Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Highlights Newly Expanded Board Of Directors
BOSTON, Nov. 6, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:PRTK) recently announced the members of its newly expanded board of directors. Michael F Bigham, Thomas J. Dietz, Ph.D, Robert Radie, Jeffrey Stein, Ph.D., Richard Lim, and Evan Loh M.D.
"I am delighted to be working with this newly expanded board at such an exciting time in the history of our company," said Michael F. Bigham, CEO and Chairman of Paratek Pharmaceuticals. "We have successfully transitioned into a public company and added significant financial resources through a recent financing. This new board has considerable experience managing publicly traded biopharmaceutical companies with expertise directly relevant to Paratek's primary focus of developing and preparing for the commercialization of omadacycline, our broad-spectrum IV and oral once daily antibiotic candidate for serious community-acquired bacterial infections where resistance is of concern."
About Paratek's Board Members
Michael F. Bigham, appointed Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the board of directors of Paratek in June 2014. Mr. Bigham has more than 25 years of senior leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Since 2003, he has been a Partner at Abingworth LLP, a leading international investment group dedicated to life sciences and healthcare. He currently serves on the boards of Avedro and Secure EDI, where he is Chairman, and has held several directorships, including at Avila Therapeutics (where he was also the founding Chairman and CEO), Magellan Biosciences, Portola Pharmaceuticals, Supernus Pharmaceuticals and Valeritas. Mr. Bigham was formerly Vice Chairman of Corixa Corporation, a publicly traded biotechnology company, and was President and Chief Executive of Coulter Pharmaceuticals, a publicly-traded oncology company, until it merged into Corixa. Previously, he was an early employee at Gilead Sciences where he served in various capacities, including Executive Vice President of Operations and Chief Financial Officer. Before joining Gilead, Mr. Bigham was a Partner at Hambrecht & Quist where he became Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking. Mr. Bigham received his B.S. from the University of Virginia and qualified as a C.P.A. before completing his M.B.A. at Stanford University.
Thomas J. Dietz, Ph.D., was a member of Transcept's board of directors since his appointment in April 2013. Dr. Dietz has served as Chairman and CEO of Waypoint Holdings, LLC, a financial services firm, since December 2010. He was previously co-CEO and then CEO and a director of Pacific Growth Equities, LLC, an investment bank and institutional brokerage firm, from 2004 to January 2009, when Wedbush Securities acquired the firm. Dr. Dietz subsequently served as head of the investment banking division at Wedbush until November 2010. He joined Pacific Growth in 1993 and served in various roles, including senior roles in equities research and investment banking, prior to assuming the CEO role. Previously, Dr. Dietz was a member of the research faculty in the Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and the VA Medical Center. Dr. Dietz holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology and biochemistry from Washington University in St. Louis.
Robert Radie, has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Egalet since March 2012. From November 2010 to October 2011, Mr. Radie served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Topaz Pharmaceuticals Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company acquired by Sanofi Pasteur in 2011. From March 2009 to November 2010, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Transmolecular, Inc., a biotechnology company developing cancer diagnostic and treatment products, after serving as a consultant to Transmolecular from December 2008 through March 2009. From September 2007 to September 2008, Mr. Radie served as the Chief Business Officer of Prestwick Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company. Before joining Prestwick, Mr. Radie served in senior management positions with a number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Morphotek, Inc., Vicuron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Eli Lilly and Company. Mr. Radie has served as a director of Horse Power For Life, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for individuals diagnosed with cancer, since 2007. Mr. Radie received his B.S. in chemistry from Boston College.
Jeffrey Stein, Ph.D., has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Cidara Therapeutics since 2014. Prior to joining Cidara, Dr. Stein was Chief Executive Officer of Trius Therapeutics from its founding in 2007 until its acquisition by Cubist Pharmaceuticals in September of 2013. Dr. Stein is also founding Chairman and President of the Antibiotics Working Group, an industry lead 501(c)(6) organization. Previously, Dr. Stein was a Venture Partner and Kauffman Fellow with Sofinnova Ventures and opened the firm's San Diego office in 2005. Prior to joining Sofinnova, Dr. Stein was co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Quorex Pharmaceuticals which was acquired by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals in 2005. He has also served as a Principal Scientist with Diversa Corporation and the Agouron Institute. Dr. Stein conducted his postdoctoral research as an Alexander Hollaender Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at the California Institute of Technology and his graduate work as a NASA Graduate Student Researcher Fellow at UCSD.
Richard Lim has been a member of Paratek's board of directors since March 2014. Mr. Lim is a General Partner at Omega Funds and has over 20 years in principal investment and strategic consulting, all within life science and healthcare. He was previously a General Partner at MVM Life Science Partners, a life science focused venture capital firm with $500 million under management; he founded MVM's US investment operations. He was previously a Vice President at Saunders, Karp & Megrue (SKM), a private equity firm with $1.7 billion under management, where he specialized in healthcare growth capital and leveraged transactions. Prior to SKM (now known as Apax Partners Inc.), Mr. Lim was a Manager at LEK Consulting, providing strategic advice to life science companies; he consulted for more than 3 dozen small and large biotechnology firms. He was also an Associate with M&A investment bank BT Wolfensohn. He has served on a number of boards in biotechnology, specialty pharmaceuticals, and medical device companies. He serves as a catalyst advisor of the Deshpande Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned his A.B. from Harvard University and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Evan Loh, MD, was elected President of Paratek in June 2014. He was appointed Chief Medical Officer of Paratek in June 2012 and has served on Paratek's board of directors since May 2012, including Chairman from June 2012 until June 2014. From October 2009 to January 2012, Dr. Loh served as Senior Vice President, Development and Strategic Operations, Worldwide Research and Development, at Pfizer. While at Pfizer, Dr. Loh's responsibilities included scientific, operational, and strategic drug development oversight for all pre-proof of concept development phase programs and leading portfolio prioritization. Dr. Loh joined Pfizer from Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, where he was Vice President, Multiple Therapeutic Areas where he was responsible for global strategy and clinical operational deliverables. In his 9 years at Wyeth, he led the successful registration programs for Torisel and Tygacil. He is the 2006 recipient of the Heroes of Chemistry Award from the American Chemical Society for his leadership role at Wyeth in the clinical development of Tygacil. Dr. Loh served as a faculty member at both Harvard Medical School and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Loh received his A.B. from Harvard College and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He completed his Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular fellowship training at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
About Omadacycline
Omadacycline is a new once daily intravenous and oral tetracycline-derived, broad-spectrum antibiotic being developed for use as a first-line monotherapy for patients suffering from serious community-acquired bacterial infections, such as acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI), community acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP) and other community-acquired bacterial infections, particularly when antibiotic resistance is of concern to prescribing physicians.
Omadacycline was designed to provide broad-spectrum activity, and possibly shorter hospital stays, by allowing for the completion of therapy at home with an oral formulation, thereby potentially positioning omadacycline to become the primary antibiotic choice of physicians for the treatment of serious community-acquired bacterial infections.
About Paratek
Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapies based upon its expertise in novel tetracycline chemistry. Paratek's lead product candidate, omadacycline, is a new tetracycline-derived, broad-spectrum antibiotic being developed in both oral tablet and intravenous formulations for use as a first-line monotherapy antibiotic for ABSSSI, CABP, urinary tract infections (UTI) and other serious community-acquired bacterial infections, particularly when antibiotic resistance is of concern to prescribing physicians. Omadacycline has received Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for both the oral and intravenous formulations in all three of these infectious disease categories. Paratek has Special Protocol Assessment agreements with the FDA for the phase 3 trials planned in ABSSSI and CABP.
Paratek's second product candidate, WC 3035 (sarecycline), is a new tetracycline-derived compound, with dual narrow-spectrum antibacterial and potent anti-inflammatory activity, for the treatment of acne and rosacea in the community setting. Paratek has licensed rights to WC 3035 for the treatment of acne and rosacea in the United States to a subsidiary of Actavis (formerly Warner Chilcott), while retaining rights in the rest of the world. Actavis is responsible for the clinical development of WC 3035 for the treatment of acne in the United States. A phase 3 program in moderate-severe acne is expected to be initiated in 2014 for WC 3035.
Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release regarding our strategy, future operations, future financial position, future revenue, projected expenses, prospects, plans and objectives, intentions, beliefs and expectations of management are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements may be accompanied by such words as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "project," "target," "will" and other words and terms of similar meaning. Examples of such statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to Paratek's ability to develop its drug candidates for potential commercialization, the timing of the commencement of omadacycline phase 3 trials for ABSSSI and CABP, the potential for omadacycline to be successfully developed for use as a first-line empiric monotherapy for patients suffering from serious community-acquired bacterial infections, the potential of omadacycline to become the primary antibiotic choice of physicians for the treatment of serious community-acquired bacterial infections, including ABSSSI, CABP and UTI, the potential use and effectiveness of WC 3035 (sarecycline) for the treatment of acne and rosacea in the community setting, the timing of the commencement of a phase 3 program in moderate-severe acne for WC 3035, and the value that the new members of management are expected to bring to Paratek. Paratek may not actually achieve the plans, carry out the intentions or meet the expectations or projections disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions, expectations and projections disclosed in the forward-looking statements. Various important factors could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements that Paratek makes, including the risks that Paratek's planned clinical trials may be prolonged or delayed requiring Paratek to incur additional costs; that Paratek's planned clinical trials may not satisfy the requirements of the FDA or non-U.S. regulatory authorities; that Paratek's product candidates may have undesirable side effects which may delay or prevent marketing approval; that, even if approved by the FDA or non-U.S. regulatory authorities, Paratek's product candidates may not achieve broad market acceptance; and the risks described in the "Risk Factors" sections of the Registration Statement on Form S-4 (file no. 333-298464) and of Paratek's periodic reports filed with the SEC. Paratek does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
CONTACT: Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Evan Loh President and Chief Medical Officer (617) 275-0040 x223 [email protected] Investor Relations Hans Vitzthum LifeSci Advisors, LLC. 212-915-2568 [email protected]
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