MALVERN, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/antibiotics?src=hash" target="_blank"gt;#antibioticslt;/agt;–VenatoRx
Pharmaceuticals today announced that Lisa Wittmer, Ph.D. has joined
the Company as Chief Development Officer. Dr. Wittmer has more than 20
years’ experience and a demonstrated track record in leading development
from early stages through to licensing, registration and
commercialization of new therapeutics. In her new role at VenatoRx, Dr.
Wittmer will oversee nonclinical and clinical development, as well as
global regulatory affairs.
“I am pleased to welcome Lisa to the VenatoRx family,” said Christopher
J. Burns, Ph.D., President and CEO at VenatoRx. “She possesses an
extraordinary array of talent, expertise and integrity that aligns with
our culture and values. A highly-regarded scientific leader in the life
sciences community, Lisa brings more than two decades of ground-up drug
development experience to our organization during a transformative time
in our company’s history. I look forward to working with Lisa as we
advance our programs to the market.”
“VenatoRx is a strong, fast-growing company that has a unique business
model, a robust R&D engine, and an esteemed group of experts who are
deeply committed to solving global health problems created by the spread
of serious drug-resistant bacterial and hard-to-treat viral infections,”
said Dr. Wittmer. “Innovation is at the heart of VenatoRx’s mission – to
discover, develop and progress into clinical development novel
therapeutics for infectious diseases with unmet medical need. I look
forward to working with Chris and the entire VenatoRx team to advance
these drug candidates.”
Throughout her career, Dr. Wittmer has held executive and senior
management positions in research & development, product strategy,
regulatory strategy, scientific assessment, portfolio development and
operations at established and emerging, public and private companies.
Dr. Wittmer has achieved clinical trial approval, marketing
authorization and new indications for more than fifteen currently
marketed products. Additionally, she has completed diligence of over 100
pharmaceutical or biotech products, and advised on valuation and
deal/partnership structures for product/company acquisitions.
Prior to joining VenatoRx, Dr. Wittmer founded Theorogen, LLC, a
consulting company focused on emerging life sciences companies seeking
strategic advice on their development, regulatory or partnering
strategies. Previously, Dr. Wittmer was Chief Operating Officer and
Director at AMO Pharma Ltd, a privately-held, start-up biopharmaceutical
company focused on rare diseases; Partner at NeXeption LLC, a
biopharmaceutical portfolio management company; and Vice President,
Global Regulatory Affairs & Compliance at Ceptaris Therapeutics, a
privately-held, mid-stage biopharma company focused on treatment of
cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Additionally, Dr. Wittmer was Vice President,
Global Regulatory Affairs and R&D Due Diligence, followed by General
Manager, for the Emerging Products Business Unit at Shire
Pharmaceuticals, where she led several multidisciplinary teams in
developing a portfolio of early and mid-phase specialty and rare disease
therapeutic candidates.
Dr. Wittmer continues to support the life-science start-up community in
Pennsylvania by serving as a Mentor-in-Residence at University of
Pennsylvania’s Center for Innovation and an advisor to Dreamit Ventures’
HealthTech program, which is focused on growth-stage digital health,
medical device and diagnostic startups. Prior to being appointed a
Howard Hughes Fellow at Duke University, Dr. Wittmer earned a Ph.D. in
Molecular Biophysics and Neuropharmacology from Washington University
School of Medicine in St. Louis; a M.S. in Chemistry from Washington
University in St. Louis; and a B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics from
the University of Detroit.
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 bacterial infections and hard-to-treat viral
infections. Founded in 2010, VenatoRx has built a world-class in-house
R&D organization that has filed over 100 patents spanning multiple
research programs. VenatoRx has received significant 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.
The Company’s most advanced development-stage product is VNRX-5133, an
injectable beta-lactamase inhibitor (BLI) that features selective and
potent in vitro activity against both serine- and
metallo-beta-lactamases, including OXA, KPC, NDM, and VIM. VenatoRx
believes that VNRX-5133, in a fixed combination with the fourth
generation cephalosporin, cefepime, has the potential to provide a
valuable broad-spectrum treatment option to meet unmet medical need in
patients with infections due to carbapenem-resistant pathogens including
carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas
aeruginosa (CRPA), suspected polymicrobial infections caused by both
gram-negative and gram-positive susceptible pathogens, and engineerable
MDR bioterror pathogens such as Burkholderia spp. and Salmonella
spp. Early clinical studies of cefepime/VNRX-5133 have been completed
and VenatoRx intends to initiate Phase 3 pivotal trials during the
second quarter 2019.
VenatoRx’s second development-stage product in clinical development is
VNRX-7145, an orally bioavailable BLI that in a fixed combination with
the third generation orally bioavailable cephalosporin, ceftibuten, has
the potential to rescue activity of the partner antibiotic against ESBLs
and key carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, including those
expressing KPC and OXA carbapenemases. Additionally, VenatoRx has a
broad pipeline of preclinical programs including a novel class of
Penicillin-Binding Protein (PBP) inhibitors that are impervious to
beta-lactamase-driven resistance, and novel antiviral agents targeting
Hepatitis B Virus. For more information, please visit www.venatorx.com.
Contacts
Heather Hunter
Vice President, Communications
VenatoRx
Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
hunter@venatorx.com
610.644.8935
x8327