vasopharm GmbH, a privately held biopharmaceutical company focusing on novel therapeutics for the treatment of cerebrovascular diseases, today announced the appointment of Dr Irina Antonijevic as Chief Medical Officer. In this newly-created role, Dr Antonijevic will be responsible for advancing the clinical development of vasopharm’s lead ongoing program, VAS203.
Dr Antonijevic has more than 15 years of global drug development experience in Neuroscience, both in Neurology and Psychiatry, having held positions at Schering AG, Germany and Lundbeck Research, USA. Prior to joining vasopharm, Dr Antonijevic most recently served at Sanofi Genzyme, Cambridge, USA as Global Head Early Development in Neurology, Multiple Sclerosis and Ophthalmology, including Gene Therapy, where she oversaw multiple clinical programs. Dr Antonijevic graduated in Medicine from the Technical University Munich, Germany and holds a PhD in Neurophysiology from the University of Edinburgh, UK. Dr Antonijevic is board certified in Psychiatry and completed her residency training in Psychiatry and Neurology at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, Germany.
Dr Andrew Clark, Chairman of vasopharm’s Board, commented:
“We are delighted that Dr Antonijevic will be joining the team at vasopharm. Not only will we benefit from her clinical capabilities in our ongoing pivotal study of VAS203 in TBI, but also from her extensive expertise in pre-clinical development as we examine the compound in additional indications. We see her commitment to vasopharm as a substantial endorsement of the potential of the programs underway at the company.”
Dr Irina Antonijevic, newly appointed Chief Medical Officer, added:
“I am excited to join vasopharm’s dedicated team in addressing a major unmet medical need in Neurology. As a clinician scientist and drug developer, I was impressed by the team’s notable Phase II study design and the exceptional results achieved, which in turn have instructed the design of the ongoing confirmatory study. Furthermore, given its mechanism of action, VAS203 has great potential in a number of additional indications that we at vasopharm are passionate to explore.”