Session information:
An estimated 1 billion people are living with obesity worldwide, with adult obesity rates having doubled since 1990 and quadrupled in children and adolescents. Individuals with obesity are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain cancers, among other comorbidities. This increased prevalence combined with the clinical and commercial success of glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 agonists for treating both obesity and diabetes has led to a multitude of clinical trials assessing the safety and efficacy of new therapies.
With these studies, researchers are identifying risks and benefits across health disciplines, including cardiovascular, metabolic, mental health, sleep, endocrine and gastrointestinal impacts. For these reasons, it is essential for drug manufacturers to incorporate comprehensive assessments of safety and efficacy to obtain regulatory approval and maximize market opportunities by generating robust data supporting secondary efficacy claims.
Time:
Chief Medical Officer at Clario
Dr. Todd Rudo is EVP and Chief Medical Officer at Clario, providing medical and scientific leadership across the organization. He has nearly 20 years of clinical cardiology and pharmaceutical research experience, with a career predominantly focused on drug safety. Dr. Rudo has board certifications in cardiology, cardiac electrophysiology, nuclear cardiology, adult echocardiography and internal medicine. His team provides expert consulting to clients on scientific and regulatory strategy and ensures Clario’s product portfolio is scientifically robust, generating high-quality clinical trial endpoint data. Dr. Rudo has a particular interest in applying innovative technologies to improve the scientific rigor of clinical trials while maintaining focus on the customer experience, including minimizing patient and site burden.
Diabetes & Metabolism Key Opinion Leader, Clinical Science & Consulting at Clario
Dr. Paul Strumph has been advising Clario on diabetes, metabolism and obesity clinical development strategy since 2021. He brings more than 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical development. Recent positions include CMO of Seraxis Inc, Metavant Sciences and JDRF. He has also served as Vice President, Clinical Development, at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals where he led global clinical development from early phase 2 work through NDA and MAA filings achieving the EU approval of sotagliflozin, an oral adjunct to insulin in type 1 diabetes. At Quintiles (now IQVIA) he was the Founder and Chair of the Diabetes Center of Excellence and served as the Diabetes Strategy Lead and North America CMO. Paul received his undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University, his MD with distinction in research from the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry and completed residency training in combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Emory University, and combined Adult and Pediatric Endocrinology Fellowship at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
VP and Deputy CMO, Cardiology at Clario
Dr. Fabian Chen is Deputy Chief Medical Officer – Cardiology and Vice President at Clario. In addition to providing leadership for Clario’s Cardiac Safety department, Dr. Chen provides expert consultation to clients on scientific and regulatory strategy. Dr. Chen has nearly 20 years of clinical cardiology and pharmaceutical research experience. Recent positions include Chief Medical Officer at the University of Pennsylvania Gene Therapy Program and Vice President of Clinical Development at Rocket Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Chen also has over 10 years of experience in both early and late-stage clinical development working at Merck and Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Fabian received his undergraduate degree at Harvard College and his MD PhD at Yale University. He completed his internal medicine and cardiology training at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Prior to entering the pharmaceutical industry, Fabian was on the faculty member of the departments of Medicine, Pediatrics and Molecular & Cellular Physiology at the University of California Los Angeles.
Director Medical & Scientific Affairs, Medical Imaging at Clario
Dr. Mark W. Tengowski’s current responsibilities include clinical development and trial experiences in SLD/MASH (formerly NAFLD/NASH) and biliary cholangitis; Crohn’s disease, perianal fistula and ulcerative colitis; osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, spondyloarthritis, psoriatic arthritis and bone age; and women’s health including endometriosis, uterine fibroids, endometrial thickness and breast volume and density. Using various MRI, XR, and CT imaging and clinical response assessments, Dr. Tengowski began his industry career with Pfizer (1999-2007) working in Drug Safety Evaluation (Groton) and Global Clinical Technologies (Ann Arbor). In 2007, he began his imaging core lab service starting at VirtualScopics (2007-2013) and Clario (formerly Bioclinica/ERT, 2016 to present). Dr. Tengowski is a 1992 graduate of the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine with graduate training in Pharmacology (MS, 1994) and Endocrinology & Reproductive Physiology (PhD, 1997) both from the UW-Madison Graduate School. Dr. Tengowski holds veterinary medical licenses in WI and NY and is accredited by the USDA (Category II).