Tony Sandrasagra, PhD — SVP, Research & Development

Dr. Sandrasagra has over 20 years of experience leading biotech and pharma R&D. He has advanced multiple programs from target discovery to the clinic and is an inventor on over 20 drug patents. Dr. Sandrasagra joins Elevian from Mesoblast, where as VP R&D, he directed New Product Development programs including advancement to Phase 1 of an engineered cord blood product in collaboration with MD Anderson. Previously, Dr. Sandrasagra was Chief Science Officer at Provasculon, where he progressed a regenerative protein therapeutic for cardiovascular diseases through preclinical efficacy studies (acquired by Mesoblast). Prior, Dr. Sandrasagra was CSO at EpiGenesis Pharmaceuticals, where he led respiratory disease programs and advanced two product candidates through preclinical efficacy into Phase 1. At XTL Biopharmaceuticals, he directed discovery of small molecule inhibitors of HCV replication targeting NS5A (program acquired by Presidio Pharmaceuticals). Dr. Sandrasagra had roles with increasing responsibility at Aventis/HMR (now Sanofi) including Head of CNS Molecular Biology, Program Head - Global GPCR Program, and US Head of Gene Expression. He also contributed to the lead optimization and characterization of multiple GPCR selective ligands including the anti- psychotic Fanapt®. Dr. Sandrasagra holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a BSc. in Chemistry from McGill University, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Molecular Neuroscience at UCLA.