MALVERN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Venatorx Pharmaceuticals, a private, pre-commercial pharmaceutical company focused on improving health outcomes for patients with multidrug-resistant bacterial infections and hard-to-treat viral infections, announced expansion of its leadership team with three key industry veterans: Jason Burdette joining as Senior Vice President, CMC and Technical Operations: Armand Girard as Chief Business Officer; and Tamra Adams, and Chief Financial Officer. These appointments come as the Company expands its remit from pure R&D to encompass support of commercialization.
"Jason, Armand and Tamra bring a breadth of experience that will be instrumental to Venatorx as we continue to advance our portfolio and maximize the value of our assets," said Christopher J. Burns, Ph.D., President and CEO of Venatorx. "These additions to our senior leadership team are critical to ensure we are prepared for our NDA resubmission and are strategically positioned for continued success."
Jason Burdette – Senior Vice President, CMC and Technical Operations – Burdette started at Venatorx in late 2023 and is an experienced leader with more than 30 years in the pharmaceutical industry across process chemistry, formulation and process development, manufacturing, supply chain management, and technical operations. He joined Venatorx from Aimmune/Nestle Health Science where he was a Senior Vice President and Head of Technical Operations. At Aimmune/Nestle Health Science, Burdette was responsible for formulation and process development, analytical development, CMC, manufacturing science and technology, quality control, quality assurance, supply chain, and product distribution. Before this, he was the Senior Vice President of Technical Operations with Paratek Pharmaceuticals and over the years has worked at Eagle Pharmaceuticals, Shire with aaiPharma, Elan Pharmaceuticals, Sandoz, and Mylan Pharmaceuticals. Burdette earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry and an MBA from West Virginia University.
Armand Girard – Chief Business Officer – Girard is a seasoned biopharmaceutical executive with multiple product approvals and launches over his 25 years of experience in strategic planning, corporate development, clinical development, and business development. He has extensive partnering experience having completed collaborations, licenses, acquisitions, and spinouts by and between leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Girard joined Venatorx from GlycoMimetics where he was the Chief Business Officer. At GlycoMimetics, he was responsible for corporate strategy, partnering, and managing the company's corporate and institutional alliances supporting the development of uproleselan. Previously, he was Vice President, Technical Assessment and Senior Director for Business Development at Shire Pharmaceuticals to build the product pipeline and support Shire's strategic venture arm through investments. He received his undergraduate degree from Lehigh University and an MBA from St Joseph's Haub School of Business Executive Pharmaceutical Marketing Program.
Tamra Adams – Chief Financial Officer – Adams has over 25 years of financial management experience. Most recently, she was CFO at Antios Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that was developing innovative therapies to treat and cure HBV. Adams helped lead a $107 million financing and was responsible for IPO readiness, including filing the S-1. Before joining Antios, she founded Accounting Concepts, Inc., a firm that provided CFO, accounting, and financial services to emerging growth companies in the biopharmaceutical and information technology industries. Before that, Adams was the Senior Financial Executive at Silverstorm Technologies and began her career at Ernst & Young, followed by Goldman Sachs. She received her undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Albany and received her CPA license in New York State.
About Venatorx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Venatorx is a private, late-stage clinical pharmaceutical company focused on improving health outcomes for patients with multidrug-resistant bacterial infections and hard-to-treat viral infections. Venatorx’s lead program, cefepime-taniborbactam, is a clinical-stage antibiotic that successfully completed a Phase 3 study in adults with complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI), including pyelonephritis. In October 2022, BARDA awarded a contract of up to $318M for development and procurement of cefepime-taniborbactam for the treatment of melioidosis and multi-drug resistant infections. Venatorx is also developing an oral antibacterial, ceftibuten-ledaborbactam (formerly known as VNRX-7145), for the treatment of cUTI, including pyelonephritis, caused by certain bacteria in adult patients with limited treatment options; this product is completing Phase 1 and will advance directly to a global Phase 3 cUTI clinical trial. For more information about Venatorx and its anti-infectives portfolio, please visit www.venatorx.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation statements regarding the potential, safety, efficacy, and regulatory and clinical development of Venatorx Pharmaceuticals’ product candidates.
