Palisade Bio Expands Leadership Team With Appointment Of Sharon Skare, PhD(c), As Vice President, Global Head Of Clinical Operations, To Drive Its Pipeline Of Precision Therapies

Palisade Bio, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing precision therapies for autoimmune, inflammatory, and fibrotic diseases, has announced the appointment of Sharon Skare, PhD(c), as Vice President, Global Head of Clinical Operations. Sharon Skare brings more than 24 years of experience in global clinical development and operations, having worked with both large pharmaceutical and emerging biotechnology companies. 

Her expertise covers autoimmune, metabolic, gastrointestinal, and fibrotic diseases, and she has successfully led programs from early-stage development through regulatory approval, commercialization, and post-marketing submissions. Over her career, she has also served seven years as a department head within Clinical Operations, playing a key role in several global inspection-readiness initiatives and post-approval filings, including therapies in ulcerative colitis and diabetes.

Dr. Mitchell Jones, Chief Medical Officer of Palisade Bio, expressed his confidence in the appointment, stating that Sharon’s extensive experience in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and her proven leadership in clinical operations will be instrumental as the company advances its investigational therapy, PALI-2108, into planned Phase 2 studies. He added that her leadership would help strengthen Palisade’s operational infrastructure and accelerate the company’s progress toward major clinical and regulatory milestones.

In her remarks, Sharon Skare said she is excited to join Palisade Bio at a critical stage in its evolution. She noted that with millions of people worldwide affected by ulcerative colitis and fibrostenotic Crohn’s disease, there is a strong need for innovative treatments that are both effective and well-tolerated. She emphasized that the growing data supporting PALI-2108 and its targeted oral delivery mechanism represent an important opportunity to transform treatment options for patients with IBD. She looks forward to applying her global operations expertise to help drive clinical excellence and realize the potential of this first-in-class therapy.

Before joining Palisade Bio, Sharon served as Vice President and Global Head of Clinical Operations at Abivax, where she oversaw global Phase 3 and Phase 2 programs in ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Prior to that, she held senior leadership positions at Pfizer and Arena Pharmaceuticals, where she led the global clinical operations program for Etrasimod, an oral selective S1P receptor modulator for ulcerative colitis that is now approved as Velsipity™. During her tenure, she received Pfizer’s Craig A. Saxton Clinical Development Excellence Award and 12 additional recognitions for leadership and excellence in clinical development. 

Sharon also served as Head of Clinical Operations at Elcelyx Therapeutics, where she helped advance a delayed-release metformin formulation for Type 2 diabetes from proof of concept through End-of-Phase 2 discussions with the U.S. FDA. Earlier in her career, she contributed to the development and approval of Byetta®, the first GLP-1 agonist, and Symlin®, the first non-insulin therapy for Type 1 diabetes, during her time at Amylin Pharmaceuticals. She also held clinical research positions at PPD and Clinimetrics Research Associates.

Palisade Bio is currently developing PALI-2108, an orally administered prodrug engineered for localized delivery of phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) inhibition to the terminal ileum and colon. The molecule is designed to remain inactive as it passes through the upper gastrointestinal tract and become active only in the lower intestine, where bacterial enzymes release the active PDE4 inhibitor directly at the site of inflammation and fibrosis. This targeted and gut-restricted design allows for sustained local exposure, a longer half-life that supports once-daily dosing, and reduced systemic absorption, minimizing common side effects such as nausea and headache that are often associated with systemic PDE4 inhibitors.

The company recently completed a Phase 1a/1b clinical study of PALI-2108 in patients with ulcerative colitis (NCT06663605), which demonstrated positive results. A Phase 1b study is currently underway to evaluate PALI-2108 in fibrostenotic Crohn’s disease. Data from these studies are expected to support Phase 2 Investigational New Drug (IND) submissions to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the first half of 2026.