ProQR appoints chief scientific officer

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ProQR appoints chief scientific officer

ProQR Therapeutics named Naveed Shams, M.D., Ph.D., as chief scientific officer. Dr. Shams reports to Daniel de Boer, CEO, and assumes responsibility for research programs and the translational medicine platform from David Rodman, M.D., who departed ProQR.

According to company executives, Dr. Shams brings to ProQR deep ophthalmology, scientific and research management experience, most recently serving as senior corporate officer, head of global research and development and chief scientific officer at Santen.

“Naveed is a highly regarded leader who brings extensive experience in preclinical, translational, and clinical development of ophthalmic medicines,” de Boer says. “I am excited that he will be leading our research and early development programs in support of our mission to develop a portfolio of medicines for patients with inherited retinal diseases that currently have no treatment.” 

As chief scientific officer, Dr. Shams will provide strategic direction, oversight, and execution for ProQR’s research and early development efforts. This entails driving research strategy as ProQR continues to optimize its platform, preclinical, and clinical pipeline focused on ophthalmology.

Naveed Shams

With more than 20 years of experience in global drug development, Dr. Shams has played a significant role in bringing several ophthalmology products to market, including Zaditor/Zaditen, Rescula, and Lucentis. While at Genentech, Dr. Shams helped to establish the Ophthalmology Development Group and led the development and approval of Lucentis. His experience spans startups and large multinational companies, including Novartis. Dr. Shams received his M.D. degree from Dow Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan, and his Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the University of South Carolina. He completed fellowships in cornea and external diseases at Harvard Medical School and in histocompatibility and immunogenetics at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Shams is also a former faculty member at Schepens Eye Research Institute and Harvard Medical School.

“ProQR has a strong precision medicine platform for IRDs with very compelling clinical data that provides a scalable opportunity to generate a broad portfolio of innovative medicines,” Dr. Shams says. “I am excited to be part of the ProQR team that is building a platform and pipeline to deliver potentially transformative RNA therapies to patients with high unmet need.”

Dr. Rodman will continue to provide strategic advisory services to ProQR during a transition period. “I thank Dave for the role he has played over the last several years in our evolution to a precision medicine IRD company with multiple clinical-stage programs and a deep pipeline focused on ophthalmology,” de Boer says. “We are grateful for his contributions and are pleased to continue working with him in an advisory capacity.”