Saniona – FDA Orphan Drug Designation for Tesomet in Hypothalamic Obesity

Rami Levin, President and CEO of Saniona discusses Tesomet, the first and only investigational treatment for Hypothalamic Obesity (HO) to receive orphan drug designation. This marks a major milestone for the patient community as there are currently no medications specifically approved for HO. Patients living with this disease experience uncontrollable hunger and intractable weight gain, which is often complicated by depression, impulse control issues and increased risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. This milestone builds on the orphan drug designation granted by the FDA earlier this year to Tesomet for the treatment of Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) and Saniona is preparing to initiate Phase 2b studies of Tesomet in HO and PWS in the second half of this year.​ 

Rami Levin, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Rami Levin (born 1969) is a seasoned biotech leader with over 24 years of experience in rare diseases and central nervous system disorders. Prior to joining Saniona in January 2020, he most recently served as President of Sobi Inc., the North American affiliate of international rare disease company Sobi. At Sobi, he built and led the North American organization from infancy to a team of approximately 300 employees generating over half a billion USD in annual revenue. Levin’s experience in mergers and acquisitions resulted in the successful acquisitions of Gamifant, the first FDA approved treatment for primary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (pHLH), and Synagis, the only FDA approved prophylaxis for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Under his leadership, the Sobi team launched Gamifant and integrated the entire Synagis sales and medical organizations, retaining 100% of the team.

Prior to joining Sobi, Levin held commercial leadership roles of increasing strategic importance for 16 years at Merck Serono in a number of countries, including the U.S., Sweden, Switzerland and Israel. Levin earned his MBA from the Recanati Business School at Tel Aviv University in Israel, majoring in International Marketing, and has a BSc in Biology from Tel Aviv University.

In addition to his current position as President and CEO of Saniona, Levin serves as a member of the Board of Advisors for Life Science Cares.

Levin holds 10,000 shares and 710,313 options in the options program 2020/2024 and 1,262,000 options in the options program 2020/2031.