Company
IMMEDIATE Therapeutics is a clinical stage biotech company dedicated to developing therapies to reduce heart muscle damage and prevent cardiac arrest in acute coronary syndromes (ACS).
Vision
Healthy Heart, Healthier Life
Mission
To significantly reduce cardiac damage and the risk of cardiac arrest in patients with ACS
History
About 15 years ago, Dr. Harry Selker and his colleague, Dr. James Udelson, Chief of Cardiology at Tufts Medical Center, became aware of a very promising treatment for ACS, intravenous glucose-insulin-potassium (GIK). For decades, animal studies had suggested that GIK, when given as metabolic support for the threatened cardiac muscle at the onset of reduction of coronary blood flow to the heart muscle, i.e., at the onset of ACS, prevented the development of cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction, and death.1 However, human clinical trials using GIK were not positive. Drs. Selker and Udelson reasoned that these disappointing results were because patients had been given GIK only after myocardial infarction had been documented in the hospital, too late to prevent cardiac damage and possible death.
To address this, they designed a clinical trial of GIK using ACI-TIPI, one of the electrocardiograph-based predictive instruments they had previously developed, which would allow paramedics in the field to recognize ACS and start GIK at the point of care. Indeed, in the NIH-supported IMMEDIATE (Immediate Myocardial Metabolic Enhancement During Initial Assessment and Treatment in Emergency care) Trial, in which GIK was started in patients’ homes and in ambulances, the results were encouraging. The trial did not meet the primary endpoint of progression to myocardial infarction (MI), but showed statistically significant results relative to placebo in three prespecified secondary endpoints: mortality, cardiac arrest and infarct size.2
Once the study was published, Drs. Selker and Udelson anticipated that GIK would be used widely. However, GIK was never marketed or adopted in medical practice. Because they continued to believe in the potential benefits of GIK, they spent several years working with FDA to develop a repeat trial protocol that could serve as a basis for FDA approval. In addition, IMT-358 has received Breakthrough Therapy designation for [insert scope of Breakthrough Therapy designation] advantages. Encouraged by these developments, Drs. Selker and Udelson established IMMEDIATE Therapeutics to conduct a Phase 3 trial with the goal of filing for approval of IMT-358 in global markets.
Management Team
Atul Deshpande
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Prior to joining IMMEDIATE Therapeutics, Atul was the Chief Strategy Officer and Head, US Operations of Harbour BioMed (HBM). Atul was primarily responsible for building the company’s short- and long-term strategy and portfolio along with a robust execution plan. In addition, he was also accountable for the HBM’s operations in both the US and EU to maintain HBM’s footprint across these 2 very important markets, along with managing key alliances in these regions. In 2020, he contributed to raising 2 VC funding rounds and taking the company public in the HK stock exchange raising a total of $400M.
Before HBM, Atul served as the Global Operations Head for the Dupixent Franchise with Sanofi. He led the operations, including marketing, market access, supply chain, to launch Dupixent in 52 markets across the world for Atopic Dermatitis and in major markets for Asthma. Prior to this, he led the operations for Sanofi’s Immunology R&D portfolio and was also responsible for new product planning and in-licensing evaluations. He spent 3 years in China as the Head of Asia Pacific R&D strategy to bring the global portfolio to China with minimal drug lag. Before Sanofi, Atul worked as a management consultant for 9 years on projects across the value chain of pharma.
Atul holds a PhD in Neuroscience from University of California, Irvine, and an MBA from Cranfield University, UK.
Harry Selker
ADVISOR
James Udelson
ADVISOR
Management Team
Atul Deshpande
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Prior to joining IMMEDIATE Therapeutics, Atul was the Chief Strategy Officer and Head, US Operations of Harbour BioMed (HBM). Atul was primarily responsible for building the company’s short- and long-term strategy and portfolio along with a robust execution plan. In addition, he was also accountable for the HBM’s operations in both the US and EU to maintain HBM’s footprint across these 2 very important markets, along with managing key alliances in these regions. In 2020, he contributed to raising 2 VC funding rounds and taking the company public in the HK stock exchange raising a total of $400M.
Before HBM, Atul served as the Global Operations Head for the Dupixent Franchise with Sanofi. He led the operations, including marketing, market access, supply chain, to launch Dupixent in 52 markets across the world for Atopic Dermatitis and in major markets for Asthma. Prior to this, he led the operations for Sanofi’s Immunology R&D portfolio and was also responsible for new product planning and in-licensing evaluations. He spent 3 years in China as the Head of Asia Pacific R&D strategy to bring the global portfolio to China with minimal drug lag. Before Sanofi, Atul worked as a management consultant for 9 years on projects across the value chain of pharma.
Atul holds a PhD in Neuroscience from University of California, Irvine, and an MBA from Cranfield University, UK.
Harry Selker
ADVISOR
Dr. Harry Selker is Dean of Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Tufts University and Executive Director of the Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies at Tufts Medical Center. He is known for research in emergency cardiac care and the development of “clinical predictive instruments,” mathematical models built into electrocardiographs as decision aids. These enabled very early treatment of patients with acute coronary syndromes in ambulances with intravenous glucose-insulin-potassium (GIK), which in the IMMEDIATE Trial, dramatically reduced cardiac arrest, mortality, and heart attack size. His work has led to multiple patents, over 200 publications, over $200 million in research funding, and honors for his research and leadership
Dr. Selker has been president of five national professional and scientific organizations and an advisor to Congress, government, and organizations. He attended Reed College (BA), Brown University (MD), and UCLA (MSPH).
James Udelson
ADVISOR
Dr. James Udelson is Chief of the Division of Cardiology at Tufts Medical Center and Professor of Medicine and Radiology at Tufts University School of Medicine.
He was an Associate Editor for Circulation from 2004 – 2016 and founding Editor-in-Chief for Circulation: Heart Failure. He is a chapter author for Braunwald’s Heart Disease textbook.
Dr. Udelson served on the Board of Trustees of the ACC, on the Executive Council of the Heart Failure Society of America, and was President of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology.
He was a member of the FDA Medical Imaging Drugs Advisory Panel and an ad hoc member of the FDA’s Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Panel. He has been the recipient of several NIH grants for studies of the use of cardiac imaging to favorably influence clinical decision making. He has designed, directed and/or participated in numerous clinical trials on heart failure and cardiac imaging.
Scientific Advisory Board
Eugene Braunwald, MD
- Chairman, TIMI Study Group; Professor, Harvard Medical School
- Former Chief of Cardiology and Clinical Director at the National Heart Institute
- Former Chair, Department of Medicine at UCSD and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
W. Frank Peacock,
MD, FACEP, FACC, FESC
- Vice Chair for Emergency Medicine Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
- Past-President, Society of Chest Pain Centers
- Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) Guidelines Committee
- Former Professor Of Emergency Medicine, Cleveland Clinic
Michael Levy,
MD, FACEP, FACP, FAEMS
- Emergency Medicine Alaska Regional Hospital
- EMS Medical Director, State of Alaska
- President of the National Association of EMS Physicians
- Chief Medical Advisor for Stryker Emergency Care
Darlene Jody, MD
- CEO, Strategic Biopharma Consulting LLC.
- Former Head Global Medical Affairs for MS/Neurology, Immunology and Oncology Sanofi Genzyme
- Former VP and Head, Specialty Medicines Medical and Scientific Affairs, US Medical and Regulatory Affairs, Novartis
- Former SVP, Head GBU Specialized Therapeutics, Bayer-Schering Pharma
Pamela Douglas, MD
- Professor of Medicine, Ursula Geller Distinguished Prof. for Research in CV
Disease, in the School of Med., Duke University - Past-President, American College of Cardiology
- Advisory Council of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
- SAB of the Patient Advocate Foundation
Ralph D’Agostino, PhD
- Professor of Statistics at Boston University
- Former Chair of Mathematics at Boston University
- Statistics Lead for the Framingham Heart Study
- Statistical Editor at the NEJM
- Member of several FDA Review Panels and multiple NIH expert committees
Edmund Pezalla, MD, MPH
- CEO and Consultant Enlightenment Bioconsult, LLC.
- Former VP, National Med. Director, Pharma. Policy & Strategy, Aetna Inc.
- Former Vice President for Clinical Services, PacifiCare & United Health Grp
- Former Director of Clinical Sciences, Pfizer Health Solutions
Jai Patel, PhD
- Chief Medical Officer, Imbria Pharma.
- Former Chief Medical & Scientific Officer Nephrogenex
- Former VP, Metabolic Pathways & CV, Global Regulatory Affairs GlaxoSmithKline,
- Former Medical Advisor, Diabetes, Obesity and Biological Products Bayer (UK) Ltd, Berkshire, UK
Notes
