NORFOLK, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ReAlta Life Sciences, Inc., a biotechnology company dedicated to harnessing the power of the immune system to address life-threatening medical needs, today announced multiple appointments to its Board of Directors designed to strengthen its composition as the company prepares for its transition into a clinical-stage organization. The company has appointed Deborah Geraghty, Ph.D., chief operating officer of Anokion, and Azmi Nabulsi, M.D., M.P.H., chief operating officer and co-founder of Phathom Pharmaceuticals, to its board of directors.
“We are delighted to welcome Deb and Azmi to our Board, as we prepare for this important next phase as a company,” said Ulrich Thienel, M.D., Ph.D., ReAlta’s chief executive officer. “Deb’s extensive expertise will be instrumental as we explore strategic partnership opportunities, continue to ensure we have the capital to support our pipeline, and advance our novel platform. In addition, Azmi’s considerable experience in global drug development will be invaluable as we prepare for regulatory engagements and clinical initiation with our first compound later this year to address high unmet needs for patients with life-threatening diseases.”
Dr. Geraghty
Dr. Geraghty brings more than 20 years of extensive experience in the life sciences industry across corporate and portfolio strategy, commercial, and finance. Dr. Geraghty currently serves as chief operating officer of Anokion, where she is responsible for business and corporate development, finance, strategic planning, program management, investor relations, and communications. Prior to Anokion, Dr. Geraghty was senior vice president of corporate strategy at Dimension Therapeutics, where she had a leading role in the company’s private fundraising activities and initial public offering, was responsible for driving gene therapy portfolio growth, and helped lead the acquisition of the company by Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. Before Dimension, Dr. Geraghty was a founder and vice president, project and portfolio development at Cydan Development, an orphan drug accelerator that raised $26 million to identify and de-risk assets with therapeutic and commercial potential. Earlier in her biotech career, Dr. Geraghty was a founder of Back Bay Strategies and held multiple positions at Aileron Therapeutics, Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Kendall Strategies, Feinstein Kean Healthcare, and Genzyme Corp.
Dr. Geraghty also serves on the board of directors of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Foundation for Research Development (FRD), the university’s technology transfer office since 1998. She earned a B.S. in biology at Union College, an M.B.A. from the Carroll School at Boston College, and a Ph.D. in molecular biology at the University of Vermont.
“ReAlta is poised to advance its complement inhibition technologies into exciting new therapies that have the potential to transform the treatment of devastating diseases, such as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy,” said Dr. Geraghty. “It is an exciting time of innovation in the biopharmaceutical industry, and I look forward to helping the talented team at ReAlta realize the promise of its unique multi-modal therapeutic capabilities.”
Dr. Nabulsi
Dr. Nabulsi is chief operating officer and co-founder of Phathom Pharmaceuticals, a Frazier-founded company focused on the development and commercialization of novel treatments for gastrointestinal (GI) diseases and disorders. He is also an entrepreneur-in-residence on the Life Sciences team at Frazier Healthcare Ventures. Prior to joining Frazier and Phathom, Dr. Nabulsi was the deputy chief medical and scientific officer and head of global development at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. In these roles, he led all global R&D medical, regulatory, operations, and data analytics functions. In addition, he led the R&D strategic areas of portfolio management and planning, focusing on enhancing the pipeline and productivity.
During his 14-year career at Takeda in the U.S. and Japan, Dr. Nabulsi has overseen global drug development for both early and late stage agents, bringing the majority of Takeda’s 21 new drugs in multiple therapeutic areas and countries to market. He was also responsible for the design and execution of the company’s major R&D transformation utilizing industry leading approaches to drive innovation. Dr. Nabulsi has led or directed partnerships and alliances in gastroenterology, central nervous system, oncology, immunology, and cardiovascular medicine and metabolism. Prior to Takeda, Dr. Nabulsi held leadership positions at Abbott Laboratories, including venture head of immunology and oncology ventures. Azmi has an M.D. from Ain-Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, and an M.P.H. from the University of Minnesota.
“ReAlta Life Sciences’ technology platform represents an innovative new approach to addressing life-threatening diseases by restoring natural homeostasis in inflammatory and immune system processes,” said Dr. Nabulsi. “I am excited to be working with this dynamic team at this significant new stage of development.”
About ReAlta Life Sciences
ReAlta Life Sciences, Inc. is an early-stage biotech company dedicated to harnessing the power of the immune system to address life-threatening medical needs. To support its vision, ReAlta has developed a novel class of drugs with unique multi-modal therapeutic capabilities that rebalance complement and inflammatory processes. The company was incorporated in late 2018, and is located in Norfolk, Virginia. For more information, please visit www.realtalifesciences.com.