CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Sail Biomedicines has appointed Gene Marcantonio, M.D., Ph.D., as chief medical officer as the company advances its lead in vivo CAR-T program for autoimmune diseases toward clinical development.
Sail, a Flagship Pioneering company, said Marcantonio will lead clinical strategy and development across its pipeline. His initial focus will be on the company’s vanguard in vivo eRNA-TNP CAR-T program for autoimmune diseases.
Marcantonio brings experience in translational medicine, early clinical development, immunology and therapeutic strategy. The company said he has helped guide multiple immunology-based programs from early development into the clinic, including work involving Investigational New Drug applications, Phase 1 studies and Phase 2 development.
“Dr. Marcantonio brings clinical judgement, translational experience, and development leadership needed for the early clinical development for our in vivo CAR-T programs,” said John Mendlein, Ph.D., Executive Chairman and Co-founder of Sail Biomedicines and Executive Partner at Flagship Pioneering. “We believe our vanguard in vivo CAR-T product candidate has the potential to deliver the depth of B-cell depletion and immune reset needed for curative treatment approaches in autoimmune diseases.”
Sail said Marcantonio’s appointment strengthens its clinical leadership as it prepares to move its lead program toward the clinic. The company is developing its approach around deep B-cell depletion and immune reset, which it believes could have potential across multiple autoimmune diseases.
“Autoimmune diseases continue to represent a major unmet medical need, and many people still cycle through chronic therapies without achieving durable control of their disease,” said Dr. Marcantonio. “What is compelling about Sail’s approach is the possibility of delivering a fundamentally different therapeutic effect, a potentially curative treatment built around deep B-cell depletion and immune reset that could have meaningful impact across multiple autoimmune diseases. I’m excited to help shape the development strategy for that opportunity.”
Before joining Sail, Marcantonio served as associate vice president in translational pharmacology at Merck, where he led early-stage development efforts across infectious diseases, vaccines and immunology. He contributed to the development and approval of several therapeutics, including GRASTEK, RAGWITEK, NOXAFIL, UBRELVY, PREVYMIS, ASMANEX HFA, ZEPATIER, ZINPLAVA and ENFLONSIA.
Marcantonio later served as CEO and chief medical officer of ARMGO Pharma, now Rycarma Therapeutics, where he oversaw three INDs, a Phase 1b study at the National Institutes of Health, a Phase 2 study in CPVT and three Phase 1 studies.
Earlier in his career, he was a tenured faculty member at Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons in the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology and an attending pathologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
