News & Events

Disc Medicine Appoints Will Savage, MD, PhD as Chief Medical Officer and Jonathan Yu as Chief Business Officer and Expands Scientific Leadership with Key Hires to Advance Clinical-Stage Pipeline

Company welcomes Dr. Hua Yang, PhD, as VP, Nonclinical Development and Clinical Pharmacology and Sarah Tuller, JD as VP, Regulatory Affairs

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (August 23, 2021) – Disc Medicine, a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapies for the treatment of serious and debilitating hematologic diseases, today announced the promotions of Will Savage, MD, PhD to Chief Medical Officer and Jonathan Yu to Chief Business Officer. In addition, the company has expanded its scientific leadership with the appointments of industry veterans Hua Yang, PhD, as Vice President of Nonclinical Development and Clinical Pharmacology and Sarah Tuller, JD as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs.

“We are entering an exciting chapter of the Disc story and I’m delighted that we’ve attracted a team whose leadership and depth of experience will enable us to build a company that will make a difference in patients’ lives,“ said John Quisel, JD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer at Disc Medicine. “I want to congratulate Will and Jonathan on their respective promotions and welcome both Hua and Sarah to the company. I’m thrilled to work with this team as we advance our clinical-stage pipeline deep into development.”

Dr. Hua Yang, PhD is the Vice President of Nonclinical Development and Clinical Pharmacology and brings over 20 years of experience in drug discovery, nonclinical development and clinical pharmacology.  Prior to Disc, she served as the Vice President of DMPK and Clinical Pharmacology at Agios Pharmaceuticals, where she established these functions and was instrumental in the discovery, development, and successful approvals of its flagship programs IDHIFA® (enasidinib) in relapsed or refractory AML and TIBSOVO® (ivosidenib) in AML patients with IDH1 mutations, as well as mitapivat (PKR activator) and vorasidenib (dual IDH1/2 inhibitor). Prior to Agios, Hua held positions in DMPK and drug discovery at Millennium/Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb.  Hua received her BA in Pharmacology from Fudan University, an MS in Pharmacology from Peking Union Medical School and her Ph.D. in Pharmacokinetics from University of Nebraska Medical Center. She is a co-inventor on over 50 patent applications.

Sarah Tuller, JD, RAC is the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and brings 20 years of experience in regulatory strategy and operations, spanning numerous clinical and commercial-stage products across a wide range of therapeutic indications, including multiple orphan disease programs. She has led or been a part of numerous successful IND, NDA, MAA and BLA and other submissions, including those of Portrazza® (necitumumab) in metastatic, squamous, NSCLC, Phoslyra® (calcium acetate) in ESRD, and Avonex Pen® (interferon beta-1a) in relapsing MS.  Prior to joining Disc, she held leadership positions in regulatory affairs for rare disease programs at Astellas Pharma, and prior to Astellas, at companies including Biogen, Fresenius and Baxter. Sarah holds a JD from the University of Dayton School of Law and a BS in Chemistry.

Disc recently announced the initiation of a phase 1 clinical study of DISC-0974, a first-in-class inhibitor of hemojuvelin (HJV) designed to suppress hepcidin and is being developed to treat multiple forms of anemia of inflammation. The company is planning to initiate clinical studies of a separate program in early 2022 for bitopertin, a first-in-class GlyT1 inhibitor that is being developed to treat erythropoietic porphyrias, a family of severe, genetically-driven and rare hematologic disorders.

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About Disc Medicine

Disc Medicine is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is dedicated to transforming the lives of patients with hematologic disorders. We are building a unique portfolio of innovative, first-in-class therapeutic candidates based on fundamental pathways of red blood cell biology. Disc Medicine is committed to building a brighter future for patients who suffer from hematologic disease, ranging from severe orphan conditions to widely prevalent diseases. For more information, please visit www.discmedicine.com.

Media Contact

Sarah Ellinwood, Ph.D.
Verge Scientific Communications
sellinwood@vergescientific.com