SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nativis Inc., a clinical stage life science bio-electronic company developing non-invasive, safe and highly effective treatments for cancers and other serious diseases, announced the appointment of Dr. Kenneth M. Ferguson as Chief Scientific Officer, effective immediately.
Dr. Ferguson is a well-regarded scientific leader who brings more than 20 years of experience managing major research and development organizations. He was most recently the Chief Development Officer at Omeros Corporation, responsible for all compounds in development. He played a key role in the development and approval of Omidria®, used during cataract surgery and intraocular lens replacement. Previously, he was President, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of VacTX, a healthcare startup developing lipopeptide vaccines. Prior to VacTX, Dr. Ferguson spent 16 years at ICOS Corporation, where he was Product Development Team Leader and later the Chief Scientific Officer and Board member of the Lilly ICOS Joint Venture, responsible for the development and commercialization Cialis®. Following ICOS’ acquisition by Eli Lilly, Dr. Ferguson served as President of the ICOS subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Company.
Dr. Ferguson holds a PhD in pharmacology from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas, where his research with Dr. Al Gilman focused on signal transduction, specifically the mechanism by which G proteins participate in the action of G protein-coupled receptors. He completed post-doctoral studies with Dr. Michael Wigler at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory with a focus on oncogenes and the cell cycle.
“As we have continued to study our proprietary ulRFE™ technology and the Voyager system, it is evident that we are at a critical stage of development and it is necessary to expand our leadership team to include additional scientific, regulatory and business experience,” commented Chris Rivera, Chief Executive Officer of Nativis. “With that in mind, we are very pleased to welcome Dr. Kenneth Ferguson as Chief Scientific Officer to Nativis. Dr. Ferguson is a well-recognized scientific leader in the biotech community and brings more than two decades of ground-up drug development experience to the organization and will play a vital role in our future scientific and clinical developments.”
Dr. Ferguson added, “Nativis is in a unique position with its novel, platform technology, and I am very excited to join the team at this pivotal time in the Company’s history. As the company successfully develops and optimizes its ulRFE technology for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme, a very complex and difficult area to treat, the impact on patient care for diseases like cancer and other serious ailments could be monumental. I look forward to leveraging my many years of R&D and strategic experience to work with the outstanding Nativis team and bring this breakthrough technology to fruition.”
About Nativis, Inc.
Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Seattle, WA, Nativis is a clinical-stage bio-electronics company. Nativis has patented a groundbreaking technology that utilizes precisely targeted, ultra-low radio frequency energy (ulRFE) to specifically regulate metabolic pathways on the molecular and genetic levels – without chemicals, radiation or drugs – delivered via a simple-to-use non-invasive device called Nativis Voyager®. The company’s goal is to transform disease treatment on a global scale with ulRFE that can potentially be applied to a wide range of conditions and other health-related needs (including agriculture, bio-fuels and veterinary medicine, to name a few). Nativis’ initial focus is on the treatment of patients with brain cancer (initially, recurrent glioblastoma), who are not well served by conventional standard of care therapies, often resulting in poor outcomes and devastating side effects. Additional pre-clinical work is being completed for melanoma, lung cancer, liver cancer, inflammatory disease and chronic pain.
