Lovisa Afzelius is an origination partner at Flagship Pioneering and the former SVP of Strategy & Operations at Flagship-founded Cogen Immune Medicines, now known as Repertoire Immune Medicines. A computational scientist by training, she has two decades of leadership experience and a passion for data-driven drug discovery, from early inception to clinical development across multiple therapeutic areas.

Previously, Lovisa built and led Pfizer’s systems immunology function and served as executive director of clinical programs. In this role, she launched several Phase II studies across autoimmune indications and as a member of the Inflammation & Immunology Research Unit leadership team, Lovisa co-managed the portfolio from early target discovery to Phase II clinical trials across all immunological assets. In addition, she served on Pfizer’s Worldwide R&D Data Strategy Committee.

In 2017, Lovisa co-founded Elsa.science, a digital health company in the rheumatoid arthritis space where she serves as chairman of the board. She also serves on the board of the Swedish New England Chamber of Commerce. Before moving to the US in 2013, Lovisa was CEO of BioChromix Pharma.

Lovisa began her career at AstraZeneca as Project Director, Global In Vitro Metabolism Leader and Computational Chemist across cardiovascular, metabolic, and neurodegenerative diseases.

Lovisa has received numerous accolades for her work: she was included in the top 100 ​“most influential persons under age 40 in Sweden” by Affärsvärlden, and ​“scientist of tomorrow” at the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations’ 30th anniversary. Lovisa received the Rosenön Award for best thesis of the year within the field of pharmacodynamics/​pharmacokinetics in Sweden.

Lovisa holds a Ph.D. in computational chemistry from Uppsala University, a Master of Science in integrative pharmacology from Gothenburg University as well as an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Theonie is a principal at Flagship Pioneering where she conceives, builds and grows the science, intellectual property and business strategy that form the foundation of Flagship’s next breakthrough startups. She co-founded Alltrna and serves as its chief innovation officer. 

Prior to joining Flagship, Theonie completed her graduate studies in cell and molecular biology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focused on replication fork dynamics in the context of cancer development and therapeutics. Theonie has received several awards and has been granted multiple fellowships for her academic work, including an NIH NRSA Predoctoral Fellowship. During her graduate studies, Theonie held multiple leadership positions on Executive and Curriculum Committees. She also completed a Wharton Business Foundations Specialization and was a mentor at the yearly Larta Institute NIH CAP FeedForward Sessions. 

Theonie is a Business Advisory Board member of the Harvard Institute for RNA Medicine and a member of the Bioscience & Investor Inclusion Group (BIIG) Diverse Talent Network Group. Theonie’s work has resulted in multiple pending patents and publications, including articles in Nature Biotechnology, Molecular Cell and Journal of Biological Chemistry.

91. tRNA therapies, Lovisa Afzelius, Founding CEO, Theonie Anastassiadis, Co-founder & CIO, Alltrna

Synopsis: 
Asit Parikh, M.D., Ph.D., is the President and CEO of MOMA Therapeutics, a biotech company discovering the next generation of precision medicines by targeting  highly dynamic proteins that underlie human disease. Asit discusses his experience and learnings being the CEO of a biotech for the first time and his approach to recruiting high quality talent. He also talks about the inherent risks in drug development, how he manages the emotional ups and downs, and provides his perspective on how drug development has changed and evolved over the last couple decades. 

Biography: 
Asit Parikh, M.D., Ph.D., joined MOMA in 2021 as President, Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of directors.

Asit brings to MOMA more than 20 years of academic and industry experience. Prior to MOMA, Asit served as senior vice president and head of Takeda’s gastroenterology unit from 2014 to 2020. Under his leadership, Takeda achieved global approvals for Entyvio® for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease; European adult and U.S. pediatric approvals for Gattex®/Revestive® for short bowel syndrome; Japan and China approvals for Takecab®/Vocinti® for acid-related disorders; a European approval for Alofisel® for perianal fistulizing Crohn’s disease; and a U.S. approval for Motegrity® for chronic constipation. During this time, to ensure a sustainable pipeline, Asit oversaw the creation of a drug discovery unit focused on gastroenterology and liver diseases and identified and executed over 25 business development deals. These diverse transactions included regional and global licensing (eg Arrowhead A1AT), M&A (eg Tigenix SA) and company creation (eg Ambys Medicines).

Previously, Asit served as the general internal medicine franchise head at Takeda. Earlier, he held leadership roles in inflammation and oncology clinical development at Millennium Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Takeda in 2008). During his tenure at Millennium/Takeda, Asit was regularly recognized at the enterprise level for his inspirational leadership style, and as an identifier and developer of talent.

Asit remains actively engaged in the practice of medicine as a consulting gastroenterologist at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts, and serves as a board member of Ambys Medicines, Phathom Pharmaceuticals and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Basic Sciences.

Asit earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry and M.D. from Vanderbilt University, completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Pennsylvania and subspecialty training in gastroenterology at Massachusetts General Hospital. He performed postdoctoral research in cancer biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Targeting highly dynamic proteins to develop precision medicines, Asit Parikh, Pres. & CEO, MOMA Tx

Biotech2050 Podcast is a think tank chronicling the disruptions changing the biotech industry over the next 50 years.

Targeting highly dynamic proteins to develop precision medicines, Asit Parikh, Pres. & CEO, MOMA Tx

Biotech2050 Podcast

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