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Maximizing the power of oral enzymes

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Breakthrough Science

Our first-of-its-kind oral enzyme platform has the power to treat patients with severe and underserved metabolic disorders by breaking down harmful substances in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, such as oxalate and urate. With our targeted approach, our therapeutics have the potential to reduce the elevated levels of harmful metabolites before they result in severe, debilitating consequences including kidney stones, gout, chronic kidney disease, and end-stage kidney disease.

Enteric Hyperoxaluria

GI disorders associated with fat malabsorption, such as certain bariatric surgeries and Crohn’s disease, can result in enteric hyperoxaluria. Enteric hyperoxaluria is marked by excess absorption of oxalate in the GI tract, leading to significantly elevated oxalate levels, and increased levels of oxalate in the urine. Excess oxalate in the urine can result in kidney stones and eventual chronic kidney disease, possibly leading to end-stage kidney disease, which can be devastating.
Enteric hyperoxaluria is a more severe type of secondary hyperoxaluria, since the underlying GI disorder predisposes patients to chronic excess oxalate absorption. Primary hyperoxaluria differs from enteric hyperoxaluria in that it is an inherited defect of oxalate metabolism.

How Allena can help

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While there is currently no approved treatment for enteric hyperoxaluria, Allena’s first-in-class non-absorbed oxalate-degrading enzyme has the potential to prevent downstream consequences like kidney stones.

To learn more about enteric hyperoxaluria, check out this podcast presented by Urology Times.

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Hyperuricemia and Gout

Hyperuricemia is an elevated urate (uric acid) level in the blood. Elevated urate levels in the blood result from either overproduction or insufficient excretion. Two of the most common clinical manifestations of high urate in the blood are gout and kidney stones. In the case of gout, urate crystals activate an inflammatory response in joints, resulting in sudden attacks marked by stiffness, swelling, and burning pain.

Existing treatments for hyperuricemia and gout have safety concerns, particularly for patients with reduced kidney function.

Allena’s first-in-class non-absorbed urate-degrading enzyme has the potential to treat hyperuricemia and lower the risk of complications associated with elevated urate.

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Publications

Learn more about our novel oral enzyme platform in the scientific literature.

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Jerome Gangitano

Vice President of Manufacturing and Process Development

Jerome Gangitano is the Vice President of Manufacturing and Process Development at Allena Pharmaceuticals. He is an experienced operations executive with more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and device industries. He has developed, commercialized, and supplied numerous products.

Prior to joining Allena, Jerome was a Site Head at Sanofi where he led a site including Safety and Environmental, Quality, Manufacturing, Process Development – MSAT; Facilities-Engineering, Supply Chain, Materials Purchasing, and Operational Excellence. Prior to his time at Sanofi, Jerome held various leadership positions in Operations, Manufacturing, and Quality at Genzyme, Focal, Johnson & Johnson, and Multiple Peptide Systems. Jerome received his BS in Chemistry from San Diego State University.

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Kevin Brennan

Vice President, Finance

Kevin Brennan is the Vice President Finance at Allena Pharmaceuticals. Kevin joined the Allena team in 2011 as the Associate Director, Finance and has played an integral role in financial strategy, planning and operations, and the development and monitoring of systems designed to manage the organization’s finance and reporting. Kevin brings over twenty years of experience in the life science industry. Prior to joining Allena, Kevin held various positions at Alnara Pharmaceuticals, Altus Pharmaceuticals, and Genzyme, where he worked cross-functionally to drive strategic initiatives and optimize planning and reporting processes.

Kevin holds a B.S. in Accounting from Boston College.

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Stephen Yu

Senior Vice President, Corporate Quality

Stephen Yu is Senior Vice President of Corporate Quality at Allena Pharmaceuticals. Stephen provides leadership for the internal Quality Assurance and Quality Control functions and oversight across internal and external GxP activities for Allena’s programs and facilities.

Stephen brings over 40 years of drug development and commercialization experience in technical and quality compliance roles. Over the past year, he has worked as Senior Vice President of Quality at Lyndra Therapeutics, a private company based in Watertown. In addition to serving previously as Vice President of Quality Assurance at Allena, Stephen has led his self-directed consultancy, Sky Pharma Consulting, and held prior roles as Vice President of Corporate Quality at Immunogen, as well as roles in Quality and Manufacturing at Genzyme, Merck & Co and Schering-Plough Research Institute.

Stephen earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from M.I.T. and an M.B.A. from Rutgers University.

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Richard Katz, M.D.

Chief Financial Officer

Richard Katz, M.D. has served as chief financial officer since January 2021. Richard brings to Allena more than 20 years of experience in healthcare finance and corporate development.

Prior to joining Allena, Richard served as the chief financial officer of several biopharmaceutical companies, including Liquidia Technologies, Argos Therapeutics, Viamet Pharmaceuticals and Icagen, Inc. At Icagen, he played an instrumental role in the company’s initial public offering and subsequent financings, the formation of several strategic collaborations and the company’s sale to Pfizer. Richard began his career as a vice president in the healthcare investment banking group at Goldman, Sachs & Company, where he executed a broad range of transactions, including equity and debt financings, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate restructurings.

He holds a B.A. in applied mathematics from Harvard University, an M.D. from the Stanford University School of Medicine and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

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Alicja Januszewicz, PhD.

Vice President, People & Culture

Alicja Januszewicz, Ph.D., has served as the Head of People & Culture since 2019. Before joining Allena, she consulted with small organizations in Cambridge within talent management: employee development, organizational development, succession management, high potentials, and workforce planning. Previously, she had served as the Head of Talent Management at Baxalta Innovation Center, where she supported global R&D teams until the Shire acquisition.

Prior to joining Baxalta, Alicja served as Head of Talent Management at Epizyme and Boston Scientific HQ. She also supported the organizational development of Genzyme’s global HR manufacturing group.

Alicja holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the Polish Academy of Science. She is a graduate of the Talent Management Institute, University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flagler Business School.

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David J. Clark, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer

David J. Clark, M.D. has served as Chief Medical Officer since November 2020. He has over 20 years of global industry experience in biopharmaceutical companies based in the United States and Europe.

Before joining Allena, David served as the Chief Medical Officer of Aldeyra Therapeutics, a publicly-traded biotechnology company developing medicines for immune-mediated ocular and systemic diseases. He also served as Chief Medical Officer of Wilson Therapeutics, a privately-held biotechnology company developing novel pharmaceuticals to treat Wilson Disease, a rare autosomal recessive disorder of copper metabolism. David further served as Chief Medical Officer at NormOxys Inc. and TransTech Pharma, LLC. He has held leadership positions at a range of pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and SmithKline Beecham.

David received his medical degree from the University of Edinburgh, trained in internal medicine, and conducted respiratory medicine academic research.

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Geoffrey Swire

Acting Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President, Corporate Development

Geoffrey Swire joined Allena in 2018 and currently serves as Acting Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President, Corporate Development. Geoffrey has 20 years of leadership experience in business, product, and commercial development for life sciences companies.
 
Geoff previously worked at Radius Health, where he served as head of business development and alliance management, and earlier as program leader for the global Phase 3 osteoporosis development program. Prior to that, Geoff spent seven years at Genzyme, where he held various leadership positions in the Transplant and  Oncology business units, including as head of program and portfolio management, as well as vice president of global commercial operations. Geoff played a central role in the acquisition, development, regulatory approvals, and global commercial launch of Mozobil for patients undergoing stem cell transplants. He started his career in strategy and product development consulting at Integral, Inc., and Accenture’s Health & Life Sciences practice.

Geoff holds a B.A. in French and History from Dartmouth College and a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University

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Hugh Wight

Senior Vice President, Technical Operations

Hugh Wight is senior vice president of technical operations at Allena Pharmaceuticals. He is an experienced manufacturing executive with more than 20 years in pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical development, manufacturing, validation and quality assurance.

Prior to joining Allena, Hugh was vice president, technical operations for Alnara Pharmaceuticals, where he led manufacturing, project management, quality assurance and control, and fostered strategic partnerships with manufacturing organizations. Prior to his time at Alnara, Hugh held various quality assurance and validation leadership positions at Altus Pharmaceuticals, Alkermes, Aquila Biopharmaceuticals, AutoImmune and InSite Vision.

Hugh holds a B.S. in microbiology from the University of Maine-Orono.

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Louis Brenner, MD

President and Chief Executive Officer

Lou Brenner, MD, has served as chief executive officer of Allena since February 2019 and as president since February 2017. He previously served as chief operating officer from April 2015 to January 2019.

Lou has more than a decade of industry leadership experience, including pharmaceutical development strategy, regulatory affairs, business development, and commercialization. Prior to joining Allena, Lou served as chief medical officer at Idera Pharmaceuticals, chief medical officer at Radius Health, and senior vice president at AMAG Pharmaceuticals. He began his industry career at Genzyme Corporation, where he led successful product development programs for medicines that are currently marketed in the renal and metabolic areas.

He holds an MD from Duke University, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BS from Yale University, He completed his residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and his fellowship in nephrology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. Lou holds a clinical appointment at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

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