Immunic, Inc. (Nasdaq: IMUX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing potentially best-in-class, oral therapies for the treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, today announced the appointment of Sanjay S. Patel, CFA, as Chief Financial Officer, effective July 15, 2019. Mr. Patel replaces Tamara A. Seymour, who has served as the company’s Interim Chief Financial Officer since April 26, 2019.
“We welcome Sanjay to the Immunic team. With a deep well of C-Suite and investment banking experience, Sanjay’s proven track record, strong knowledge base and established industry relationships will be especially important as we continue to move our pipeline, including our lead compound, IMU-838, through the clinic and prepare for a number of value-creating milestones in the coming year and beyond,” stated Daniel Vitt, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and President of Immunic. “I also want to extend the company’s collective thanks to Tamara, a seasoned industry veteran who seamlessly took the helm as Interim Chief Financial Officer after the close of our transaction with Vital Therapies.”
From 2014 to 2016, Mr. Patel served as Chief Financial Officer of Pernix Therapeutics Holdings, Inc., a holding company that owned several specialty pharmaceutical subsidiaries. He assumed responsibility for mergers and acquisitions, business development, corporate finance, investor relations, finance/accounting and information technology. While at Pernix, Mr. Patel was instrumental in sourcing and executing acquisitions in excess of $600 million, and raising more than $460 million in various financing transactions.
From 2009 to 2014, Mr. Patel was Managing Director, Healthcare Investment Banking at Cantor Fitzgerald, where he focused on the specialty pharmaceutical, biotechnology and molecular diagnostics sectors. From 2008 to 2009, Mr. Patel worked with the William J. Clinton Foundation as Manager, Global Malaria Program, Drug Access Team. In this role, he negotiated a multi-billion dollar, multi-year supply chain agreement on behalf of the Geneva-based Global Fund with manufacturers of mosquito nets, artemisinin-based therapies and HIV drugs.
Prior to that, from 2007 to 2008, Mr. Patel was Vice President, Global Healthcare Investment Banking at Cowen and Company, where he worked primarily on mergers and acquisitions and financing alternatives for companies in the specialty pharmaceutical and life-science tools industries. Mr. Patel spent the prior five years as a Financial Analyst at Sectoral Asset Management. His entry into investment banking began in 1998 at UBS Warburg, where he served for three years as Associate Director, Global Healthcare Group.
Mr. Patel holds a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) designation from the CFA Institute and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from McGill University.
About Immunic, Inc.
Immunic, Inc. (Nasdaq: IMUX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of selective oral immunology therapies aimed at treating chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, including ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, and psoriasis. The company is developing three small molecule products: IMU-838 is a selective immune modulator that inhibits the intracellular metabolism of activated immune cells by blocking the enzyme DHODH; IMU-935 is an inverse agonist of ROR?t; and IMU-856 targets the restoration of the intestinal barrier function. Immunic’s lead development program, IMU-838, is in phase 2 clinical development for ulcerative colitis and relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, with an additional phase 2 trial in Crohn’s disease planned for 2019. An investigator-sponsored proof-of-concept clinical trial for IMU-838 in primary sclerosing cholangitis is planned to start at the Mayo Clinic. For further information, please visit: www.immunic-therapeutics.com.
