Dunad Therapeutics Appoints Industry Veteran Pearl Huang as Chief Executive Officer

June 28, 2022 |

4 min read

Dunad appoints new CEO as company establishes U.S. operations, continues to expand its platform based on novel insights into covalent chemistry and build its internal drug discovery programs.

June 28, 2022 11:00 UTC

Dr. Huang brings more than 30 years of biopharma experience, most recently as Chief Executive Officer and President of Flagship Pioneering start-up Cygnal Therapeutics

Dunad appoints new CEO as company establishes U.S. operations, continues to expand its platform based on novel insights into covalent chemistry and build its internal drug discovery programs

CAMBRIDGE, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Dunad Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing small molecule covalent therapies based on novel insights from chemistry and protein degradation, today announced it has appointed Pearl Huang, Ph.D., as Chief Executive Officer.

“I feel privileged and excited to join the Dunad team, which is harnessing fundamentally new chemistry to create precision covalent small molecule therapies and has developed a chemo-proteomics platform to go after disease-driving protein targets. While the company’s platform unlocks the opportunity to immediately generate highly differentiated next-generation protein degrader therapies, the true potential of the platform goes far beyond this therapeutic modality,” said Dr. Huang. “Dunad’s foundational science has truly disrupted the landscape for small molecule drug discovery, and I am thrilled for the opportunity to deliver the next generation of covalent, tunable and highly specific small molecule treatments for a broad range of diseases.”

Dr. Huang brings decades of experience spanning the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, with oversight across early drug discovery and development, translational research and alliance management. Prior to Dunad, she was Chief Executive Officer and President of Cygnal Therapeutics, founded by Flagship Pioneering, where she was also a venture partner. Earlier, she held leadership roles at Roche as Senior Vice President of Therapeutic Modalities, at GSK as Vice President, Global Head of Discovery Partnerships with Academia (DPAc) and at Merck as Vice President, Oncology Franchise Integrator. She was also a Founder and Acting Chief Scientific Officer of Beigene. Dr. Huang serves on the board of directors for KSQ Therapeutics, Waters Corporation and BB Biotech, and is a member of the MIT Corporation. She received her S.B. in life sciences from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her Ph.D. in molecular biology from Princeton University. She will be based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“Pearl is a highly respected leader in the industry, with experience working in both biotech and pharma, and we are thrilled to have her joining Dunad at this critical time of growth for the company. We are building our North American presence while continuing to expand our platform and optimize our internal drug discovery programs,” said Patrick Gunning, Ph.D., co-founder and chief scientific officer at Dunad. “Pearl’s leadership and experience will ensure success for Dunad during this transformational time as we build on our strong scientific foundation and seek to realize the full value of our platform. I look forward to working together to bring transformational therapies to patients.”

Dunad’s platform is applicable across a wide range of diseases and aims to generate highly selective and tunable covalent small molecule therapies. In November 2021, the company announced a strategic collaboration and license agreement with Novartis, leveraging this platform to develop novel oral targeted protein degrader therapies. Dunad is harnessing its proprietary platform to develop the next generation of orally bioavailable therapeutics, including CNS-accessible protein degraders and covalent inhibitors with greater specificity and improved pharmacologic attributes compared with current therapies. Dunad is initially focused on oncology and inflammation, with plans to expand into other disease areas.

About Dunad Therapeutics

Dunad Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company developing small molecule covalent therapies based on novel insights from chemistry and protein degradation. Dunad’s proprietary, tunable platform is designed to discover and develop orally bioavailable, including CNS-accessible, therapeutics with greater specificity and improved pharmacologic attributes compared with current therapies. Founded in 2020, Dunad is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, with operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Toronto, Ontario, and is backed by founding investor Epidarex Capital as well as BioGeneration Ventures (BGV) and Novartis. For more information, please visit: www.dunad.co.uk