Eledon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the appointment of Eliezer Katz, M.D., FACS as Chief Medical Officer with responsibility for leading the company?s clinical development programs. Dr. Katz is an experienced transplant surgeon with significant clinical development experience. Most recently, he was Chief Medical Officer at eGenesis where he helped lead the clinical development of eGenesis? xenotransplantation programs. Prior to eGenesis, Dr. Katz was Vice President of Clinical Development first at Viela Bio and then at Horizon Therapeutics following its acquisition of Vielo Bio.

At Horizon and Viela Bio, Dr. Katz led the clinical development of inebilizumab in multiple autoimmune indications and oversaw the regulatory submission and approval of UPLIZNA(inebilizumab) to treat neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder in adults. Prior to Viela Bio, Dr. Katz served as Senior Director of Clinical Development at MedImmune Inc. where he oversaw the clinical development of three different biologics. Prior to MedImmune, Dr. Katz served as Senior Director of Transplantation with the Medicine Development Group at Pfizer.

At Pfizer, he oversaw multiple research programs with rapamycin, an anti-rejection drug, and was instrumental in the regulatory submission and FDA approval of rapamycin as a treatment for lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), a rare and fatal lung disease. Before joining industry, Dr. Katz spent two decades as a transplant surgeon. He was director of the abdominal transplantation division at Integris Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, and an associate professor of surgery and the director of the liver transplantation division at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, MA.Dr. Katz spearheaded liver transplantation advances at these institutions and was actively involved with policy making in organ donation and allocation.

Dr. Katz earned his M.D. at Hadassah Hebrew University Medical School in Jerusalem.