Congruence Therapeutics Strengthens Leadership Team with Appointment of Dr. Sharath Hegde as Chief Scientific Officer

-Tanya E. Borsuk, Ph.D., also appointed as EVP, Corporate and Business Development

MONTREAL, Nov. 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Congruence Therapeutics, a biotechnology company working at the interface of computational and experimental drug discovery to design novel small molecules for diseases of protein misfolding, announced today the appointment of Sharath S. Hegde, Ph.D. as Chief Scientific Officer. 

"I am thrilled to welcome Sharath to Congruence as Chief Scientific Officer.  Sharath is a proven R&D innovator with more than thirty years of experience as a drug hunter, highlighted by the discovery of several novel therapies, including now-marketed products YUPELRI^® and VIBATIV^®, as well as clinical candidates currently in late-stage development," commented Dr. Clarissa Desjardins, CEO of Congruence.  "Tanya is a well-known leader with significant expertise in company building and a proven track record of substantial corporate transactions.  Sharath and Tanya's experience will be critical to our success in advancing our Revenir™ platform, enhancing our computational capabilities, and correcting the root cause of devastating diseases with our next-generation therapies."

Prior to joining Congruence, Dr. Hegde was Chief Scientific Officer at Herophilus, a technology enabled neurotherapeutics company, where he established the company's drug-discovery strategy and advanced their Rett syndrome project into late discovery. Before that, Sharath was Chief Scientific Officer of Recursion, a machine-learning and technology-enabled clinical-stage biotechnology company with a broad pipeline.  At Recursion, Sharath played a key role in accelerating the company's drug-discovery projects leading to the discovery of REC-3964, the company's first NCE development candidate. Previous to Recursion, Sharath spent more than 15 years at Theravance Biopharma, where he rose from positions of increasing responsibility to assume the role of Senior Vice President and Head of Research. Prior to Theravance, Dr. Hegde spent nine years at Syntex Corporation, later acquired by Roche. He obtained his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Houston and his B.Pharm/M.Pharm from the University of Mumbai. 

"Congruence is a very exciting company with a new and differentiated drug-design technology that addresses the limitations of traditional approaches through the use of novel computational methods to interrogate structural and dynamic changes in mutated proteins.  I look forward to working with Clarissa and the team to advance the Revenir^™ platform in the creation of medicines that correct the underlying pathogenesis of disease," stated Dr. Hegde. 

In addition, Congruence recently appointed business development veteran, Tanya E. Borsuk, Ph.D., as EVP, Corporate and Business Development.  Dr. Borsuk joins Congruence from Sitryx Therapeutics, where she served as Chief Business Officer.  Prior to Sitryx, Tanya was Vice President of Portfolio Strategy and Alliances at Flagship Pioneering, where she was responsible for guiding the life sciences venture capital companies' start-up platforms and target strategies, corporate development, and business development activities across the Flagship ecosystem. While there, she was involved in driving strategy at Generate Biomedicines, Flagship's lead AI/Machine Learning startup.  As part of the executive leadership team, she helped secure the Series B financing and the multi-target R&D deal with Amgen valued at over $1.9 billion.  Previously to Flagship, she served on the business development teams of both Bristol Myers Squibb and Celgene Corporation, prior to its acquisition by BMS.  In this role, Tanya was responsible for executing clinical collaborations, equity placements and licensing deals valued at over $1.4 billion. She holds a Ph.D. in Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics from Rutgers University, a B.S in Biology from Queen's University, and a Mini-MBA from the Rutgers University Business School.

"I couldn't be more excited to join Congruence at this time in the company's growth.  The Revenir™ platform represents a significant evolution in how the industry discovers drugs, and combines the best of machine learning, computational capabilities, and protein dynamics to discover cryptic and novel binding pockets not seen by other technologies.  I look forward to leveraging my scientific and business experience to showcase our capabilities across the industry and help grow Congruence into a leading biotechnology company," said Dr. Borsuk. 

About Congruence Therapeutics
Congruence Therapeutics is a drug discovery company that is uniquely harnessing the power of innovative fields such as protein dynamics, biophysics, machine learning and computational chemistry.  Our ground-breaking discovery engine, Revenir™, sees proteins in ways others have been unable to see - in their full dynamic state.

For more information, please visit www.congruencetx.com.

Company Contact
Charles Grubsztajn
Chief Operating Officer
[email protected]

Media Contact 
Amy Conrad
Juniper Point
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858-366-3243

SOURCE Congruence Therapeutics