Juventas Therapeutics strengthens leadership team by adding two industry veterans

CLEVELAND, July 23, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Juventas Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a first-in-class regenerative gene therapy for treatment of heart failure announced adding two industry veterans to its leadership team.  Dale Sander has joined as Chief Financial Officer.  Dr. Francis Plat will serve in an advisory capacity as Chief Strategy Officer.

Mr. Sander has more than 20 years of executive-level finance experience in the biotechnology sector.  Most recently, he was Senior Vice President at a multi-national business service provider where he was responsible for global finance and legal operations, including compliance and risk management for operations encompassing more than 40,000 employees in 15 countries.  Prior to that, he served as the Chief Financial Officer for multiple biotechnology companies including Biolex Therapeutics, Maxim Pharmaceuticals, Xtronyx and Tactyl Technologies.  In these roles, he completed more than $450 million in private and public financings.  In addition, he led operations and corporate development activities.   Responsibilities included overseeing manufacturing, IT, legal, human resources, and facilities, as well as identifying commercial and licensing opportunities, and negotiating and completing corporate partnerships and M&A transactions, in the U.S., Asia, Europe, Middle East and South America.

Dr. Plat is a board certified cardiologist with more than 20 years of experience leading cardiovascular product development at multiple global pharmaceutical companies.  Most recently, Dr. Plat was a Vice President at Merck Research Laboratories where he served as Worldwide Therapeutic Area Head for their cardiovascular franchise.  Prior to Merck, he held senior executive positions at Novartis, Bristol Myer Squibb and Daiichi Sankyo.  During his career, Dr. Plat has been responsible for leading multifunctional research and development teams in the design and implementation of highly-visible pivotal clinical trials in the cardiovascular space and has obtained US and European approval of multiple drugs including Azor®, Effient®, and Brinavess.

"We are very excited to have Dale and Francis join the Juventas leadership team", states Rahul Aras, Ph.D. President and Chief Executive Officer for Juventas.  "They bring decades of experience ranging from small cap private and public biotechnology companies to global pharmaceutical companies.  Their expertise will serve as well as we advance our lead product, JVS-100, through the next stages of development toward commercialization"

About Juventas Therapeutics
Juventas Therapeutics, headquartered in Cleveland, OH, is a privately held clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a pipeline of regenerative therapies to treat life–threatening diseases. Founded in 2007 with an exclusive license from Cleveland Clinic, Juventas has transitioned its therapeutic platform from concept to through mid-stage clinical trials for treatment of heart failure and critical limb ischemia.  Investors include Triathlon Medical Venture Partners, New Science Ventures, Fletcher Spaght Ventures, Takeda Ventures, Venture Investors, Early Stage Partners, Reservoir Venture Partners, and Cleveland Clinic.  The company has also received financial support through the Ohio Third Frontier-funded Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center and Center for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine.

About JVS-100
The company's lead product, JVS-100 encodes Stromal–cell Derived Factor 1 (SDF–1).  JVS-100 is a non-viral DNA plasmid that has been shown to protect and repair tissue following organ–injury in a broad range of pre–clinical disease models. The first clinical targets will be treatment of patients with symptomatic heart failure and critical limb ischemia. The company has demonstrated in pre-clinical models that JVS-100 therapy has the potential to repair tissue-damage following ischemic injury by recruiting the body's own stem cells to the damaged region, the prevention of cardiac cell death and promotion of new blood vessel growth in the heart. In addition to heart failure, Juventas is also developing JVS-100 for additional indications including acute myocardial infarction, chronic angina, and muscle regeneration.

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SOURCE Juventas Therapeutics