Idera Pharmaceuticals names Lou Brenner, MD, as SVP, Chief Medical Officer

Lou Brenner, MD, has joined the company as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Brenner joins Idera from Radius Health, where he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. In addition to its clinical development in Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, Idera plans to submit a protocol to the FDA this quarter to conduct a Phase 1/2 trial in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The L265P mutation of the MYD88 gene has been identified in approximately 30% of patients with the activated B-cell-like type of DLBCL. In its autoimmune disease program, the company is conducting a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 trial of IMO-8400 in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. The company expects to report data from this trial in 1H14. In addition, Idera has begun a strategic review of orphan autoimmune indications with unmet needs that it believes are suited to Toll-like receptor antagonist therapy, and expects to identify priority indications in early 2014.