Ophirex Appoints Jeremy Gowler as Chief Executive Officer
July 15 2024 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
Gowler Brings More than 20 Years of
Biopharmaceutical Industry Leadership to Ophirex, Strengthening its
Late-Stage Development and Growth Strategy
Ophirex, Inc., a registered Public Benefit Corporation
developing an oral field treatment to address the global unmet
medical needs of snakebite victims, today announced the appointment
of Jeremy Gowler as chief executive officer. Mr. Gowler also joins
the Ophirex Board of Directors.
Mr. Gowler replaces Nancy J. Koch, who is retiring after serving
as CEO for nearly six years. Ms. Koch will remain with the company
as a non-voting member of the Board of Directors and a member of
the Global Access Committee.
“Jeremy is an accomplished industry executive with decades of
experience ushering biopharmaceutical companies through significant
periods of early- to late-stage growth. We are thrilled to welcome
him to the Ophirex team and we are eager to benefit from his
strategic vision as we continue to advance our therapeutic
candidate, varespladib, as a potentially transformative snakebite
treatment for use in the field,” said Tim Garnett, MBBS, FRCOG,
FFPM, chairman of Ophirex’s Board of Directors. “Nancy has served
as an exceptional leader at Ophirex over the last several years. In
addition to driving the company’s corporate and clinical progress,
she led the establishment of Ophirex as a Public Benefit
Corporation – reinforcing our mission to deliver a novel oral
treatment for snakebite envenoming that is affordable and
accessible to people around the world. We thank Nancy for her
dedication to this work and wish her all the best in her
retirement.”
“I’m very excited to join this passionate and driven team of
healthcare innovators working to fundamentally change the way
snakebite envenoming is treated. The majority of venomous
snakebites that occur disproportionately impact remote and
underserved regions of the world where timely access to antivenom –
the current standard of care – presents significant challenges to
patient outcomes. Varespladib has the potential to address this gap
in treatment as a broad-spectrum oral therapy that may be used at
the time of bite before a patient reaches a healthcare facility,”
said Mr. Gowler. “I look forward to building on Nancy and the
team's strong foundation as we progress varespladib through
late-stage clinical development and evaluate strategic
opportunities to enable global access, especially among communities
that are most in need of novel treatment for snakebites.”
Prior to Ophirex, Mr. Gowler served as chief operating officer
and chief commercial officer, as well as interim CEO of Invivyd, a
publicly traded biopharmaceutical company developing therapies to
address evolving viral threats. In addition, he previously served
as the global commercial head of the biopharma business unit of
Sandoz. Working at companies of all sizes and phases of development
over the course of his career, Mr. Gowler has also held
senior-level positions at global biopharmaceutical companies
Emergent BioSolutions and Novartis. He holds a B.Sc. from the
University of Victoria in biology and environmental studies and a
diploma from the British Columbia Institute of Technology in
marketing.
About Ophirex
Ophirex is a Public Benefit Corporation developing a
first-of-its-kind oral treatment to address the global unmet need
of venomous snakebites. Worldwide, there are approximately 500,000
cases of snakebite envenoming resulting in death or permanent
disability each year. While antivenom has been the standard of care
to treat these bites for more than 100 years, it can only be
administered in a hospital setting. This poses a significant
challenge as 75% of deaths from venomous snakebites occur before
the victim can reach appropriately equipped medical care. Ophirex
is advancing its investigational treatment, varespladib, as an
easily portable, oral, broad-spectrum treatment for snakebite.
Ideally taken immediately following a snake’s bite, it is intended
to provide a bridge to survival between bite and arrival to the
hospital. If successful, this early intervention is anticipated to
result in improved overall outcomes for patients at risk of death
and long-term disability from snakebite. The company previously
completed a Phase 2 clinical study of the varespladib oral
formulation and is currently enrolling patients in a Phase 2 study
to evaluate IV-to-oral dosing.
For more information, visit www.ophirex.com.
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