About
Sudo Biosciences is a biopharmaceutical company committed to designing and developing novel medicines to transform patients’ lives. Our lead programs target the tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) pseudokinase domain. TYK2 is a key mediator in cytokine signaling pathways that have been linked to a broad range of immune-mediated inflammatory conditions. The company’s pipeline of next generation TYK2 inhibitors includes a potential first- and best-in-class brain-penetrant candidate for the treatment of multiple sclerosis and neurodegenerative diseases with underlying neuroinflammation and a potential first- and best-in-class topical candidate for immune-mediated dermatologic diseases.
Leadership
Management
World-class scientists and leaders in small molecule drug discovery and development.
Scott Byrd
Chief Executive Officer
Scott Byrd is Chief Executive Officer at Sudo Biosciences. He also serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Frazier Life Sciences.
Previously, he was Chief Executive Officer at Outpost Medicine from 2017 to 2021 and Chairman of the Board of Acacia Pharma Group plc from 2020 to 2022. From 2009 until its acquisition by Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals for $1.4 billion in 2014, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Cadence Pharmaceuticals. At Cadence, Scott built the company’s commercial and supply-chain infrastructure and led the launch of OFIRMEV, a market-leading non-opioid injectable analgesic. Earlier in his career, Scott served in a variety of roles of increasing responsibility at Eli Lilly and Company, including sales, marketing, development, manufacturing, and strategic planning.
Scott holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Bradley University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Ian W. Mills, BM, BCh, DM
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Ian Mills is Chief Medical Officer at Sudo Biosciences. He also serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Frazier Life Sciences.
He was previously Chief Medical Officer at Outpost Medicine from 2017 to 2020. Prior to Outpost, Ian was at Mitsubishi Tanabe, where he was Head of Clinical Development. Prior to Mitsubishi, he was with Pfizer for more than 15 years in a variety of clinical and development leadership roles, most recently as Vice President and Global Clinical Head for the Innovative Pharma Business. Ian has provided leadership to projects across multiple therapeutic areas, including Genitourinary & Women’s Health, Gastroenterology, Inflammation & Immunology and Neurosciences, spanning Phases 1-4, including submission of five products for approval in major markets, and two FDA approvals.
Ian received his MA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and his medical degree (B.M., B.Ch.) from Oxford University. He was awarded a medical doctorate (D.M.) from Oxford for his research on the pathophysiology of overactive and neurogenic bladder. He is an accredited pharmaceutical physician and a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine (FFPM) in the UK.
Gordon McMurray, PhD
Chief Development Officer
Dr. Gordon McMurray is Chief Development Officer at Sudo Biosciences. He also serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Frazier Life Sciences.
He was previously co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Outpost Medicine from 2016 to 2020. Prior to Outpost, Gordon held several senior roles across multiple therapeutic areas at Pfizer, leading multiple disciplines, teams and projects across Neuroscience, Pain, Sensory Disorders, Genitourinary and Urology indications. Prior to Pfizer, Gordon was a Lecturer in Pharmacology and a Laboratory Head in the Department of Pharmacology at Oxford University, where he was also a member of the Oxford Continence Group.
Gordon holds a B.Sc. and Ph.D. from Queen’s University Belfast.
Imran Babar, PhD
Chief Business & Financial Officer
Dr. Babar is Chief Business & Financial Officer at Sudo Biosciences and serves on the Board of Directors for Rare Genomics Institute.
Previously, Imran was the Chief Business Officer of Cydan II, an NEA and Pfizer Ventures-backed orphan drug accelerator. He is also co-founder of several companies including Arvada Therapeutics. Prior to Cydan, Imran was on the venture capital team at OrbiMed Advisors where he was involved with numerous companies including True North Therapeutics (acquired), Audentes Therapeutics (acquired), 89bio (public), Arvinas Therapeutics (public), and Dimension Therapeutics (acquired), among others.
Prior to that, Imran worked as an associate at Cowen & Company on the biotechnology equity research team. Imran is also co-founder and a board director for Rare Genomics Institute, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to helping patients with rare diseases.
Imran completed his PhD in Molecular Biology at Yale and his BA in Biology at Carleton College.
Anjali Pandey, PhD
SVP, Medicinal Chemistry
Dr. Anjali Pandey has led medicinal chemistry at Sudo Biosciences since its founding in 2020. She is an executive biopharmaceutical R&D leader with 25+ years of experience and expertise in all stages of discovery and development from initial lead identification through approval.
Previously, Anjali was head of medicinal chemistry at Lengo Therapeutics (acquired by Blueprint Medicines Dec 2021) from April 2020 – March 2022. At Lengo Therapeutics, she led the discovery of first-in-human Phase 1/2 clinical candidate LNG-451 (BLU-451). Prior to her role at Lengo, Anjali was CSO/EVP for BridgeBio Pharma oncology companies TheRas Inc., Ferro Therapeutics and Navire Pharma. Prior to that, she spent 14 years at Portola Pharmaceuticals as SVP of Medicinal Chemistry & Chemical Development, where she managed discovery and chemistry, manufacturing and control (CMC) function for Bevyxxa™, Cerdulatinib and all the other small molecule programs. She has been a significant contributor towards the discovery, development and IND-ready and/or 1st in human study for 15 compounds. Dr. Pandey has published 45+ scientific publications and is an inventor on over 70 issued U.S. patents.
Anjali received her M.S. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and a Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at SRI International.
David Hennings, PhD
Vice President CMC
Dr. David Hennings is the Vice President of CMC for Sudo Biosciences. Prior to Sudo, he was Vice President of CMC for Cortexyme, a pharmaceutical company developing novel treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, where he was responsible for the development and delivery of drug substance and drug product to support the company’s lead candidate in clinical trials. Dr. Hennings served in positions of increasing responsibility over a 14-year tenure at Array Biopharma (acquired by Pfizer), where he established interdisciplinary CMC teams to manage the development of multiple programs in oncology as well as other therapeutic areas such as antibacterial products and pain/inflammation in oncology.
At Array, he was senior team leader for projects including Varlitinib (ARRY-543) and a p38 inhibitor (ARRY-797), and also led the spin-out of the Array CMC group to form Avista Pharma Solutions. Dr. Hennings was also Senior Director of Business Development and Head of US Sales at STA Pharmaceutical, a WuXi AppTec company. He started his career at Bristol-Myers Squibb after completing his post-doc training at Colorado State University. He obtained a B.S. in Chemistry from Northeast Missouri State and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Chicago.
Board of Directors
Scott Byrd
Director
Scott Byrd is Chief Executive Officer at Sudo Biosciences. He also serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Frazier Life Sciences.
Previously, he was Chief Executive Officer at Outpost Medicine from 2017 to 2021 and Chairman of the Board of Acacia Pharma Group plc from 2020 to 2022. From 2009 until its acquisition by Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals for $1.4 billion in 2014, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Cadence Pharmaceuticals. At Cadence, Scott built the company’s commercial and supply-chain infrastructure and led the launch of OFIRMEV, a market-leading non-opioid injectable analgesic. Earlier in his career, Scott served in a variety of roles of increasing responsibility at Eli Lilly and Company, including sales, marketing, development, manufacturing, and strategic planning.
Scott holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Bradley University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Dan Estes, PhD
Director
Dr. Dan Estes is a General Partner on the Frazier Life Sciences team and focuses on company formation and investments in private biopharmaceutical companies. He has been a co-founder of seven companies, including Arcutis (NASDAQ: ARQT), Lengo Therapeutics and Sudo Biosciences, and currently serves on the board of directors of Inipharm, Hummingbird Bioscience, Radionetics Oncology, Hillstar Bio, and Iolyx Therapeutics. He previously served on the boards of Semnur Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Scilex), Arcutis (NASDAQ: ARQT), and Sierra Oncology (acquired by GSK), and led Frazier’s investment in Tarsus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: TARS). He has also been involved with Frazier’s investments in Acerta Pharma BV (acquired by AstraZeneca), Tobira Therapeutics (acquired by Allergan), Ignyta (acquired by Roche), Iovance (NASDAQ: IOVA), Vaxcyte (NADAQ: PCVX), and PreCision Dermatology (acquired by Valeant).
Prior to joining Frazier, Dr. Estes was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company’s global pharmaceutical practice. He received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan and holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
Edd Fleming, MD
Director
Dr. Edd Fleming is the Executive Vice President of Enavate Sciences where he invests in and supports therapeutic companies. In 2022, Edd retired as Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company where he worked extensively with both large and small biopharmaceutical companies on their strategic and operational priorities. He was the global leader of McKinsey’s R&D practice where he was responsible for its client service and knowledge development on R&D topics. Edd earned his B.A. in Chemistry from Harvard University, his M.D. from Vanderbilt University, and completed internal medicine training at Johns Hopkins Hospital and subspecialty training in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Edd serves on the Boards of CRISPR Therapeutics, Komodo Health, Upstream Bio, OrsoBio and the Board of Visitors for Vanderbilt’s School of Basic Sciences.
Shin Fuse, PhD
Director
Dr. Shinichiro (Shin) Fuse is Partner and Managing Director at TPG Life Sciences Innovation. He co-leads life sciences venture investments at TPG and serves on the Board of Directors at Santa Ana Bio. Previously, he was Managing Director at MPM Capital, where he served on the investment committee of the Oncology Impact Fund (OIF) and BioVentures Funds. Shin served on the Board of Directors of Orna Therapeutics, iOmx Therapeutics, Triplet Therapeutics and ReNAgade Therapeutics, and as a board observer for ElevateBio and Repare Therapeutics. Shin also played operational roles at MPM portfolio companies as the interim CEO of Orna Therapeutics and interim/founding SVP of Business Development at ElevateBio.
Prior to joining MPM, he was Director of Business Development at bluebird bio, where he was instrumental in executing and managing key industry and academic partnerships in the fields of cell and gene therapy, and genome editing. Previously, he was at Campbell Alliance (Syneos Health) as a life science strategy consultant. He currently serves on the Board of Advisors of the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies at Dartmouth College.
Shin received his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from Dartmouth College, an M.S. in Biomedical Science from the University of Tokyo, and a B.Eng. in Applied Chemistry from Keio University in Japan.
Chris Gagliardi, PhD
Director
Chris is a Principal at Sanofi Ventures, joining in 2017 with a background in life science and healthcare consulting. He previously spent three years as a management consultant at L.E.K. consulting, where his work focused on corporate strategy, due diligence, commercial launch planning and asset valuation across the pharmaceutical, biotech, R&D and API manufacturing sectors.
In addition to his role as a director on the Sudo Biosciences board, Chris represents Sanofi on the Boards of i2O Therapeutics and Minervax, and is an observer for Avilar Therapeutics, Matchpoint Therapeutics and Nextpoint Therapeutics. Chris also serves on the Board of Trustees at Roger Williams University.
Prior to a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University, Chris earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as well as a B.S. in both Biology and Chemistry from Roger Williams University.
Dave Johnson
Director
Dave Johnson has more than 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. He is currently CEO and founder of Solve Therapeutics, a monoclonal antibody-based oncology therapeutics company. Prior to Solve, Dave was chairman of the precision oncology company Lengo Therapeutics, which was acquired by Blueprint Medicines (NASDAQ: BPMC) in a deal valued at up to $465M in December 2021. Prior to Lengo, Dave was CEO of VelosBio, a precision oncology biotechnology company, which was acquired by Merck in December 2020 for $2.75B. Dave was also CEO at Acerta Pharma, a pharmaceutical company focused on covalent small-molecule technology in oncology, where he built out all facets of the corporation, to accelerate the development of Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor, acalabrutinib (Calquence™). Dave’s tenure at Acerta culminated in the execution of a strategic transaction with AstraZeneca valued at $7B.
Dave’s current board roles include chairman of the board at Zentalis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ZNTL), chairman of the board Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ: AURA), and board director for the privately-held Palleon Pharmaceuticals, Incisive Genetics, and Monod Therapeutics. Prior to his CEO and board director roles, Dave held various biopharma roles of increasing responsibility with Calistoga Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Gilead Sciences), Gloucester Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Celgene), Millennium (acquired by Takeda), Immunex (acquired by Amgen), and Hoffman La-Roche, making contributions to many drugs garnering regulatory approval. He has raised over $750M in biopharma capital and created greater than $10B in terminal value. Dave is a coauthor on numerous publications including four New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) manuscripts. He has a bachelors degree from Indiana University.
Investors
PIPELINE
Developing a broad pipeline of best-in-class precision TYK2 inhibitors.
Targeting TYK2
Tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) is an enzyme that regulates immune and inflammatory signaling pathways by mediating the effects of cytokines such as IL-23, IL-12, and Type I interferons (IFNs). These cytokines are central to both innate and adaptive immune systems, including the functioning of Th17 and Th1 cells and the activity and polarization of cells with a myeloid lineage, e.g. macrophages and microglia. Inhibiting TYK2 has been shown to be beneficial in the treatment of psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and lupus (SLE). Compelling genetic evidence suggests that TYK2 inhibition could provide benefit in an even broader range of autoimmune conditions such as multiple sclerosis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, ankylosing spondylitis, and others. Emerging data has also established a role for TYK2 in mediating the underlying inflammatory processes involved in neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Traditional approaches to inhibiting TYK2 and other Janus Kinase (JAK) family enzymes through binding in the catalytic kinase domain (JH1 domain) result in poorly selective binding and inhibition due to the nearly identical kinase domain structures shared among JAKs. This lack of selectivity in the inhibition of JAKs may result in safety issues that significantly limit the risk-benefit profile and therefore breadth of application for autoimmune and neurologic diseases.
TYK2 DOMAIN STRUCTURE
By allosterically regulating TYK2 kinase function through binding to the TYK2 pseudokinase domain (JH2 domain), significant improvement in selectivity versus other JAKs can be achieved. Increased selectivity provides the advantage of avoiding safety liabilities of agents known to inhibit JAK1 and/or JAK2, both peripherally and in the brain. Sudo Biosciences is developing multiple highly potent and selective small molecule TYK2 pseudokinase inhibitors designed to provide fit-for-purpose treatments across a broad range of autoimmune and neurologic conditions.
Careers
At Sudo Biosciences, we are passionate about developing best-in-class treatments to improve the lives of patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.
We have created a collaborative and inclusive environment that thrives on intellectual curiosity and work in a fast-paced environment. We are dedicated to the recruitment, training and career development of each team member at Sudo.
If you would like to be considered for a position at Sudo Biosciences, please submit your resume and cover letter to careers@sudobio.com.