Paul-Peter Tak

Tak graduated as a Doctor of Medicine cum laude from the Free University in Amsterdam and began his medical career as a practitioner in the Bronovo Hospital, The Hague.[4] He joined Leiden University Medical Centre as a Fellow in Internal Medicine in 1990 and was awarded a Fellowship in Rheumatology in 1995.[5] Tak received his PhD from the University of Leiden in 1996 for his thesis Immunohistologic studies of rheumatoid synovial tissue.[4]

Tak was awarded full board certification in the Netherlands as internist and as rheumatologist.[6]

Following his MD degree, Tak became a research fellow in clinical research in rheumatology and immunology at Leiden University Medical Center.[4] Tak was professor of medicine at the Academic Medical Centre/University of Amsterdam (AMC) and served as director of the Department of Clinical Immunology & Rheumatology at AMC for 12 years.[5][7] He also worked as a scientist for 2 years at the University of California San Diego (UCSD).[5] Tak is honorary professor of rheumatology at Ghent University and honorary senior visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge, among other visiting professorships.

Tak served as GSK's chief immunology officer and senior vice president of their ImmunoInflammation Therapy Area and R&D Pipeline.[5] During his time as SVP of ImmunoInflammation, the unit brought over 10 new mechanisms of action into the clinic and filed Benlysta SC, a drug that was approved for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus.[5] Later, Tak also led R&D in Infectious Disease and Oncology, where he oversaw the creation of a new portfolio in Immuno-Oncology and Cell & Gene Therapy.[8] Tak founded GSK's Immunology Network, a collaboration between GSK and leading academics in addition to leading the Oncology and Infectious Disease Therapy Area Units.[4]

In addition to his work at GSK, Tak has also served as CEO of Tempero Pharmaceuticals, and established Arthrogen, a gene therapy biotech which represented a joint venture between the Dubai Bone & Joint Center (DBAJ) in the United Arab Emirates and the Academic Medical Center (AMC) in Amsterdam.[5][9]

Tak has also been involved in various bioelectronics companies, including Galvani Bioelectronics[10][11] and Sitryx Therapeutics, a biotech company that Tak co-founded in 2018 which focuses on Immunometabolics.[12][13] He has also been on the boards of various organisations, including multiple GSK boards, Levicept, Index Life VI and Medicxi, ViiV Healthcare Limited, and the Innovation Board Steering Committee for the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).[5]

In 2019, Tak was announced as president and CEO of Kintai Therapeutics, a startup focused on enteric signaling networks, developing proprietary small molecules called precision enteric medicines.[14][15]

Tak has studied the role of the vagus nerve in chronic inflammation, work which provided the basis for clinical trials exploring bioelectronics as a novel therapeutic approach in rheumatoid arthritis patients.[16][17][18][19][20] He is also known for his studies on synovial biopsy and synovial tissue analysis.[21] Tak has also studied the earliest, preclinical disease stages of rheumatoid arthritis, providing experimental evidence in humans that B cells play a critical role in the development of the disease through mechanisms including antigen presentation and T-cell activation.[22][23] He was previously co-editor of the journal Arthritis & Rheumatology.[5]

In his academic life, Tak has been visiting professor, William Harvey Research Institute (London), honorary senior visiting fellow (University of Cambridge), honorary professor of rheumatology (Ghent University) and was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (U.K.) in 2016.[24]

He has also lectured extensively, delivering named lectures such as the Albrecht Hasinger Lecture (2010) in Berlin, the Kåre Berglund Lecture (2010) in Sweden, the Ruysch Lecture (2010) in Amsterdam, the Weichselbaum-Landsteiner Lecture of Rheumatology, (2010) in Vienna, the ACR Hench Lecture (2012 – the American College of Rheumatology), the Dunlop-Dottridge Lecture (2012 – the Canadian Rheumatology Association) and the Eric Bywaters Lecture (2012 - Imperial College London).[25]

His awards include the Toparts Reumatologie (2011- elected by peers as ‘Best Rheumatologist’ in the Netherlands),[26] the Medal of Honour (2011 – the Netherlands Society for Rheumatology),[27] Honorary Membership (2012 - the European League Against Rheumatism, EULAR),[28] and was rated as one of the world's top 3 doctors in the field of rheumatoid arthritis by Expertscape (2014).[29]

Tak, along with other researchers, has published more than 550 scientific papers (H Index 122), including:

• Maanen, Marjolein A. van; Lebre, Maria C.; Poll, Tom van der; LaRosa, Gregory J.; Elbaum, Daniel; Vervoordeldonk, Margriet J.; Tak, Paul P. (2009). "Stimulation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors attenuates collagen-induced arthritis in mice". Arthritis & Rheumatism. 60 (1): 114–122. doi:10.1002/art.24177. ISSN 1529-0131. PMID 19116908.
• Tak, Paul P.; Vervoordeldonk, Margriet J.; LaRosa, Gregory J.; Stoof, Susanne P.; Maanen, Marjolein A. van (1 September 2010). "Role of the cholinergic nervous system in rheumatoid arthritis: aggravation of arthritis in nicotinic acetylcholine receptor α7 subunit gene knockout mice" (PDF). Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. 69 (9): 1717–1723. doi:10.1136/ard.2009.118554. ISSN 1468-2060.
• Maanen, Marjolein A. Van; Stoof, Susanne P.; Zanden, Esmerij P. Van Der; Jonge, Wouter J. De; Janssen, Richard A.; Fischer, David F.; Vandeghinste, Nick; Brys, Reginald; Vervoordeldonk, Margriet J.; Tak, Paul P. (2009). "The α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor on fibroblast-like synoviocytes and in synovial tissue from rheumatoid arthritis patients: A possible role for a key neurotransmitter in synovial inflammation". Arthritis & Rheumatism. 60 (5): 1272–1281. doi:10.1002/art.24470. ISSN 1529-0131.
• Tak, Paul P.; Vervoordeldonk, Margriet J.; Maanen, Marjolein A. van (April 2009). "The cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway: towards innovative treatment of rheumatoid arthritis". Nature Reviews Rheumatology. 5 (4): 229–232. doi:10.1038/nrrheum.2009.31. ISSN 1759-4804.
• Tak, Paul P.; Tracey, Kevin J.; Zitnik, Ralph; Faltys, Michael; Levine, Yaakov A.; Mehta, Ashesh D.; Schuurman, P. Richard; Sokolovic, Sekib; Grazio, Simeon; Miljko, Sanda; Chavan, Sangeeta S.; Koopman, Frieda A. (19 July 2016). "Vagus nerve stimulation inhibits cytokine production and attenuates disease severity in rheumatoid arthritis". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113 (29): 8284–8289. doi:10.1073/pnas.1605635113. ISSN 1091-6490. PMC 4961187. PMID 27382171.
• Koopman, F.A.; Tang, M.W.; Vermeij, J.; de Hair, M.J.; Choi, I.Y.; Vervoordeldonk, M.J.; Gerlag, D.M.; Karemaker, J.M.; Tak, P.P. (April 2016). "Autonomic Dysfunction Precedes Development of Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Prospective Cohort Study". EBioMedicine. 6: 231–237. doi:10.1016/j.ebiom.2016.02.029. PMC 4856742. PMID 27211565.
• Tak, Paul Peter; Vervoordeldonk, Margriet J.; Zitnik, Ralph; Bendele, Alison; Caravaca, April; Faltys, Michael; Koopman, Frieda A.; Levine, Yaakov A. (11 August 2014). "Neurostimulation of the Cholinergic Anti-Inflammatory Pathway Ameliorates Disease in Rat Collagen-Induced Arthritis". PLOS ONE. 9 (8): e104530. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...9j4530L. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0104530. ISSN 1932-6203.
• Tak, Paul P.; Cook, Andrew D.; Hamilton, John A. (January 2017). "Anti-colony-stimulating factor therapies for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases". Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 16 (1): 53–70. doi:10.1038/nrd.2016.231. ISSN 1474-1784.
• Prinjha, Rab K.; Tarakhovsky, Alexander; Tak, Paul P.; Tough, David F. (December 2016). "Epigenetic drug discovery: breaking through the immune barrier". Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 15 (12): 835–853. doi:10.1038/nrd.2016.185. ISSN 1474-1784.
• Aletaha, Daniel; Bingham, Clifton O; Tanaka, Yoshiya; Agarwal, Prasheen; Kurrasch, Regina; Tak, Paul P; Popik, Sharon (March 2017). "Efficacy and safety of sirukumab in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis refractory to anti-TNF therapy (SIRROUND-T): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, multinational, phase 3 study". The Lancet. 389 (10075): 1206–1217. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(17)30401-4. ISSN 0140-6736.
• Gerlag, Danielle M.; Safy, Mary; Maijer, Karen I.; Tang, Man Wai.; Tas, Sander W.; Starmans-Kool, Mirian J. F.; Tubergen, Astrid van; Janssen, Matthijs; de Hair, Maria; Hansson, Monika; de Vries, Niek; Zwinderman, Aeilko H.; Tak, Paul P.date=2019-02-01 (2019). "Effects of B-cell directed therapy on the preclinical stage of rheumatoid arthritis: the PRAIRI study". Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. 78 (2): 179–185. doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2017-212763. ISSN 0003-4967. PMC 6352407. PMID 30504445.

• GSK profile
• GSK: The Immunology Network
• Interview with the Biochemical society
• Interview with Future Medicine
• Interview with NatureJobs