Former SVP and Head of Clinical Development at Portola Pharmaceuticals appointed as Chief Medical Officer

Palma, Spain and San Diego, USA – Laboratoris Sanifit S.L., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on treatments for calcification disorders, today announces the appointment of Alexander M. Gold, M.D., F.A.C.C. as Chief Medical Officer and President of its US subsidiary Sanifit Inc., based in San Diego, USA.

Dr Gold is a cardiologist with over 16 years of experience in development of new therapies. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. He has held   numerous leadership positions in multiple companies and therapeutic areas, including hematology, thrombosis, cardiometabolic, inflammation, renal and oncology.  He was a key driver for FDA and global regulatory approvals of several medicines currently being used by patients all over the world, such as CRESTOR, ONGLYZA, BRILINTA, as well as recent approval of BEVYXXA.

Commenting on the appointment, Joan Perelló, CEO of Sanifit said

“We are very happy to have Dr. Gold join our leadership team. Alex arrives here with first class operational and clinical development expertise in novel drug therapies, targeting cardiovascular and metabolic disease and kidney disease amongst others. In addition, his work in regulatory and medical affairs will be invaluable as we continue to take our novel clinical programmes through to approval.”

Dr Gold added:

“I am very pleased to be joining the Sanifit team and to be assuming responsibility for leading the development of its primary asset, SNF472. There are currently no approved drugs for patients with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) undergoing haemodialysis in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases linked to calcification. SNF472’s orphan drug status for calciphylaxis already has the potential to address the significant morbidity and mortality for these patients.”

Dr Gold was most recently Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Development at Portola Pharmaceuticals. Previously, Dr Gold was Head of Clinical Development at Reata Pharmaceuticals after 11 years at AstraZeneca, where he had multiple leadership positions, including the Executive Director and Development Leader for Brilinta®, Crestor® and Onglyza®.

Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Dr Gold completed his residency in Internal Medicine and Fellowship in Cardiology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/ Harvard Medical School in Boston and conducted translational and clinical research as a fellow in cardiovascular research at the Harvard Clinical Research Institute and was Scholar in Clinical Science. Dr Gold received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and his B.A in Biology from Brandeis University.

Sanifit is currently conducting a phase IIb study in ESRD patients and conducting the orphan-designated development program in calciphylaxis.