BOULDER — Enveda Therapeutics Inc. has hired a former top researcher from pharmaceutical giants Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) and AstraZeneca PLC (Nasdaq: AZN) as its chief science officer.

The Boulder company, which does business as Enveda Biosciences, said that it hired Sotirios Karathanasis to lead the company’s pre-clinical research into treatments for liver diseases.

Karathanasis was previously a researcher at Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) before becoming chief scientific officer of endocrine and cardiovascular research at Eli Lilly Laboratories from 2003 to 2007, and later a vice president of bioscience at AstraZeneca from 2007 to 2019. 

He was most recently a vice president of research and development at cardiovascular treatment startup NeoProgen Inc. in Baltimore.

“Sotirios will bring critical expertise and proven executive leadership to our mission of developing a world-class portfolio in cardiovascular, metabolic, and other complex diseases that have proven refractory to conventional methods,” said Enveda CEO Viswa Colluru in a statement.

Enveda is using artificial intelligence to identify potential therapeutics that occur in nature. The company is working on pre-clinical research into treatments for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and Wilson’s Disease, two conditions where fat and copper build up in the liver.

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