This month our portfolio company Axial Biotherapeutics announced the appointment of leading experts in the Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) field to its newly formed scientific and clinical advisory board (SAB). Axial Biotherapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company harnessing the link between the human gut microbiome and the central nervous system to develop a new class of biotherapeutics to improve the quality of life for people with neurological diseases and disorders. The recently appointed board will serve as a strategic resource to Axial as it moves towards the clinic and broadens its pipeline of microbiome-based therapeutics for disorders of the central nervous system (CNS).

“We are thrilled to have attracted a roster of world-renowned leaders to one of our key focus areas, ASD, in support of the clinical development of our microbial-based therapeutics.”
– David H. Donabedian, PhD, Co-founder and CEO of Axial Biotherapeutics

“We are thrilled to have attracted a roster of world-renowned leaders to one of our key focus areas, ASD, in support of the clinical development of our microbial-based therapeutics,” said David H. Donabedian, PhD, Co-founder and CEO of Axial Biotherapeutics. “As we work to advance our programs towards the clinic, our scientific and clinical advisory board will provide seasoned, objective guidance to shape our clinical and regulatory strategy. We look forward to their invaluable scientific insight as we evaluate the potential of targeting the gut. In the near future, our goal is to further expand the board to include foremost experts representing our second lead indication, Parkinson’s disease, as well as overall thought-leaders in neuroscience and the microbiome.”

The inaugural members of Axial’s ASD scientific and clinical advisory board are listed below:

• David Amaral, PhD, Beneto Foundation Chair and Director of Research, MIND Institute at University of California, Davis (UC Davis)
• Alessio Fasano, MD, W. Allan Walker Chair in Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition; Division Chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition; Associate Chief, Department of Pediatrics, Basic, Clinical and Translational Research; Director of Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center, all at MassGeneral Hospital for Children; and Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School
• Daniel Geschwind, MD, PhD, Gordon and Virginia MacDonald Distinguished Chair in Human Genetics, Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
• Robert L. Hendren, DO, Professor of Psychiatry, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Weill Institute for Neurosciences
• Clara Lajonchere, PhD, Deputy Director, Institute for Precision Health at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
• Sarkis Mazmanian, PhD, Luis & Nelly Soux Professor of Microbiology, Investigator, Heritage Medical Research Institute, Division of Biology & Biological Engineering at California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
• Emeran Mayer, MD, PhD, Director, G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience, Division of Digestive Diseases, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

“Current therapeutic options in Autism Spectrum Disorders are very limited and do not address the core symptoms of the disease. As many ASD children have gastrointestinal symptoms, there is a strong rationale for investigating the relationship between the gut microbiome and ASD,” said David Amaral, PhD, Beneto Foundation Chair and Director of Research, MIND Institute, UC Davis. “Developing a new treatment approach targeting the microbiome is very promising and I am honored to be part of Axial’s SAB, working together with the members to contribute to the company’s success.”

“There has been a significant increase in research in the gut-brain-axis and knowledge has accumulated suggesting that neurological diseases and disorders can be influenced through the gut,” commented Emeran Mayer, MD, PhD, Director of the G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience, Division of Digestive Diseases, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “Axial and its co-founder, Sarkis Mazmanian, PhD, are at the forefront of this research and contributing to their endeavor of bringing this approach into the clinic is very exciting.”

Congratulations to Axial Biotherapeutics for attracting such high-caliber experts to its Scientific Advisory Board.