GAITHERSBURG, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Adaptive Phage Therapeutics, Inc. (“APT”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to providing therapies to treat infectious diseases, today announced the appointment of Jesse L. Goodman, MD, MPH, to the company’s Board of Directors.
“Jesse has already made significant contributions to APT as an advisor and, as such, we are thrilled to have him join our Board,” said Greg Merril, APT’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “He is an internationally recognized thought leader in infectious diseases, including in research and development, policy, and regulation related to addressing the world’s antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis. In addition to being an active clinician, his prior leadership roles, including serving as the FDA’s Chief Scientist, as Director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), and as co-chair of the United States Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance make him an invaluable expert in the development of novel antimicrobial therapeutics.”
Dr. Goodman is a Professor of Medicine and Attending Physician, Infectious Diseases, at Georgetown University, where he directs the Center on Medical Product Access, Safety and Stewardship (COMPASS). Until February 2014 he served as the Chief Scientist of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a position he assumed in 2009 along with Deputy Commissioner for Science and Public Health (2009-2012). From 2003 to 2009, he was Director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), overseeing activities critical to U.S. and global preparedness and the development, evaluation, safety, quality, and availability of blood, vaccines, gene and cell therapies and other biologics. As Senior Advisor to the FDA Commissioner in 1998-2000, he initiated and, with CDC and NIH colleagues, co-chaired the United States Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance which produced the nation’s first Public Health Action Plan to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance.
“Antibiotic resistance is one of our most serious global health threats and Adaptive Phage Therapeutics has emerged as an innovative leader in addressing the challenge,” said Jesse L. Goodman, MD, MPH. “I am excited to join APT’s Board and look forward to supporting the development of these much-needed and potentially life-saving therapies.”
Dr. Goodman has previously served on numerous boards and advisory committees for organizations including the CDC, NIH, WHO and the Coalition on Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). He currently serves on the Board (prior President) of the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), as an independent non-executive director for GlaxoSmithKline plc (chairing its board Science Committee), and is on the Board of Intellia Therapeutics, which is developing CRISPR based treatments for human disease.
Dr. Goodman received his degree in biology from Harvard University, earned a master’s in public health from the University of Minnesota, and received his M.D. from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He underwent residency and fellowship training in Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Oncology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), where he was also Chief Medical Resident. Prior to his government service at the FDA, he was a Professor of Medicine and Chief of Infectious Diseases at the University of Minnesota.
Adaptive Phage Therapeutics, Inc.
Adaptive Phage Therapeutics (APT) is a clinical-stage company advancing therapies to treat multi-drug resistant infections. Prior antimicrobial therapeutic approaches have been "fixed,” while pathogens continue to evolve resistance to each of those therapeutics, causing those drug products to become rapidly less effective in commercial use as antimicrobial resistance (AMR) increases over time.
APT’s PhageBank™ approach leverages an ever-expanding library of bacteriophage (phage) that collectively provide evergreen broad spectrum and polymicrobial coverage. PhageBank™ phages are matched through a proprietary phage susceptibility assay that APT has teamed with Mayo Clinic Laboratories to commercialize on a global scale.
APT’s technology was originally developed by the biodefense program of U.S. Department of Defense. APT acquired the world-wide exclusive commercial rights in 2017. Under FDA emergency Investigational New Drug allowance, APT has provided investigational PhageBank™ therapy to treat more than 40 critically ill patients in which standard-of-care antibiotics had failed.
For more information, visit http://www.aphage.com.