WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Palleon Pharmaceuticals, a company pioneering the field of glycan-mediated immune regulation to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases, today announced the appointment of Deepa Pakianathan, Ph.D., as an independent member of its Board of Directors.

“Deepa is a highly respected leader in the biotech industry with a long history of building successful biotech companies, and we’re proud to welcome her to the Palleon Board,” said Jim Broderick, M.D., Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Palleon. “Deepa’s expertise, guidance, and insights will be incredibly valuable as we continue to advance our platform of novel therapeutics to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases.”

Dr. Pakianathan is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and former investment banker, sell-side analyst, and immunologist. As a Managing Member at Delphi Ventures, a venture capital firm focusing on healthcare investments, she has funded biotech companies that have resulted in 11 drugs that are on the market today helping patients, including three that have generated over $1 billion in revenue each. Prior to joining Delphi, Dr. Pakianathan was a Vice President in the healthcare group at J.P. Morgan where she was involved in several large healthcare merger and acquisition transactions and led public offerings for biotechnology companies that raised over $9 billion. Dr. Pakianathan received her Ph.D. in immunology and immunoparasitology and M.S. in immunology from Wake Forest University and her M.Sc. in biophysics and B.Sc. in microbiology and immunology from the University of Mumbai.

“Palleon’s innovative approach to glyco-immunology has the potential to transform the lives of patients with cancer and inflammatory diseases,” Dr. Pakianathan said. “I look forward to working closely with my colleagues on the Board and with the Palleon team as we continue to build a robust pipeline of first-in-class drug candidates based on this exciting new approach.”

About Palleon Pharmaceuticals

Palleon Pharmaceuticals is the leading biotechnology company developing drugs that target glycan-mediated immune regulation to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases. The company’s proprietary platforms integrate technologies and insights from global scientific leaders in the glyco-immunology field to overcome historical scientific hurdles and create novel therapeutics for devastating diseases characterized by immune system dysfunction. Palleon’s lead program in oncology, an enzymatic sialoglycan degrader, is expected to enter clinical testing in 2021. The company has several other drug discovery programs underway in disease areas where glycan-mediated immune regulation plays a role, including inflammatory diseases such as autoimmunity and fibrosis. The company is advancing its pipeline and development programs with a $100 million Series B financing led by Matrix Capital Management, with participation from SR One, Pfizer Ventures, Vertex Ventures HC, Takeda Ventures, AbbVie Ventures, and Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company). Learn more at www.palleonpharma.com.