WARRINGTON, Pa., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Windtree
Therapeutics, Inc. (NasdaqCM: WINT), a biotechnology and medical
device company focused on advancing multiple late-stage
interventions for acute cardiovascular and pulmonary disorders,
today announced the appointments of Dr. Evan Loh, Ms. Leslie
Williams, and Dr. Rob Scott,
to its Board of Directors. The appointments are the result of a
board composition analysis conducted by the Board, which took into
consideration the changing needs of the Company. In connection with
the appointments, Mr. John Leone,
Mr. Joseph Mahady, and Dr.
Brian Schreiber announced their
retirement from the Board. Following the changes, the Windtree
Board will continue to be comprised of seven directors.
"We believe that strengthening the Board with seasoned
executives with deep industry experience will contribute
significantly to our strategy of maximizing the potential of our
late-stage pipeline of valuable assets," said James Huang, Chairman of the Board. "These
executives possess strong medical and business backgrounds, and add
decades of drug development, business development, and global
product commercialization capabilities. These attributes will be
invaluable as we seek to accelerate and enhance the value of
Windtree's assets under development and assess additional strategic
avenues to create the greatest value for our stockholders. On
behalf of the Board of Directors, I thank Brian, John, and Joe for
their years of contribution and service to Windtree."
Windtree regularly evaluates its Board composition to ensure it
includes the appropriate skills, experience and perspective
necessary to support growth for all Windtree's stockholders.
Craig Fraser, Chief Executive
Officer said, "We are thrilled to welcome Evan, Leslie and Rob as
new independent directors to the Windtree Board. They join Windtree
at an exciting time as we continue to progress into critical
late-stage trials with istaroxime and lucinactant. Along with our
current non-employee directors of James
Huang, Bruce Peacock, and Dan
Geffkin, the addition of these directors creates a highly
experienced board where shared input, perspectives and director
engagement will be invaluable as we execute on our strategy."
Dr. Evan Loh has over 20 years of experience as a senior
executive in the pharmaceutical industry, currently serving as
Chief Executive Officer of Paratek since June 2019 and previously as Chief Operating
Officer from January 2017 and as
President, Chief Medical Officer and a member of the Board of
Directors since June 2014. Prior to Paratek's merger
with Transcept Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Loh was Chief
Medical Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors
of Paratek from June 2012
to June 2014. Prior to joining
Paratek, Dr. Loh held multiple senior leadership roles at
Pfizer and Wyeth, where he led the successful global
registration programs for Torisel® and Tygacil®.
Dr. Loh currently serves on the Board of Directors
of Eiger Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. and as immediate
past-Chairman of the Antimicrobials Working Group. He
was a Director at Nivalis Therapeutics from 2012 until the
completion of its merger with Alpine Immune Sciences in 2017.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Loh served as a faculty member at both
Harvard Medical School and the
University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine as a cardiologist. Dr. Loh received his A.B. from
Harvard College and his M.D. from
Harvard Medical School.
Ms. Leslie Williams is a 25-year
biopharmaceutical veteran and is an experienced biotech CEO and
board of directors' member. She has experience in healthcare,
management, commercial product development and marketing. In 2010
she founded ImmusanT, Inc. and served as Director, President &
CEO of ImmusanT until 2019. Prior to that she was President &
CEO of Ventaira Pharmaceuticals and under her leadership the
company became a significant player in the pulmonary drug-delivery
market until it was sold at the end of 2007. Prior to Ventaira, Ms.
Williams was director of marketing for INO Therapeutics, Inc. and
additional experience includes commercial positions at Merck and
GSK, and drug-delivery and -monitoring experience at Datex-Ohmeda
(formerly Ohmeda, Inc.). She was a venture partner at Battelle
Ventures where she sourced and evaluated deals and assisted
early-stage technology companies with strategy, management,
business development and M&A. She has served on several
private, public and non-profit boards. She is currently an
operating partner at Accelerator Life Science Partners and serves
on the Board of Ocular Therapeutix (OCUL) and on the Editorial
Advisory Board of Life Science Leader. Ms. Williams holds an
MBA from Washington University,
John Olin School of Business, and a
B.S. degree with honors in nursing from the University of Iowa. Before entering industry, she
was a critical-care nurse at Duke
University, Medical College of
Virginia and at the University of
Iowa.
Dr. Rob Scott has held leadership
positions for over 30 years in the world's leading biopharma
companies, including J&J, Pfizer, Amgen and AbbVie. During that
time, he has led development teams responsible for highly
successful brands such as Norvasc, Lipitor, Repatha, Humira,
Skyrizi and Rinvoq. Prior to his recent retirement as Chief Medical
Officer and Head of Development for AbbVie, Dr. Scott was
responsible for a team of over 4,000 individuals across 52
countries, a budget of nearly US$3
billion and programs involving more than 40 new molecular
entities. Prior to joining AbbVie, Dr. Scott served as Vice
President of Global Development for Amgen from 2010 and 2016, where
he conducted, among other programs, heart failure development. From
2002 until 2007, he was the Chief Medical Officer and Executive
Vice President of Research and Development at AtheroGenics. While
there he designed and implemented the first large cardiovascular
outcomes study to be wholly performed by a small biotech. Dr. Scott
also worked for Pfizer, one of the world's premier
biopharmaceutical companies, from 1992 to 2002. While there, he was
intimately involved in many cardiovascular clinical trials. He also
was integral in developing the cholesterol drug Lipitor and
Norvasc, a drug used to treat high blood pressure. Dr. Scott has
served on many committees and boards, including as a member of the
FDA Cardiac and Renal Drug Advisory Committee from 2012 until 2016,
the board of Transcelerate, and as a member of the PhRMA Research
and Development Leadership Forum.
About Windtree Therapeutics
Windtree Therapeutics, Inc. is advancing multiple late-stage
interventions for acute cardiovascular and pulmonary disorders to
treat patients in moments of crisis. Using new clinical approaches,
Windtree is developing a multi-asset franchise anchored around
compounds with an ability to activate SERCA2a, with lead candidate
istaroxime being developed as a first-in-class treatment for acute
heart failure and early cardiogenic shock in heart failure.
Windtree has also focused on developing AEROSURF® as a non-invasive
surfactant treatment for premature infants with respiratory
distress syndrome, and is facilitating transfer of clinical
development of AEROSURF® to its licensee in Asia, Lee's HK,
while Windtree evaluates other uses for its synthetic KL4
surfactant for the treatment of acute pulmonary conditions
including lung injury due to viral, chemical and radiation induced
insults. Also in its portfolio is rostafuroxin, a novel precision
drug product targeting hypertensive patients with certain genetic
profiles.
For more information, please visit the Company's website at
www.windtreetx.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. The Company may, in some cases, use terms such as "predicts,"
"believes," "potential," "proposed," "continue," "estimates,"
"anticipates," "expects," "plans," "intends," "may," "could,"
"might," "will," "should" or other words that convey uncertainty of
future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking
statements. Such statements are based on information available to
the Company as of the date of this press release and are subject to
numerous important factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause
actual events or results to differ materially from the Company's
current expectations. Examples of such risks and uncertainties
include: risks and uncertainties associated with the ongoing
economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic,
including any adverse impact on the Company's clinical trials or
disruption in supply chain; the success and advancement of
the clinical development programs for istaroxime, AEROSURF®,
KL4 surfactant and the Company's other product candidates; the
Company's ability to secure significant additional capital as and
when needed; the Company's ability to access the debt or equity
markets; the Company's ability to manage costs and execute on its
operational and budget plans; the results, cost and timing of the
Company's clinical development programs, including any delays to
such clinical trials relating to enrollment or site initiation;
risks related to technology transfers to contract manufacturers and
manufacturing development activities; delays encountered by the
Company, contract manufacturers or suppliers in manufacturing drug
products, drug substances, aerosol delivery systems (ADS) and other
materials on a timely basis and in sufficient amounts; risks
relating to rigorous regulatory requirements, including that: (i)
the FDA or other regulatory authorities may not agree with the
Company on matters raised during regulatory reviews, may require
significant additional activities, or may not accept or may
withhold or delay consideration of applications, or may not approve
or may limit approval of the Company's product candidates,
and (ii) changes in the national or international political and
regulatory environment may make it more difficult to gain
regulatory approvals and risks related to the Company's efforts to
maintain and protect the patents and licenses related to its
product candidates; risks related to the size and growth potential
of the markets for the Company's product candidates, and the
Company's ability to service those markets; the Company's ability
to develop sales and marketing capabilities, whether alone or with
potential future collaborators; and the rate and degree of market
acceptance of the Company's product candidates, if approved.
These and other risks are described in the Company's periodic
reports, including the annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly
reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, filed with or
furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission and available
at www.sec.gov. Any forward-looking statements that the
Company makes in this press release speak only as of the date of
this press release. The Company assumes no obligation to update
forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise, after the date of this press
release.
View original content to download
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/windtree-strengthens-its-board-by-appointing-three-new-directors-301222116.html
SOURCE Windtree Therapeutics, Inc.