Passkey Therapeutics Taps Mandeep Kaur as Chief Medical Officer

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Passkey Therapeutics is appointing Mandeep Kaur, MD, Chief Medical Officer. Passkey has pioneered a proprietary computational genetics-based platform, Locksmith, to systematically identify new therapeutic opportunities from synergistic drug combinations.

Since Locksmith is purpose-built to predict emergent combinatorial pharmacology, Passkey says it enables biopharmaceutical partners to map their portfolios.

How Kaur Fits at Passkey

As CMO, Kaur will lead clinical and medical strategy of Passkey’s advancement of Locksmith-identified drug combinations into clinical studies. Currently, the company says it has a broad clinical strategy to demonstrate versatility of Locksmith’s predictions across multiple therapeutic areas.

In general, Locksmith’s predictions should translate into meaningful patient outcomes in areas of high unmet need. The key to moving quickly into the clinic, Passkey says, is that Locksmith-identified combinations include medicines with already-established safety profiles.

New Chief Medical Officer Bona Fides

Kaur’s experience aligns with Passkey’s desire to validate new treatment hypotheses in patients. She has experience in biotechnology, clinical development, and regulatory execution, contributing to 19 product launches and multiple major biopharma transactions.

Prior to Passkey, Kaur was Senior Vice President of Global Medical Affairs and Outcomes Research for Rare Disease at Amgen. This followed Amgen’s acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics, where Kaur led global medical strategy for that company’s diverse portfolio.

“Patients with common chronic diseases often require more than a single therapeutic mechanism to achieve meaningful outcomes,” Kaur said. “Passkey’s Locksmith platform unlocks novel and synergistic combinations of well-characterized drugs, enabling us to move earlier into clinical assessment. I’m pleased to join this team and to help translate Locksmith’s predictions into rigorous clinical proof and, ultimately, real‑world impact.”

“There is vast untapped potential within existing approved medicines,” Passkey CEO Bruce Beutel said. “With Mandeep’s leadership, our team is distinctly equipped to demonstrate that Locksmith enables a direct path to the clinic.”