Dr. Sarath Kanekal has been named vice president of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Absorption Systems. Dr. Kanekal has more than 16 years of pharma industry experience in the preclinical field. He will oversee all technical staff at Perry Scientific, the company’s in vivo toxicology and pharmacokinetics facility located in San Diego, CA.

“With extensive industry experience overseeing the full spectrum of preclinical assessment, Sarath is a tremendous asset to Absorption Systems and to our customers,” commented Patrick M. Dentinger, president and chief executive officer of Absorption Systems. “His appointment aligns with our mission to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies advance new drug candidates toward clinical testing and regulatory approval as efficiently as possible.”

Dr. Kanekal has led the nonclinical development and safety assessment of numerous drugs through the pre-clinical process all the way to NDA, including Treanda, Accusite, Omacetaxine and IntraDose. For the past year, he has served as a toxicology strategy consultant to Perry Scientific. Prior, he served as executive director of preclinical at Supergen and was responsible for nonclinical IND strategy for two Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors. Previous to this he was in charge of nonclinical safety assessment at Chiron (Novartis), Salmedix (Cephalon), Corixa (GSK) and Matrix Pharmaceutical (Chiron).