Sparrow Pharmaceuticals Appoints Industry Leader Carlo Incerti, M.D., To Board Of Directors As Company Prepares Pivotal Trials For Clofutriben In Type 2 Diabetes

Sparrow Pharmaceuticals, a company developing targeted cardiometabolic therapies, announced that Carlo Incerti, M.D., has joined its Board of Directors effective January 1, 2026. Dr. Incerti is a seasoned biopharmaceutical executive with more than 35 years of strategic and medical experience, along with a strong scientific background.

Robert Jacks, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sparrow, said that Dr. Incerti’s appointment comes at an important time as the company prepares for pivotal trials of clofutriben for type 2 diabetes and explores development in additional cardiometabolic conditions. He noted that Dr. Incerti’s global reputation and long history of guiding successful therapeutic development provide meaningful validation for Sparrow’s scientific approach.

Dr. Incerti stated that Sparrow is advancing a novel mechanism of action designed to address a fundamental driver of metabolic dysfunction that existing treatments do not adequately target. By lowering intracellular cortisol only in patients who show evidence of elevated cortisol and its harmful effects, he explained that HSD-1 inhibition with clofutriben has the potential to move treatment away from generalized approaches and toward addressing a specific cause of disease progression. 

He highlighted that clofutriben has already shown encouraging signals of improved glycemic control and potential benefits in weight, blood pressure, and lipid levels, all while maintaining a favorable safety and tolerability profile. He described the drug’s overall clinical potential as highly promising for helping patients achieve broader therapeutic goals.

Dr. Incerti currently serves as an Operating Partner at Forbion and brings significant leadership experience from his time in the biopharmaceutical sector. He previously served as Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer, and Head of Global Medical Affairs at Sanofi Genzyme. Before entering industry, he was an Associate Professor of Endocrinology at the University of Modena, where his academic work centered on thyroid disease and sex hormone research.

In addition to joining Sparrow’s board, Dr. Incerti is Chairman of the Board at Numab Therapeutics AG and Chairman at Azafaros B.V. He also serves on the boards of Dyne Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: DYN) and Synox Therapeutics Ltd. He is a founding member of the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC). Previously, he chaired the boards of Inversago Pharma, which was acquired by Novo Nordisk in 2023, and Yellow Jersey Therapeutics, a Numab spin-off sold to Johnson & Johnson in 2024.