WATERTOWN, Mass.– Nocion Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel small molecule charged sodium channel blockers called “nocions”, that selectively silence actively firing nociceptors for the treatment of serious conditions involving cough, itch, and pain, today announced that it had appointed Dr. Catherine Bonuccelli to its Scientific Advisory Board and Joan Shaw to Senior Vice President, Clinical Operations. Both Bonuccelli and Shaw held leadership roles in the successful clinical development of camlipixant for persistent cough as members of the Bellus Health clinical team.
“We are delighted to welcome Cathy and Joan to our scientific/clinical teams as we prepare for the start of our ASPIRE (Phase 2b) clinical trial of Taplucainium in 240 chronic cough patients in the second half of 2024,” said Rick Batycky, CEO of Nocion Therapeutics. “Catherine and Joan each have unique and successful experiences in the area of therapeutic development for chronic cough. These experiences are immediately applicable to our development of Taplucainium for patients suffering from chronic cough.”
Dr. Bonuccelli has held a number of leadership positions focusing on the late-stage clinical development of large and small molecule programs in the respiratory and inflammation therapeutic areas. She served as Chief Medical Officer of Bellus Health from 2019 until its acquisition by GSK in 2023. Prior to joining Bellus, Dr. Bonuccelli spent more than four years serving as US Medical Affairs Respiratory Therapeutic Area Head for GSK. In this capacity, she oversaw all medical support activities for the company’s portfolio of respiratory treatments. She had previously had a 20-year tenure with AstraZeneca, where she held a number of roles, including Global Medicines Clinical Vice President for the Inflammation, Neuroscience, & Respiratory Therapeutic Area, and Therapy Area Clinical Vice President, Respiratory and Inflammation. In these positions, she had oversight for all aspects of late-stage clinical development, including product strategy and creation of Phase III-IV study protocols and design for inhaled, oral and biologic products including Symbicort and Fasenra. She was also responsible for designing and delivering brand lifecycle management opportunities, creating long-term portfolio strategies and managing medical and scientific staff.
Dr. Bonuccelli earned her MD, and was an Intern, Resident, Research Fellow and Clinical Fellow, at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. She has authored more than 30 publications and abstracts, has been a board member of several prominent boards and has been licensed in three states.
Prior to joining Nocion, Joan served as the SVP of Clinical Operation at Bellus Health (now GSK) and established their global late-stage drug development strategy for refractory chronic cough, completed their successful Phase 2b study and initiated a program of Phase 3 studies. She has a unique combination of experiences with large pharmaceutical companies (Astra Zeneca, DuPont Pharma, Takeda), biotech companies (Bellus Health, Agenus) and contract research organizations (Parexel, UBC, Quotient Sciences) in multiple therapeutic areas spanning over 30 years.
Joan is a licensed Medical Technologist (B.S., University of Delaware) and an MS in Clinical Chemistry (West Chester University) and holds a Six Sigma Black Belt (Villanova).
