Protagonist has announced the appointment of Samuel Saks, M.D., as Chief Development Officer. In this newly-created role, Dr. Saks will provide strategic oversight of the company's research and clinical development programs.
"We are very pleased to have Dr. Saks contribute his extensive industry experience to the company," said Dinesh Patel, Chief Executive Officer of Protagonist Therapeutics. "His involvement will add to the depth of our research organization and assist in more effective clinical development of potentially transformative peptide-based drugs that have been discovered through our proprietary technology platform."
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Dr. Saks served as Chief Development Officer and board member at Auspex Pharmaceuticals, until the time of its acquisition by Teva Pharmaceuticals. Before his tenure at Auspex Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Saks was a co-founder of Jazz Pharmaceuticals, where he also served as Chief Executive Officer for six years. Earlier in his career, Dr. Saks held positions as company group chairman of ALZA Corporation and member of the Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Operating Committee. Dr. Saks has also held leadership and management positions at Schering-Plough, Xoma and Genentech. Dr. Saks currently serves on the boards of directors of PDL BioPharma, TONIX Pharmaceuticals, Velocity Pharmaceutical Development and NuMedii. Dr. Saks received a B.S. in Biology and his M.D. from the University of Illinois.