DNA Today Podcast: Mitochondrial Disorders with Alejandro Dorenbaum
Reposted with Permission from DNA Today
Alejandro Dorenbaum, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Reneo Pharmaceuticals
To celebrate February as rare disease month we will be interviewing leaders in rare diseases throughout the month! In this episode, we explore new research in one of the mitochondrial disorders, primary mitochondrial myopathy (PMM). Joining us for this conversation is Dr. Alejandro Dorenbaum, the Chief Medical Officer of Reneo Pharmaceuticals, who is currently studying an investigational therapy for PMM.
Dr. Dorenbaum is a board-certified allergist-immunologist with over 25 years of experience in drug development and clinical trials. Prior to serving as the CMO of Reneo Pharmaceuticals, he served as the Chief Medical Officer of several other pharmaceutical companies, where he achieved proof-of-concept in clinical trials for novel therapeutic antibodies targeting inflammatory cells. He received his medical degree from the National Autonomous University in Mexico City, and completed his residency in pediatrics at the University of Texas Health Science Center and held fellowship in allergy and immunology at Baylor College of Medicine. He maintains an active academic position as Clinical Professor in Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine.
On This Episode We Discuss:
The function of the mitochondria
Challenges of living with a mitochondrial condition
How primary mitochondrial myopathies (PMM) are unique
How the percentage of affected mitochondria correlates with the severity of symptoms
What is Reneo doing to help diagnose more patients with PMM
Reneo’s STRIDE study for the treatment of PMM
To learn more about the STRIDE study, check out the study website or search for it on the Know Rare study finder. Be sure to follow Dr. Dorenbaum on LinkedIn and Reneo Pharmaceuticals on Twitter.
Stay tuned for the next new episode of DNA Today on February 11, 2022, where we continue our rare disease month celebrations with Aceragen discussing Farber disease! In the meantime, you can binge over 170 other episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, streaming on the website, or any other podcast player by searching, “DNA Today”. All episodes in 2021 are also recorded with video which you can watch on our YouTube channel.
See what else we are up to on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and our website, DNApodcast.com. Questions/inquiries can be sent to info@DNApodcast.com.
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