Asceneuron, a specialist in the development of innovative small molecules for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, last week announced the appointment of Thomas C. Wessel, MD, PhD, as Chief Medical Officer. Tom has more than 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and will be responsible for progressing the development of Asceneuron’s lead program ASN120290 and a pipeline of novel small molecules through the clinic. Tom will be based at Asceneuron’s new offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he will lead all regulatory and clinical development activities as part of the company’s further expansion in the United States.
Tom joins Asceneuron from Boston-based Flex Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLKS), where he was Chief Medical Officer. Tom is a board-certified neurologist with extensive drug development experience, including being the medical lead for three CNS products approved in the United States: Razadyne, Lunesta and Ampyra. Prior to Flex Pharma, Tom was the Chief Medical Officer at Acorda Therapeutics, Senior Vice President of Clinical Research at Sepracor, and worked on several CNS projects at Janssen Pharmaceutica in Europe and the United States. Tom received his MD from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich and his PhD in experimental neurobiology at the Max-Planck-Institute for Psychiatry in Martinsried, Germany. He completed his residency in neurology at New York Hospital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (Cornell University Medical Center) where he remained on the faculty for several years as an Instructor and Assistant Professor before joining the industry.
Dirk Beher, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Asceneuron, commented: “Our tau approach has the potential to revolutionise the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and we are very happy to add Tom with his high-calibre experience to our team. His expertise and outstanding track record in CNS drug development will help Asceneuron progress its orally-bioavailable tau modifiers through clinical development in Europe, Canada and the United States. We very much look forward to working with Tom to address the high unmet medical need in tau-related dementias and related diseases.”
