OrphoMed Appoints Gastroenterology Expert and Industry Veteran Mark Sostek, M.D. as Chief Medical Officer

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- OrphoMed, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class dimer therapeutics, today announced the appointment of Mark Sostek, M.D. as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Sostek will lead the ongoing and planned clinical trials of OrphoMed's lead product candidate ORP-101, which is currently in a Phase 1 clinical trial for IBS-D, and the Company's pipeline of novel dimer therapeutics.

"Mark is a Board-certified gastroenterologist with extensive experience leading clinical programs," said Nikhilesh Singh, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of OrphoMed. "Throughout his career at AstraZeneca, he conducted global clinical studies for all phases of drug development and led several NDA/MAA submissions that resulted in global approvals of new medicines. His expertise and background make him ideally suited to lead OrphoMed's clinical programs and I am delighted to have him join our team."

"I am excited to join OrphoMed and lead the clinical development of its dimer therapeutics, which have shown the potential to be best-in-class agents," said Dr. Sostek.  "Patients with gastrointestinal disorders need better therapeutic options for these painful and difficult-to-treat diseases. I am eager to advance the clinical development of ORP-101, as well as the other therapeutic candidates in the pipeline."  

Mark Sostek, M.D., AGAF, FACG, has over 17 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. During the course of his career, Dr. Sostek worked with AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, LP in roles of increasing responsibility and most recently at Pfizer in the company's Inflammation and Immunology Research Unit. At AstraZeneca, he served as Global Clinical Leader for gastrointestinal (GI) programs, resulting in marketing approvals which included Nexium I.V. ^®, Vimovo^® and Movantik^®.  Prior to beginning his career in the biopharmaceutical industry he served as Assistant Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine in the Gastroenterology Section.

Dr. Sostek earned a Bachelor of Arts, Cum Laude, in Biology from Middlebury College and a Medical Doctorate from Tufts University School of Medicine. Subsequently, he completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of Los Angeles Medical Center and a fellowship in gastroenterology at the Lahey Clinic. 

About OrphoMed, Inc.
OrphoMed is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel first-in-class dimer therapeutics for patients with gastrointestinal disorders.  Leveraging its proprietary dimer platform technology, OrphoMed is advancing ORP-101, a potential best-in-class buprenorphine dimer in clinical development for the treatment of IBS-D, and its pipeline of additional dimer conjugates. For more information please visit www.orphomed.com.

SOURCE OrphoMed, Inc.