Genentech’s Sunil Agarwal joins rare disease firm

Dr Sunil Agarwal has left his senior role at Genentech to join rare disease specialist Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical as its chief medical officer.

Dr Agarwal was most recently global head of clinical development for immunology and infectious diseases, metabolism, neuroscience and ophthalmology at Genentech, which has been the biotech arm of Roche since its acquisition in 2009.

He spent just over 10 years at Genentech where his positions included senior VP for immunology and infectious diseases and VP for rheumatology.

In his new role at Ultragenyx Dr Agarwal will lead the California-based company's clinical operations, regulatory affairs and pharmacovigilance efforts as it advances its pipeline of orphan products for rare and ultra-rare diseases. These include KRN23, a drug in development for people who have low levels of phosphate in the blood.

Commenting on his appointment Dr Agarwal said: “To develop novel therapies for these patients who have no approved treatments and to help push the science forward in these rare genetic diseases is something I am thrilled to be a part of.”