New York, NY– January 11, 2010 The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance), a not-for-profit product development partnership accelerating the discovery and development of new drugs to fight tuberculosis (TB), has appointed Dr. Carl Mendel, Senior Vice President of Research and Development. Dr. Mendel comes to the TB Alliance from Montvale, New Jersey-based Synvista Therapeutics, where he most recently served as Chief Medical Officer. In his new position at the TB Alliance, Dr. Mendel will guide all research and development activities as the organization advances the largest portfolio of potential new tuberculosis drugs in history, which includes three clinical-stage compounds.
"The TB Alliance is marching closer to delivering on its promise of bringing new, improved TB treatments to market,” said Dr. Mel Spigelman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the TB Alliance. “The addition of Dr. Carl Mendel to the TB Alliance’s leadership team is key to ensuring the further expansion of our research and development efforts that will help save millions of lives.”
Dr. Mendel brings to the TB Alliance more than 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with significant research and development expertise in a variety of therapeutic areas, especially in early- and late-stage clinical development. In addition to his most recent position at Synvista Therapeutics, Dr. Mendel has served in roles of increasing responsibility at Merck and Co., Knoll Pharmaceuticals (a division of BASF Pharma), Aventis Pharmaceuticals, and Sanofi-Aventis. During his career, he has contributed to the successful approvals of numerous pharmaceutical products that have been launched around the world.
"I am thrilled to join the TB Alliance, a successful organization which is leading development of new therapeutics to beat this dreaded disease,” Dr. Mendel said. "I hope to add to the organization’s momentum by helping the TB Alliance achieve its mission and scale its development efforts to bring new, improved TB drug regimens to patients.”
Dr. Mendel holds a B.A. degree from Columbia University and an M.D. degree from the University of California, San Diego. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and in Endocrinology and Metabolism. Before joining the pharmaceutical industry, he was Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Mendel has authored or co-authored more than 50 articles in leading scientific journals.
Tuberculosis was responsible for nearly 1.8 million deaths, globally, in 2007. The current treatment regimen is over 40 years old, and its length and complexity place undue burden on both patients and healthcare systems and workers. Incomplete and inconsistent treatment leads to the development of deadlier, more difficult to treat drug-resistant forms of the disease, known as MDR- and XDR-TB.
Contact:
Joanna Breitstein
TB Alliance
joanna.breitsein@tballiance.org
+646-616-8613