What Happened?
Waltham, MA-based Syndax has Promoted Peter Ordentlich as Chief Technology Officer
About the Company
Syndax is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing entinostat as a combination therapy in multiple cancer indications with an initial focus on tumors that have shown sensitivity to immunotherapy, including lung cancer, melanoma, ovarian cancer and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Entinostat is an oral, small molecule drug candidate that has direct effects on both cancer cells and immune regulatory cells, potentially enhancing the body`s immune response to tumors. Entinostat is being evaluated as a combination therapeutic in Phase 1b/2 clinical trials with Merck and Co., Inc. for non-small cell lung cancer and melanoma, with Genentech, Inc. for TNBC, and with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany and Pfizer Inc. in ovarian cancer. Syndax is also developing entinostat as a combination therapeutic in a Phase 3 clinical trial that is being conducted with ECOG-ACRIN for advanced hormone receptor positive breast cancer.
About the Person
Peter Ordentlich, a co-founder of Syndax, is the Vice President of Translational Medicine, responsible for the scientific rationale and direction of research efforts related to the company's projects. Prior to Syndax, Dr. Ordentlich was a scientist at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, working with Dr. Ronald M. Evans to identify small molecules as potential therapeutics and evaluating synergistic combinations of histone deacetylase inhibitors and nuclear receptor ligands. Dr. Ordentlich spent five years at X-Ceptor Therapeutics, a drug discovery company focused on the identification and therapeutic application of novel and selective modulators of nuclear hormone receptors, where he led a group in assay development, high-throughput screening, and lead optimization. Dr. Ordentlich did his postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Ronald M. Evans, investigating the molecular mechanisms involved in nuclear hormone receptor signaling. His work, along with that of Dr. Michael Downes and other members of the Evans laboratory, led to the identification and characterization of several proteins involved in nuclear receptor regulation including histone deacetylases 5 and 7 (HDAC5 and HDAC7) and novel isoforms of the co-repressors SMRT and SHARP. Dr. Ordentlich received his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and Ph.D. in immunology from the University of Pennsylvania.
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