Recognition honors a CEO who has demonstrated visionary leadership
and active participation to advance the life sciences and biotech
industry
MALVERN, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/antibiotics?src=hash" target="_blank"gt;#antibioticslt;/agt;–VenatoRx
Pharmaceuticals’ President and CEO, Christopher
J. Burns, Ph.D., was named the 2018 “Frank Baldino CEO of the Year”
award by Life Sciences Pennsylvania. The award recognizes a CEO who has
demonstrated visionary leadership and active participation to advance
the industry.
“I am honored to receive this award and to be connected with Frank
Baldino’s revered legacy,” said Dr. Burns. “I am equally grateful to my
fellow founders, Dr. Daniel Pevear and Dr. Luigi Xerri, and our esteemed
team of entrepreneurial scientists and visionaries who have worked
tirelessly to advance our company to where it is today. Additionally, we
would not be where we are without funding awards from the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), Wellcome Trust, CARB-X, and the Defense
Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) as well as private equity investments
from Versant Ventures, Abingworth, and Foresite Capital. We have built a
robust research and development organization that has the potential to
save lives by treating multi-drug resistant bacterial infections and
hard-to-treat viral infections. We are excited by the incredible
possibilities that lie ahead.”
Dr. Burns has more than 25 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical
industry including various corporate and R&D leadership positions at
Protez Pharmaceuticals, ViroPharma, and Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (now
Sanofi). He has appeared as co-author or co-inventor on more than 60
patents and publications and has served as Principal Investigator on
more than ten awarded U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH) grants. He
received a B.S. in Chemistry from St. Joseph’s University, and a Ph.D.
in Organic Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) under Nobel-laureate Professor K. Barry Sharpless. Dr. Burns
currently serves on the Board of Directors at Life Sciences Pennsylvania
(LSPA) and the Antimicrobials Working Group (AWG) and was named an EY
Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist in 2018.
“Frank Baldino, Jr. was a pillar of the life sciences community in the
Greater Philadelphia region and of the biotechnology industry as a
whole,” said Christopher Molineaux, President and CEO of Life Sciences
Pennsylvania. “Like Frank Baldino, Chris is widely recognized as a
visionary leader while he has grown VenatoRx Pharmaceuticals from three
founders to more than 60 employees since its inception in 2010. On
behalf of the life sciences community in Pennsylvania, I thank Chris for
his outstanding leadership, innovative spirit and active participation
to advance our industry and congratulate him again on this distinction.”
“I have had the honor of knowing Chris for more than fifteen years
throughout various iterations in my career,” said Vincent Milano, Chief
Executive Officer at Idera Pharmaceuticals and Board Member at VenatoRx.
“Chris is a charismatic leader who exemplifies an innovative spirit. In
addition, he is one of the biggest supporters of Pennsylvania’s life
sciences industry. On behalf of the VenatoRx board of directors, I want
to share my heartfelt congratulations on this well-deserved recognition.”
About Life Sciences Pennsylvania
Life Sciences Pennsylvania (LSPA) is the statewide trade association for
the Commonwealth’s life sciences community. Founded in 1989, LSPA works
to ensure Pennsylvania has a business and public policy climate that
unites and incentivizes all facets of the state’s diverse life sciences
economy. LSPA represents biotechnology, medical device, diagnostic,
pharmaceutical, research, and investment entities, along with myriad
service providers that support the industry. Together, LSPA unifies
Pennsylvania’s innovators to make the Commonwealth a global life
sciences leader. For more information, please visit www.lifesciencespa.org.
About VenatoRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
VenatoRx is a private pharmaceutical company that is focused on the
discovery and development of novel anti-infectives to treat
multi-drug-resistant (MDR) bacterial infections and hard-to-treat viral
infections. VenatoRx’s lead product, VNRX-5133, is an injectable
broad-spectrum beta-lactamase inhibitor (BLI) that directly inhibits all
four Ambler classes of beta-lactamases, including the emerging
carbapenemases KPC and NDM-1. In addition, VenatoRx has a broad pipeline
of preclinical programs, including a broad-spectrum orally bioavailable
BLI, a novel class of Penicillin-Binding Protein (PBP) inhibitors that
are impervious to beta-lactamase-driven resistance, and novel antiviral
agents. For more information, please visit www.venatorx.com.
Contacts
MEDIA CONTACT:
Heather Hunter
Vice President,
Communications
VenatoRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
hunter@venatorx.com
610.644.8935
x8327