Azitra, Inc. Expands Research and Development Team to Support Clinical Development Program
Trudy H. Grossman, Ph.D., will serve as Vice President of Research;
Azitra, Inc., a clinical-stage medical dermatology company addressing
adverse skin conditions by harnessing the microbiome, today announced
the appointment of two distinguished scientists to expand the technical
team and lead the expansion of its development programs. Travis
Whitfill, co-founder, will continue to serve as Chief Scientific Officer.
-
Trudy H. Grossman, Ph.D., will serve as Vice President of
Research; -
Roger Léger, Ph.D., will become Vice President of Chemistry,
Formulation and Development.
“Dr. Grossman has extensive research experience in bacterial genetics,
microbiology and molecular biology, and has led several drug discovery
and preclinical programs, supporting the clinical development of novel
drug candidates. Dr. Léger is a medicinal chemist with 25 years of
biopharmaceutical experience in companies at a variety of stages of
growth. Together they bring a broad spectrum of skills and expertise
that span the drug development process,” said Richard Andrews, MS,
President and CEO of Azitra.
“Their expertise in microbiology, formulation and the biological
products will, in particular, help grow the Azitra pipeline as we
harness the body’s safe, commensal skin bacteria to promote skin
immunity, repair and antimicrobial defense,” Mr. Andrews added.
Dr. Grossman joins Azitra from Melinta Therapeutics, where she was
Senior Director of Biology and Pharmacology. Previously, she held
leadership positions at TetraPhase Pharmaceuticals and Vertex
Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Grossman began her career at Procept, Inc., where
she managed a fermentation laboratory and developed new recombinant
protein production strategies in prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems. She
earned her undergraduate degree in Biology from the State University of
New York at Albany and her master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Biology and
Molecular Genetics from Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
“Azitra is pioneering the innovative use of microbiome products to treat
skin disease. I look forward playing a major role in building a
world-class team and helping demonstrate the extraordinary promise of
microbiome technology in medical dermatology,” said Dr. Grossman.
Prior to joining Azitra, Dr. Léger was Senior Director Chemistry and CMC
at Thrasos Therapeutics, where he oversaw discovery research operations
as well as manufacturing and clinical supply. He also previously served
as VP Research at Indel Therapeutics Inc. and as VP R&D Chemistry and
Co-founder at Ulysses Pharmaceuticals, as well as Director of Medicinal
Chemistry at ConjuChem Inc., where he led discovery chemistry in protein
therapeutics to treat multiple ailments including diabetes, obesity,
cancer and infectious diseases. Dr. Léger earned his undergraduate and
graduate degrees from the University of Montreal and served as a
postdoctoral fellow at the University of Geneva Switzerland and at
Columbia University.
Dr. Léger commented, “It will be a great pleasure working with the
Azitra team to progress its microbiome products through the clinic. Our
core technology based on extraordinary understanding of skin disease and
its relation to the microbiome combined with specialty formulations and
world-class manufacturing offers truly exciting potential.”
As part of his role, Dr. Léger will oversee the establishment of a new
research laboratory in Laval, Canada. The lab will be located at the Centre
Québécois d'Innovation en Biotechnologie (CQIB).
About Azitra
Azitra, Inc. is a clinical-stage medical dermatology company that
combines the power of the microbiome with cutting-edge genetic
engineering to treat skin disease. The company was founded in 2014 by
scientists from Yale University and works with world-leading scientists
in dermatology, microbiology, and genetic engineering to advance its
pharmaceutical programs to treat cancer therapy associated skin rashes,
targeted orphan indications and atopic dermatitis. For more information
visit http://www.azitrainc.com.
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