Cullgen Appoints Dr. Mark Deeg to Lead Clinical Development

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cullgen Inc., a leading biotechnology company developing small molecule therapeutics based on its proprietary uSMITE™ platform of targeted protein degradation technology, today announced that Mark Deeg, M.D., Ph.D., has joined the company as Executive Vice President of Clinical Development. Dr. Deeg is a well-respected leader with extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including a strong track record of leading clinical development of several pharmaceutical product candidates across numerous therapeutic areas.

“We are pleased to welcome Mark to Cullgen and look forward to his valuable insight related to the clinical development of our molecules” said Ying Luo, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer at Cullgen. “Mark is joining Cullgen at a very exciting time as he will be leading our efforts to transition our pre-clinical molecules into the clinic. We plan to file multiple INDs over the next two years and Mark will play a key role in developing new remedies for debilitating diseases that lack effective treatments.”

Dr. Deeg has over 25 years of experience in translational medicine and drug development. After obtaining his MD, PhD at the University of Minnesota, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and post-doctoral training at Case Western Reserve University followed by an Endocrinology Fellowship at the University of Washington. A Fellow of the National Lipid Association, he spent over 10 years at Indiana University before joining Eli Lilly as a clinical research physician. At Eli Lilly, he conducted early phase clinical trials and oversaw the biomarker strategy for Lilly’s endocrine portfolio. He later served as the Chief Medical Officer for The Chorus Group; Lilly’s semiautonomous group for innovative research specializing in rapid clinical development programs leading to proof-of-concept. In 2017, he joined Regulus Therapeutics as the Chief Medical Officer where he oversaw all aspects of clinical development. In 2019, he joined Pear Therapeutics as the Vice President of Research and Development overseeing the clinical development of their digital products. His experience includes a wide variety of therapeutic areas including renal disease, diabetes and metabolism, oncology, pain, dermatology, men’s health, psychiatric diseases, addiction, and orphan diseases utilizing a wide range of approaches including small and large molecules, oligonucleotides, and digital therapeutics.

“I am excited to join Cullgen at an important time in the Company’s development, as it prepares to initiate its first clinical trial and advance their portfolio of targeted protein degraders into human clinical trials,” added Dr. Deeg, “The company has a promising future and I am very pleased to help contribute to its continued success.”

About Cullgen Inc.:

Cullgen is a privately held biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of first-in-class new chemical entities (NCEs) for the treatment of diseases lacking effective therapeutic approaches. Cullgen is developing our proprietary technology platform, ubiquitin-mediated, small molecule-induced target elimination technology, (uSMITE™), based on recent advances in the science of protein degradation. Typically, drugs are designed to interact with the functional sites of proteins and block their activities. Cullgen is developing uSMITE™ to expand the drug design paradigm beyond functional site inhibition, to make it possible to eliminate previously “undruggable” enzymes and proteins by targeted destruction. Cullgen also intends to use the uSMITE™ technology to harness the ubiquitin proteasome system, a multi-step biochemical process that controls protein degradation in all cells. As a result of years of research on the proteasome system and key discoveries about its assembly, Cullgen’s founders have previously demonstrated that the underlying technology can rapidly generate a large number of highly potent, selective, and bioavailable compounds. Furthermore, this process is significantly more cost effective compared with traditional drug discovery approaches. For more information, visit www.cullgen.com.

Cullgen Inc.
Thomas Eastling, +81-3-6214-3600
inquiries@cullgen.com