Alkahest Appoints Sam Jackson, M.D., MBA as Chief Medical Officer

SAN CARLOS, Calif., Jan. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Alkahest Inc. ("Alkahest"), a biotechnology company focused on developing innovative treatments for neurodegenerative diseases and other age-related conditions, announced today that Sam Jackson, MD, MBA, has joined the company as Chief Medical Officer. In this role, Dr. Jackson will lead the translational and clinical development activities at Alkahest and serve on the Executive Leadership Team. 

Dr. Jackson most recently served as Executive Director at Dynavax, where he led the Drug Safety Group and designed and conducted clinical trials supporting the development of prophylactic vaccines and of therapeutic agents in asthma.  Sam brings more than a decade of experience in drug development across multiple therapeutic areas including neurology.

"Sam is an outstanding physician and drug developer with an excellent track record of industry leadership," said Dr. Karoly Nikolich, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Alkahest. "Sam brings extensive clinical development expertise to Alkahest and shares our dedication to discover and develop effective therapies for neurodegenerative diseases."

"I am thrilled to join Alkahest's leadership team, to contribute to the company's focus on translational medicine and to advance its clinical pipeline. I share the team's conviction that we are entering into an unprecedented period of productivity in the development of therapies aimed at age-related diseases," said Dr. Jackson.

Sam has extensive experience in drug development.  Prior to his time at Dynavax, Sam led drug-development teams at Genentech in diverse therapeutic areas including immunology, hepatology and ophthalmology.  He started his career in industry at Amgen where he was responsible for the safety for a broad array of molecules in various stages of development.  Sam has an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and is a graduate of the combined MD/MBA program at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania & The Wharton School of Business.  He completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at UC Davis in Sacramento, California and his fellowship in Medical Toxicology at the Banner Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona.

About Alkahest
Alkahest is developing therapies derived from blood and plasma to treat age-related diseases, with an emphasis on cognitive dysfunction and dementia -- key medical challenges of our generation.  The company's breakthrough research has demonstrated that factors in blood plasma of young animals are able to reverse brain deficits in normal aging and Alzheimer's disease models in animals.  Clinical studies are being conducted in patients with different types of dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases.  Alkahest is a private company based in San Carlos, CA, with investors including Barcelona, Spain-based Grifols, a global healthcare company and leading producer of plasma therapies, as well as a collaboration and commercialization partner.  For further information, see www.alkahest.com.

Contact Information:
Joe McCracken
Vice President Business Development
Alkahest, Inc.
650-801-0471
[email protected]

SOURCE Alkahest, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.alkahest.com