Global Blood Therapeutics Names Hing Sham Senior Vice President of Chemistry
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Global Blood Therapeutics has announced the appointment of Hing Sham, Ph.D., to senior vice president of chemistry. The company also announced that Uma Sinha, Ph.D., has been promoted to chief scientific officer.
Brian Metcalf, Ph.D., chief scientific officer since the company was founded and a globally-recognized expert in drug discovery and medicinal chemistry, transitions to a senior advisor role and will continue to contribute to the company’s research and development.
“The appointment of Dr. Sham and promotion of Dr. Sinha add even more depth to a powerful senior management team, building upon the solid scientific foundation we have established in chronic blood diseases,” said Ted W. Love, M.D., chief executive officer, Global Blood Therapeutics. “Drs. Sham, Sinha and Metcalf are true leaders in drug discovery and development, and we are privileged to benefit from their insight and expertise.”
Dr. Sham brings more than 30 years of experience to Global Blood Therapeutics, achieving major accomplishments in pharmaceutical research and discovery throughout his career. During a 24-year tenure at Abbott Laboratories, culminating in his appointment as a distinguished research fellow in global pharmaceutical discovery, Dr. Sham and his team discovered and advanced 10 clinical candidates spanning cardiovascular disease, HIV, oncology and diabetes.
Among his numerous discoveries, Dr. Sham is the co-inventor of Norvir® and the primary inventor of Kaletra®, Abbott Laboratories’ first and second-generation HIV protease inhibitors approved for the treatment of HIV. Dr. Sham was named a Hero of Chemistry in 2003 by the American Chemical Society for improving children’s health and wellness.
After his tenure at Abbott, Dr. Sham served as senior vice president of research and head of chemical sciences at Elan Pharmaceuticals. While at Elan, Dr. Sham led the chemistry team in the discovery of two clinical candidates for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Most recently, Dr. Sham was head of research and development at iOneWorldHealth/PATH.org, a non-profit pharmaceutical development organization.
Dr. Sham received his Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Hawaii and completed his post-doctoral training in the department of chemistry at Indiana University. Dr. Sham has published more than 180 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and is a named inventor on 81 issued U.S. patents.
Dr. Sinha joined Global Blood Therapeutics in January 2013 as senior vice president, research, bringing 25 years of experience in biotechnology research. She most recently served as vice president, head of biology at Portola Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Portola, she held senior research positions at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and COR Therapeutics. During her tenure at COR, Dr. Sinha and her team were responsible for the initiation and progression of the factor Xa inhibitor programs that have led to the development of betrixaban, currently being studied in a Phase III trial of patients at risk of thrombosis.
At Portola, her team succeeded in the discovery and preclinical development of Andexanet alfa, Cerdulatinib and Syk inhibitors. Andexanet alfa is being studied in two pivotal Phase III studies of reversal of factor Xa inhibitor induced anticoagulation. Cerdulatinib is in a Phase I/II proof of concept study in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients. Dr. Sinha is a named inventor on 31 issued U.S. patents and has published extensively in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
