Astrosalva Therapeutics Adds Rare Disease Patient Advocacy Leader Wendy Erler to Strategic Advisory Board

Erler, Senior Vice President of Patient Affairs at Sarepta Therapeutics, will advise Astrosalva on patient and community engagement and patient-focused drug development in Alexander disease and cALD

SAN MATEO, Calif., Nov. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Astrosalva Therapeutics, Inc. ("Astrosalva"), a privately held, preclinical biotechnology company developing treatments for Alexander disease and the cerebral form of adrenoleukodystrophy (cALD), today announced that Wendy Erler has joined its Strategic Advisory Board. Erler will advise Astrosalva on its patient and community engagement strategy, including working with existing community natural history registries and bringing patient and caregiver perspectives into future clinical trial planning. 

Families, clinicians, researchers and patient advocacy organizations can write to [email protected], sign up for updates at astrosalva.com or meet Astrosalva at the 2026 ALD Connect Annual Meeting and Patient Learning Academy, November 6–7.

"We have to get the patient part right," said Paul Schmidt, co-founder and CEO of Astrosalva. "Wendy is the first advisor we are announcing, and that order is deliberate. We want families to know from the start that we are building this company around patients and their communities, alongside great science."

"Patient engagement cannot be an afterthought in drug development; it needs to be foundational to how a company thinks, operates, and makes decisions from the very beginning," said Wendy Erler. "I'm excited to join Astrosalva's Strategic Advisory Board at such an important stage early in the company's journey. There is a meaningful opportunity to build on the knowledge and experiences of the Alexander disease and ALD communities. Ultimately, the goal is to ensure that the science we advance is informed by what matters most to the people and families waiting for new treatments."

Erler is Senior Vice President of Patient Affairs at Sarepta Therapeutics. She brings more than two decades of leadership experience across patient advocacy, rare disease strategy, medical affairs, and commercialization. Previously, at Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease, she led the Global Patient Experience function, where she developed and implemented an enterprise-wide model to integrate patient insights across the business. There, she also created the Patient Engagement Center of Excellence and founded and chaired a Bioethics Advisory Council. Earlier, she built patient advocacy at Wave Life Sciences. She serves on the boards of Global Genes / RARE-X and Odylia Therapeutics, and on the Board of Advisors of the n-Lorem Foundation.

About Astrosalva Therapeutics

Astrosalva Therapeutics is a privately held, preclinical biotechnology company developing treatments for Alexander disease and the cerebral form of adrenoleukodystrophy (cALD). Astrosalva was co-founded by Thomas Wagner and Paul Schmidt. Unravel Biosciences, a clinical-stage therapeutics company, is its founding development partner. Paul Schmidt, the company's chief executive officer, has spent nearly 15 years in biopharma, more than 10 of them in rare disease. Astrosalva's programs are preclinical; the company has no clinical trial or expanded-access program open for participation. The company is based in San Mateo, California.

Media contact
Astrosalva Therapeutics: [email protected]

SOURCE Astrosalva Therapeutics, Inc.