Vedanta Biosciences has appointed Dr Bruce Roberts as chief scientific officer at its new Cambridge, Massachusetts, site.
Dr Roberts will take responsibility for the company’s research and development division, bringing over 30 years of experience in biotechnology and pharmaceutical drug discovery and development to the firm.
He first joined Sanofi Genzyme as general manager of its Cambridge, UK-based therapeutic antibody centre in 2004 before being promoted to group vice president and head of neuro-immunology and immune-mediated disease research in 2006.
In this role, Dr Roberts directed multiple clinical trials for the treatment of autoimmunity, cancer and multiple sclerosis as well as managing research efforts into a number of now-approved products.
Vedanta’s chief executive officer Dr Bernat Olle said: “Bruce brings decades of drug development experience across a broad range of novel biologic drug modalities and a proven track record of driving the discovery and development of multiple approved drugs in immunology.
“His experience and leadership in pioneering new drug modalities will be invaluable as we advance our pipeline of microbiome-modulating therapies.”
Dr Roberts said: “Microbiome modulation is among the most exciting and rapidly evolving fields in science and it has tremendous potential to change the way medicine is practiced.
“I am excited to join one of the leading teams in this field and I look forward to driving Vedanta’s technology platform and pipeline forward.”