RIDGEBACK BIOTHERAPEUTICS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Member of the Development Advisory Board
Dr. Parr has worked in the field of Pharmaceutical Sciences for 33 years. Most of this time has been spent in the big pharma sector (Glaxo, GlaxoWellcome, and GlaxoSmithKline). Dr. Parr's roles in big pharma including included formulation scientist, formulation manager, and Director of Biopharmaceutics, and responsibilities ranged from the development of formulations from the early development phase all the way through to the scale-up of commercial size batches for the marketplace. Specific activities during this time included physical property characterization, formulation screening, formulation development, manufacture of clinical supplies, transfer of product to production, and overall project management. He was intimately involved with the creation, review, and submission of regulatory documents to the US Food and Drug Administration, including Investigational New Drug (IND) applications, New Drug Applications (NDA) as well as foreign filings (Marketing Authorization Applications (MAA)).
Since June of 2015, Dr. Parr has served as a consultant to numerous small pharmaceutical companies and has served as a principal investor for 2 NIH grants where his primary responsibility was to file an IND for an NCE that was being developed. Dr. Parr earned his Pharm.D. degree from the University of Nebraska College of Pharmacy in 1981 and his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy in 1986.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Program Management
Felicia is the VP of Program Management at Ridgeback. Ms. Lipansky provides leadership and oversight for the development of the Company's COVID-19 program.
Felicia started her career in research at the Dana Farber in Boston and then UCSF, including HIA and the correlation between Human Herpes Virus 8 and Kaposi's Sarcoma.
Moving into clinical research, Felicia jumped into the development of the meningococcal vaccine space with the approval of the Menjugate vaccine, has spent time in oncology, as the PM lead for US and EU approvals of Carfilzomib for the treatment of relapsed and refractory Multiple Myeloma. Continuing in the unmet medical need space, Felicia lead program management, and led the charge to achieve approval of Oxbryta® for the treatment of sickle cell disease 5 years from IND filing.
Interests: When not developing novel therapies, Felicia can be found on fields everywhere playing Ultimate Frisbee, is captain for the Mother Huckers and plays on various teams. Other hobbies include snowboarding, skiing, dog training, hiking with her pup, and anything outdoors.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Development Advisory Board
- Professor
George Painter, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology at Emory University School of Medicine, CEO of the Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory (DRIVE), and director of the Emory Institute for Drug Development. Dr. Painter has decades of experience in the discovery and development of pharmaceutical agents for the biotechnology and global pharmaceutical sectors. Within three years of its start, DRIVE discovered and licensed an antiviral agent to a major pharmaceutical firm and secured two major federal antiviral drug development contracts. Over the last 30 years, he has played a major role in the discovery, development, and implementation of modern antiviral therapy.
Before coming to Emory in 2012, Dr. Painter cofounded and led the biotechnology firm Chimerix, Inc. During his tenure there, he led the development of a drug for the prevention and treatment of adenovirus infection in stem cell transplant patients, a previously untreatable and often fatal infection in children. Before Chimerix, he was a founding member of the management team of Triangle, Inc., where he led the development of the now widely used HIV drug, Emtriva. In 2002, Triangle was sold to Gilead Sciences.
Prior to entering the biotech sector, Dr. Painter held senior management positions in large pharmaceutical companies including Burroughs Wellcome Co and what is now
GlaxoSmithKline, where he led the discovery, development, and commercialization of antiviral agents to treat HIV and Hepatitis B. He holds more than 150 patents, many of which have led to approved, commercially available drugs or combinations of drugs for the treatment of HIV, Hepatitis B, smallpox, and coronavirus infections. He has published more than 120 peer-reviewed papers. Dr. Painter earned his BS in Chemistry, MS in Physical Organic Chemistry, and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at Emory. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology.
Job Titles:
- SVP of Global Medical Affairs
Sabue is the SVP of Global Medical Affairs at Ridgeback. Dr Mulangu is responsible for the strategy, direction, and execution of the Company's clinical development plans.
Job Titles:
- Director, Clinical Operations
Laura is the Director of Clinical Operations at Ridgeback. She leads Ridgeback's Clinical Operations group providing leadership and direction for the Company's clinical trials.
Laura started her Biotech career at Genentech after returning from a two-year tour in Kyrgyzstan with the Peace Corps. From there she went on to work on the development and approval of Kyprolis at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, where she realized it was best suited for dynamic, small company environments. After working at a series of startups (Stemcentrx, Amphivena Therapeutics, and Catalyst Biosciences) she was offered the opportunity of a lifetime to join Ridgeback's efforts in developing a COVID-19 oral therapy amidst an emerging pandemic; she couldn't help but run towards the fire. She and the incredible team at Ridgeback have been initiating novel methods of accelerated study startup, execution, and finalization, alongside the industry's most dedicated researchers and vendor partners.
Interests: Laura is a certified yoga instructor in San Francisco and enjoys travel, backpacking, hiking, dance, art, music, dogs, food, and coffee.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Product Development
Merribeth is the SVP of Product Development at Ridgeback. Dr Morin serves as the Company's Technical Program Lead directing all product development activities.
Merribeth has over 25 years of experience working with and for organizations developing human vaccines and biological products. Over nine of those years were spent working on global health concerns, most notably with PATH's Malaria Vaccine Initiative. At PATH, Dr. Morin oversaw the development of several vaccines, vaccine platforms, and biologics in various stages of development from R&D to Phase 2 clinical trials.
As Ridgeback's SVP of Product Development, Dr. Morin has continued the pursuit of delivering vital medicines to those who need them most. Merribeth was an integral member of the team that accelerated the development and licensure of EbangaTM. Dr. Morin earned her Ph.D. in Virology from Harvard University and her MBA from Northeastern University.
Interests: Ice hockey, recreational running (favorite race: Army Ten Miler), home improvement projects, travel.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Development Advisory Board
- Regulatory Affairs Consultant
- Regulatory Affairs Consultant in 2020 Following Their Acquisition of EIDD - 2801
Michael J. Dalton, Pharm.D., Regulatory Affairs Consultant has 35+ years of regulatory and drug development experience in the pharmaceutical industry working with large and midsize companies, small start-ups, and contract research organizations. Mike has an undergraduate degree in pharmacy from the University of Nebraska, a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Michigan, and completed a two-year fellowship in Clinical Drug Research/Drug Development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Burroughs Wellcome Co. Mike started his career at Burroughs Wellcome Co. in the clinical research department, later moved to regulatory affairs, and has worked in regulatory affairs in large and small pharma companies throughout his career.
Mike started a regulatory affairs consulting company, The Gnomon Group, LLC., in 2006 and has provided regulatory and drug development services to 75+ pharmaceutical companies. During his career in the pharmaceutical industry, Mike has been involved with several NDA approvals for NCEs and many other important supplemental NDAs. Mike has also helped file more than 150 INDs and has been the FDA contact person for many of these applications.
Mike joined Ridgeback Therapeutics as a regulatory affairs consultant in 2020 following their acquisition of EIDD-2801, an investigational antiviral treatment for Covid-19 infections, from Emory University. Mike and his consulting company colleagues have provided drug development support services to Ridgeback Therapeutics including regulatory strategy, FDA and other regulatory authority contact, medical writing, virology, statistics, nonclinical support, and regulatory operations including electronic submissions.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Development Advisory Board
- Managing Director and Co - Founder of Cleo Life Sciences
Sean Dalziel supports Ridgeback with executive leadership for all aspects of CMC for
Sean Dalziel is Managing Director and Co-founder of Cleo Life Sciences, a specialty consultancy and product innovation firm located within JLABS, South San Francisco. Sean is a pharmaceutical executive and entrepreneur with 25 years of industry experience in chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC), technical operations, product development, and corporate development/strategy. Through Cleo Life Sciences, Sean provides executive consultant roles at multiple biopharmaceutical companies and research services to prototype pharmaceutical drug products and process. Sean has supported CMC aspects of over 35 discovery through clinical stage programs, including 6 now in registration trials, and 4 commercial products: Kyprolis ® , Vibativ ® , Oxbryta ® , and Yupleri ® . He has therapeutic area experiences across oncology, hematology, antivirals, antibiotics, auto-immune, allergic reactions, GI, liver, and lung diseases. Sean previously was Head of Technical Operations / CMC at Tobira Therapeutics, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, and roles of increasing responsibilities at Theravance, DuPont, and CSIRO. Sean's academic qualifications include PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Queensland, MBA from UC Berkeley, Bachelor of Applied Science Honors from University of Western Sydney, Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Sydney.
Outside of work, Sean loves spending time with his wife Gena and children Mark and Josie. For fun, Sean enjoys flying aircraft, surfing, fishing, and snowboarding.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Finance
TC is the SVP of Finance at Ridgeback. Mr. Bane is responsible for the overall financial management of the Company and maintenance of essential operating systems.
Prior to joining Ridgeback, TC worked at BDO USA, LLP in its Industry Speciality Services consulting practice. He has spent much of his career supporting organizations in the Life Science, Biopharma, Biodefense, and Aerospace & Defense industries. TC has vast experience providing consulting and financial services, including assisting businesses to understand and evaluate the effects of cost recovery and the financial impact on their business, supporting compliance with all applicable legal and regulatory matters, and overseeing business practices to identify process augmentations that allow companies to improve efficiency.
Interests: Avid golfer, sports fanatic, lover of Italian food and good wine.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Development Advisory Board
Wendy Holman is the CEO and co-founder of Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.
Ms. Holman is passionate about global health and equality, education and advocating for diseases and patients who need champions. She is extraordinarily proud to lead the Ridgeback team for EBANGA™ which received FDA approval in 2020 for the treatment of Ebola. Ridgeback's focus on emerging infectious disease led Ms. Holman and her team to invest behind and support development of antivirals for coronaviruses, as well as other new pathogens.
Prior to co-founding Ridgeback, Ms. Holman worked at US-based ZBI Equities, a multi-billion dollar public equity investment fund and its parent company, Ziff Brothers Investments. Between 1999 and 2014, she held various positions including healthcare sector head and director of research at ZBI Equities, and Principal at Ziff Brothers Investments. Ms. Holman's investment focus was on novel and emerging technologies and platforms which could have a significant impact on human health.
Wendy serves on a variety of non-profit boards. She is a trustee for the University of Pennsylvania and the Ransom Everglades School. She is a member of the Board of Advisors for the University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Penn Medicine's Council for Discovery Science and the Sabin Vaccine Institute's research and development committee.
Interests: FAMILY and FRIENDS! I am a forever learner who enjoys reading, great conversations and new discoveries - even better if that in some way includes, my kids, my husband or my dogs.
Wendy Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at Ridgeback, overseeing the development of Lagevrio (molnupiravir). Having worked on Lagevrio since its discovery, Dr. Painter followed the molecule to Ridgeback. She is a physician executive who has held senior positions in health care and throughout the biopharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors and is a globally recognized expert in antiviral drug development. Prior to joining Ridgeback, Dr. Painter was a Consultant in Pharmaceutical Medicine in roles from nonclinical development through post-marketing life cycle management, CEO and CMO at QUE Oncology, CMO at Chimerix, Inc (developed Tembexa through Phase 2), and Medical Director at GlaxoSmithKline.
She earned her B.S. and M.S. (Organic Chemistry) at Emory University, an M.D. at the University of Miami School of Medicine, and an M.P.H. at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; after completing an Occupational Medicine Fellowship at Duke University Medical Center she joined the faculty at Duke. Dr. Painter served for a decade on an Institutional Review Board.
Interests: Avid naturalist. Outdoor explorer. Find her at the beach or in the garden.