Imbria Pharmaceuticals Strengthens Leadership with New Board and Key Clinical Appointments
Pavan Cheruvu, MD, will serve as Independent Chair of the Board of Directors
James Januzzi, MD, appointed to Senior Research Advisor and Scientific Advisory Board Chair
BOSTON, Sept. 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Imbria Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (“Imbria”), a clinical-stage company transforming cardiovascular disease therapeutics by targeting cardiac energy metabolism, today announced new governance and key clinical leadership appointments.
Pavan Cheruvu, MD, will serve as Independent Chair of Imbria’s Board of Directors, as part of a planned transition following the completion of Imbria’s recently announced Series B funding. Imbria’s Chief Executive Officer, Alvin Shih, MD, will continue to serve as a board member. In addition, the Company is pleased to announce that James Januzzi, MD, will transition from his role as an independent director to a broader and more directly influential role within the Company, as Senior Research Advisor and Chair of Imbria’s Scientific Advisory Board (“SAB”).
“We have entered a new phase of growth at Imbria, as we advance ninerafaxstat into late-stage clinical development,” said Dr. Shih, Imbria’s CEO. “Pavan’s appointment as Independent Board Chair and Jim’s appointment as Senior Research Advisor and SAB Chair are both important pieces to our strategy of advancing our novel therapy through the clinic, and we look forward to working with both of them to deliver on our vision of bringing forward a new class of cardiovascular therapy.”
Dr. Cheruvu currently serves as President and CEO of Bitterroot Bio and brings extensive leadership experience across the biotechnology and medical device sectors. He was previously an early executive at Roivant Sciences and served as President, CEO, and Chief R&D Officer of Sio Gene Therapies. Over the course of his career, Dr. Cheruvu has guided companies spanning neurology, oncology, and cardiovascular medicine. He advised on M&A strategy and R&D transformation for global biopharmaceutical firms at McKinsey & Company. A Rhodes Scholar, Dr. Cheruvu holds a BS from Duke University, an MSc from the University of Oxford, and an MD from the Harvard Medical School/MIT Health, Sciences, and Technology program. He completed residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and fellowship training in cardiovascular medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Cheruvu also serves on the American Heart Association Research Roundtable and the Board of Advisors of Life Sciences Cares Bay Area.
“It’s a privilege to step into the role of Board Chair at a time when Imbria is making meaningful clinical progress with the FORTITUDE-HCM trial,” said Dr. Cheruvu. “With its differentiated mechanism and broad therapeutic potential, ninerafaxstat opens a new frontier in cardiovascular therapeutics. I am excited to partner with the team as they enter the later phase clinical development and help to more clearly define ninerafaxstat's value for patients.”
Dr. Januzzi is the Adolph Hutter Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, staff cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Chief Scientific Officer and C. Michael Gibson Chair at Baim Institute for Clinical Research. His research spans all aspects of drug development, including contributions to a deeper understanding of cardiac biomarker testing and the effects of drug therapies on patients with heart failure, diabetes, and acute coronary syndromes. In his role at the Baim Institute, Dr. Januzzi is deeply involved in clinical trials of drugs and devices for cardio-kidney-metabolic diseases. Dr. Januzzi is one of the most highly cited researchers in cardiology, having published nearly 1,000 manuscripts, book chapters, and review articles. After receiving his MD from New York Medical College in Valhalla, NY as the top-ranked student in his class, he went on to complete a residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, followed by a fellowship in cardiology and cardiac ultrasound at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he joined the staff in 2000.
“It has been an honor to serve on Imbria’s Board of Directors during a time of important progress for the company, and I am delighted to continue with Imbria in a more hands-on capacity,” said Dr. Januzzi. “As Senior Research Advisor and SAB Chair, I look forward to collaborating with the team to build on Imbria’s momentum and the clinical development of ninerafaxstat.”
About Imbria
Imbria Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage company transforming the treatment of cardiovascular disease therapeutics by targeting cardiac energy metabolism. The company’s focus is ninerafaxstat, a differentiated, first-in-class cardiovascular therapy. A pipeline-in-a-pill, it has broad potential utility by improving cardiac efficiency without negative effects on heart rate, rhythm, ejection fraction, or blood pressure. The recently initiated FORTITUDE-HCM (NCT07023614), Phase 2b clinical trial is addressing nonobstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (nHCM), a debilitating disease with no currently approved treatments. Phase 2a data showed compelling safety and efficacy potential in an approvable endpoint. Plans are underway to initiate a Phase 2b clinical trial in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), a large and growing unmet need. Based in the Boston area, Imbria is backed by a leading syndicate of investors including RA Capital, SV Health Investors, Deep Track Capital, Catalio Capital Management, AN Ventures, and Cytokinetics. For more, visit www.imbria.com.
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