EMERYVILLE, Calif., Jan. 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Totus Medicines, a company revolutionizing small molecule drug discovery and development using covalent DNA-encoded libraries and AI tools, today announced the appointment of Simon Harnest, MSc, BSc, as Chief Financial Officer. This key addition comes at a pivotal moment for Totus as the company prepares to advance its clinical-stage program following encouraging results from its Phase 1 study of TOS-358, a covalent PI3Kα inhibitor.

“The addition of Simon, with over 15 years’ experience in private capital markets strategy and IPO processes, comes at the right time for Totus as we advance our clinical-stage and discovery programs,” said Nassim Usman, Ph.D., President & CEO of Totus Medicines. “With the promising results from our ongoing Phase 1 TOS-358 study and the recent strengthening of our leadership team - including the addition of Dr. Zelanna Goldberg as Chief Medical Officer - Totus is poised to emerge as a leader in the covalent small molecule space.”

“I am excited to join Totus Medicines and leverage my expertise in the biotech sector to support the advancement of our pipeline, which addresses critical unmet medical needs across multiple therapeutic targets,” said Simon Harnest, MSc, BSc.

Prior to joining Totus Medicines, Simon served as Chief Investment Officer at Metagenomi (NASDAQ: MGX), where he led successful private capital raises and the IPO process, contributing to over $1 billion in equity raised throughout his career with over 15 years of experience in the biotech sector. Prior to Metagenomi, Simon held the same role at Cellectis (NASDAQ: CLLS), where he directed the US IPO and capital markets strategy, as well as the spin-off and IPO of Calyxt (NASDAQ: CLXT) now Cibus (NASDAQ: CBUS). His background includes key positions at Trout Group and Trout Capital, specializing in investor relations for the life sciences industry. Simon holds a Master of Science in Public Health from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Westminster, London, UK.

About Totus Medicines

Totus Medicines is discovering and developing small molecule medicines using a novel DNA-encoded covalent library technology combined with artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML). With the unprecedented ability to screen several hundred million drug candidates against multiple targets simultaneously, the company's novel platform can find drugs that are dramatically superior to molecules discovered through previous technologies, including drug candidates for currently undrugged and difficult to drug targets. Totus is developing TOS-358, a covalent PI3Kα inhibitor in a Phase 1 clinical trial and is developing potent and selective covalent inhibitors of several other targets internally and has a drug discovery partnership with Lilly.

For more information, please visit totusmedicines.com and follow Totus on LinkedIn and Twitter/X.

Contact:
ir@totusmedicines.com 

External Contact:
Brian Mullen
LifeSci Advisors, LLC
Managing Director
bmullen@lifesciadvisors.com 
+1.203.461.1175