MELBOURNE, Australia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Veterinary biologic therapy developer Nexvet Biopharma today announced that Dr. Samantha Busfield, PhD, and Dr. Dallas Hartman, PhD, two senior biopharmaceutical research and development executives, have joined Nexvet’s veterinary biologics research centre in Melbourne, Australia. This facility is designed to support Nexvet’s existing programs in companion animal therapies, and bolster its product pipeline.
Dr. Busfield formerly served as Director of Preclinical Cell Biology, and Dr. Hartman formerly served as Director of Analytical Biochemistry, each at CSL Ltd. CSL is an approximately US$30 billion biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Victoria, Australia.
“I’m delighted to welcome two such experienced research managers to the Nexvet team,” commented Dr. David Gearing, Nexvet’s Chief Scientific Officer. “Their breadth of experience in research and development in biopharmaceuticals will be invaluable.”
Nexvet’s research and development team is being joined by scientists with diverse backgrounds in biopharma as the team expands its therapeutic antibody characterisation and other preclinical work. Nexvet’s research centre has already yielded the discovery and characterisation of several novel biologic therapeutics focused on chronic pain and inflammation in companion animals (e.g. dogs and cats), now in the planning or early stages of clinical trials.
“We are excited about our work on new animal therapies, building on our pioneering research in this field to build a world-class centre for veterinary biologics research,” concluded Dr. Gearing.
About Nexvet (www.nexvet.com)
Nexvet is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on transforming the therapeutic market for companion animals, such as dogs and cats, by developing and commercializing novel, species-specific biologics. Nexvet’s proprietary PETization™ platform is designed to rapidly create monoclonal antibodies (“mAbs”) that are recognized as “self” by an animal’s immune system, a property referred to as “100% species-specificity.” Nexvet’s current product candidates also build upon the safety and efficacy data from clinically tested human therapies, thereby reducing clinical risk and development cost. Nexvet’s first product candidate, NV-01, is an anti-nerve growth factor mAb for the control of pain associated with osteoarthritis in dogs. Nexvet’s second product candidate, NV-02, is an anti-nerve growth factor mAb for the control of pain associated with degenerative joint disease in cats. Nexvet expects data from its pivotal safety and efficacy study for NV-01 by the end of 2015 and for NV-02 in 2016. Nexvet’s third product candidate, NV-08, is a tumor necrosis factor receptor fusion protein for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases, including atopic dermatitis, in dogs. If Nexvet’s safety studies for NV-08 are successful, Nexvet would have the potential for conditional licensure in 2015.
Nexvet’s team members have international track records in the development of human biologics and veterinary drugs, and are committed to developing biologics to drive innovation in the global animal health therapeutic and vaccine market, and give companion animals longer, happier lives.
