NEW YORK and SINGAPORE, Feb 22 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Paratus Sciences Corporation, a biotechnology company accelerating the discovery of novel therapeutics by leveraging the extraordinary adaptive biology of bats, today announced it has appointed Theresa Heah, M.D., M.B.A. as Chief Executive Officer and a member of its Board of Directors.
“We are thrilled to have Dr. Heah assume the helm at Paratus,” said Amir Nashat, Executive Partner of Polaris Partners, chair of Paratus’s Board of Directors and the company’s founding CEO. “Theresa brings a tremendous wealth of experience as a seasoned pharma and biotech executive, having spearheaded the development and commercialization of multiple innovative therapies. She is well poised to guide Paratus as it continues to build its proprietary platform, advance its novel discovery portfolio, and grow its team and capabilities.”
Dr. Heah brings over two decades of drug development and commercial experience in therapeutics and platform technologies to Paratus. She most recently served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Intergalactic Therapeutics, a non-viral gene therapy platform company. Prior to Intergalactic, she was Chief Medical Officer at several companies: Kriya Therapeutics, where she also served as President and built its AAV gene therapy portfolio strategy, launched its ophthalmology division and led the company's Series C financing; AsclepiX Therapeutics, where she also served as Executive Vice President of Operations and led the company's Series A financing and advancement of its pipeline products into the clinic; and Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation (AGTC), where she worked to develop gene therapies. Earlier in her career, Dr. Heah held leadership positions in a number of private and public companies, including Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Allergan, Bayer Healthcare, Fovea Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi.
Dr. Heah trained as a physician at the University of London, U.K., specializing in ophthalmology, and later earned her Executive M.B.A. from the European School of Management & Technology (ESMT) in Berlin.
“Paratus’s unique scientific premise, coupled with our proprietary bioinformatics and genomics-rich platform, has the potential to accelerate our ability to identify novel targets and discover innovative medicines,” said Dr. Heah. “Bats have adapted over millions of years to resist stressors that, in humans, commonly lead to disease. Their remarkable ability to manage inflammation and process all-sugar diets are just two examples of key differences from humans that could inform paradigmatic shifts in the way we treat disease. Under Amir’s leadership, Paratus has made important progress advancing this premise into a state-of-the-art R&D engine. I look forward to working with our team to progress our drug discovery efforts, with an initial focus on immunology and inflammation, and metabolism.”
About Paratus Sciences CorporationHeadquartered in New York, NY with a subsidiary in Singapore (Paratus Sciences Singapore), Paratus Sciences is accelerating the discovery of novel therapeutics by leveraging the extraordinary adaptive biology of bats. Our company’s proprietary platform, which fully integrates cell biology, genomics, and informatics, empowers us with massive data inputs through which we are able to compare the evolved patterns of disease resistance and health management in bats with patterns of disease development and progression in humans. Through this comparative exploration and analysis, we aim to rapidly and systematically identify novel targets and develop innovative therapeutics across a spectrum of therapeutic areas. Paratus is also committed to supporting the bat research community through its division, the Bat Biology Foundation.
Paratus is backed by a top-tier investor syndicate, including Polaris Partners, ARCH Venture Partners, ClavystBio, EcoR1 Capital, Leaps by Bayer, and Alexandria Venture Investments.
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Media Contact:Liz Melone
liz@melonecomm.com Investor Contact:Stern Investor Relations, Inc.
Alex Lobo
alex.lobo@sternir.com 
