LA JOLLA, Calif., July 12, 2005 /PRNewswire/ -- Celladon Corporation, a La Jolla-based biotech company focused on the development and commercialization of new molecular therapies for heart failure, today announced that Dr. Stephen Grant has joined the company as Chief Medical Officer.
Dr. Grant joins Celladon following an impressive career in clinical and regulatory affairs with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, where he was most recently a Medical Officer and Team Leader in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), Office of Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapy.
As CMO, Dr. Grant will be responsible for developing and executing Celladon's strategy to obtain timely regulatory approval, designing and managing clinical studies, and developing new product opportunities.
Celladon is developing treatments for cardiovascular diseases, with the first product targeting congestive heart failure. Celladon's first therapeutic candidate targets the SERCA2a pathway, and malfunction in this pathway is associated with progressive heart failure. In multiple animal models of heart failure, Celladon's therapy has shown significant improvement in heart failure status.
Dr. Grant will play an integral role in the clinical development and preclinical evaluation of candidate therapies for cardiovascular diseases. "Dr. Grant is a welcome addition to Celladon's growing executive team," said Dr. Andrew Senyei, Chairman of Celladon. "Our product development program is moving ahead at full speed, and our combination drug/device product has produced striking preclinical results. We're pleased to have someone with Steve's qualifications steering Celladon's clinical and regulatory programs."
Dr. Grant received a B.A. from Yale University and a M.D. from Harvard University. He completed a research fellowship at the Molecular Disease Branch of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute followed by a clinical fellowship in cardiology at The George Washington University Medical Center.
About Celladon
Celladon Corporation is a molecular cardiology company based in La Jolla, California and founded by Roger J. Hajjar, M.D. and Kenneth R. Chien, M.D., Ph.D.. The company's first product uses a gene based therapy to enhance calcium cycling in the hearts of patients with congestive heart failure. Preclinical studies of the company's SERCA2a gene therapy in large animal models of heart failure have demonstrated restoration of heart function to normal levels. Celladon is actively working with key partners and vendors to commercialize advanced molecular therapies for heart disease. Founding investors in Celladon include Enterprise Partners Venture Capital and Venrock Associates. www.celladon.net.