As its lead candidate advances into a late-stage trial for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), Inhibikase Therapeutics has picked up a commercial leader with plenty of experience in the PAH space.
Timothy Pigot has been named chief commercial and strategy officer of the biotech, Inhibikase announced Tuesday. In a statement, CEO Mark Iwicki highlighted Pigot’s extensive leadership experience in the pharma industry and, most significantly for Inhibikase’s current work, described him as “a deeply respected expert in the PAH market landscape.”
PAH is a rare and potentially fatal condition in which blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs is abnormally high, which can lead to enlargement and failure of the right lower heart chamber.
Inhibikase is planning to bring its IKT-001 into a phase 2b trial in PAH in the second half of this year. IKT-001—now the only candidate listed on the company’s online pipeline page since work on a Parkinson’s disease asset was paused earlier this year—is a reengineered prodrug of imatinib mesylate, which Novartis introduced in the early 2000s as leukemia treatment Gleevec.
Gleevec has, in clinical studies, shown promise in PAH, but “was plagued with side effects” that prevented its approval in the indication, per Inhibikase, prompting the biotech’s re-engineering of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor to “improve the side effect profile.”
Pigot most recently served as chief commercial officer at Aerovate Therapeutics, which was developing a dry powder inhaled version of Gleevec for PAH. The candidate failed a phase 2b study last summer, triggering a stock crash and, shortly after, a reverse merger deal with Paragon Therapeutics spinout Jade Biosciences.
Pigot had a short stint as vice president of marketing at heart disease biotech MyoKardia, both before and after its acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb, and, before that, spent more than a decade each at Gilead Sciences and Pfizer. He held various marketing leadership roles at both Big Pharmas, including heading up the U.S. marketing efforts for Pfizer’s own PAH med Revatio.
“As we advance IKT-001 toward a late-stage clinical trial in PAH, Tim’s insights into the PAH therapeutic landscape and connections with key thought leaders will be invaluable,” Inhibikase’s Iwicki said in this week’s announcement.