WOBURN, MA, April 16, 2025
Orogen Therapeutics, Inc., a private drug discovery company utilizing its proprietary, AI-enabled DNA encoded library (DEL) technology to identify novel chemical matter against medically- and commercially-attractive drug targets, today announced Mark Pykett, PhD, VMD, MBA, as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors, and Dominque Potin, PhD, as Senior Principal Scientist in medicinal chemistry.
"The board is convinced that Mark is a great choice as CEO of Orogen" said Marijn Dekkers, PhD, Director at Orogen and Chairman of VC firm Novalis LifeSciences, as well as former CEO of Bayer AG and Thermo Fisher Scientific. "With his proven leadership and extensive experience starting and growing drug discovery companies, Mark brings a tremendous skill set to Orogen at this exciting time for the company."
"I am thrilled to join Orogen and lead the company through its next stages of growth," said Mark Pykett. "Our proprietary DEL and AI-machine learning technologies enable the identification of novel small molecules against a broad range of target classes in our efforts to develop new oral medicines for patients in commercially-attractive areas."
Dominique Potin, an accomplished medicinal chemist with a proven track record at leading biopharma organizations, has extensive expertise in modifying hit- and lead-series chemical structures to successfully transition compounds from the discovery stage to clinical trials. Dr. Potin commented, "I am excited by the unique compounds Orogen has identified and the opportunity to use my experience and skills to optimize them for safety and efficacy in clinical testing."
Orogen applies its DEL-enabled platform into discrete target, therapeutic area and clinical indication verticals, the first of which is developing small molecule alternatives to biological products in the immuno-inflammation (INI) space. Early screening successes yielded hit series against multiple cytokine targets, with several candidates in lead optimization moving toward anticipated near-term lead selection. Medically and commercially successful biologics developed for cytokine targets have validated the value of this space in multiple therapeutic areas including dermatology, rheumatology and gastroenterology for indications like psoriasis, eczema, psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease and IBD. Oral small molecule medicines with good safety and efficacy profiles represent attractive alternatives to biologics for many reasons.
Mark Pykett is Chief Executive Officer of Orogen Therapeutics, bringing nearly 30 years of experience to his role. He was previously President and Chief Executive Officer of Myrtelle Inc, Chief Scientific Officer of PTC Therapeutics, and CEO of Agilis until its acquisition by PTC. Before Agilis, Dr. Pykett served as CEO of Navidea Biopharmaceuticals, President of Alseres Pharmaceuticals, President of Cygenics, and CEO of Cytomatrix until its acquisition by Cordlife. Over the course of his career, Dr. Pykett has worked across a range of therapeutic areas and modalities, including small molecules, biologics, gene therapies and diagnostics, and has participated in the approval of three healthcare products: Lymphoseek® lymphatic mapping agent in breast cancer, head and neck cancer and melanoma; Kebilidi®/Upstaza® gene therapy for AADC deficiency; and Evrysdi® splicing modifier for spinal muscular atrophy.
Dr. Pykett holds a PhD and VMD from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from Northeastern University and a BA from Amherst College. Dr. Pykett has served on the Boards of several private and public companies and is currently a Director of Pharming Group, InFlectis BioScience and MyoPax.
Dominique Potin is a Senior Principal Scientist at Orogen Therapeutics and with a focus on the design of innovative drug-like compounds using his extensive experience in medicinal chemistry. Dr. Potin previously worked in the US at Photys Therapeutics and at the Broad Institute. Before that, he held medicinal chemistry positions at Inventiva Pharma, Abbott, Solvay Pharma, Cerep and BMS. Over his career, he has been involved in a wide range of therapeutic areas including oncology, pain, inflammation, cardiovascular diseases, cardiometabolic disorders and immuno-inflammation, through different types of targets including CNS targets, GPCRs, kinases, PPI interactions and nuclear receptors. He is co-inventor of 15 patents and is an originator of three clinical candidates.
Dr. Potin holds a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Paris VI and a master's degree in organic/bioorganic chemistry from ESPCI Paris Tech. He has served on the board of the Organic Division of the French Chemical Society.
Orogen Therapeutics' mission is to deliver groundbreaking clinical solutions to patients with serious unmet medical needs. The company is revolutionizing small-molecule drug discovery through its proprietary platform integrating DNA-encoded libraries with massive chemical diversity of billions of compounds, virtual screening and AI-driven computation. This unique foundation enables the efficient derivation of novel drug candidates against a broad range of target classes.
Orogen's team includes scientists with decades of drug development experience and deep expertise in all aspects of small molecule R&D, including DNA-encoded libraries, target selection and evaluation cutting-edge AI and data science.
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