Lisa Rae Schopf and Erik J. Spek bolster Vedanta Biosciences team
pharmafile | October 14, 2015 | Appointment | Medical Communications, Research and Development |
Vedanta Biosciences, a PureTech Health company developing a new class of therapies designed to modulate the human microbiome, has announced the addition of Lisa Rae Schopf and Erik J. Spek as head of preclinical development and head of intellectual property respectively.
Vedanta is advancing a pipeline of product candidates designed to treat autoimmune, inflammatory, and infectious diseases, which are developed using a proprietary technology platform that enables mining of the human microbiome for potent pharmaceutical products.
Vedanta has foundational intellectual property issued in Japan, the site of its initial filing, and has pending patent applications in other major geographies.
“We are delighted to welcome Lisa and Erik to our team,” comments Bernat Olle, CEO of Vedanta Biosciences. “This is an exciting time for Vedanta, and their experience and leadership will be invaluable as we advance our pipeline of drug candidates and scale our discovery platform.”
Dr Schopf previously served as senior director of Preclinical Development at clinical-stage pharmaceutical company Kala Pharmaceuticals, and has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry focused in inflammatory diseases, immunology, and pharmacology.
She has worked at Virdante Pharmaceuticals, Abbott Bioresearch Center, Millennium as well as Genetics Institute. Dr Schopf received a B.S. in Biology from Carroll College in Wisconsin, an M.S. in the Department of Bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin, and a PhD in the Department of Animal Health & Biomedical Sciences from the University of Wisconsin.
Dr Spek joins Vedanta Biosciences from Epizyme, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on epigenetic targets, where he served as Director of IP. Prior to Epizyme, Dr Spek worked at Boston-based IP law firm Wolf Greenfield, focusing on prosecution, FTO, and due diligence in a variety of bio and pharma related technologies.
Dr Spek graduated cum laude from Suffolk Law School, has a B.S. in Chemistry and Philosophy from Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, a PhD in Biophysical Chemistry from New York University, and conducted his postdoctoral research in Biological Engineering at MIT.
