Tharimmune, Inc. is a biotechnology company developing a portfolio of therapeutic candidates for rare immune, inflammatory, and oncologic diseases. The Company is progressing towards acquiring a clinical-stage asset, known to suppress chronic, debilitating pruritis or “uncontrollable itching” in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), a rare orphan liver disease with no known cure. The Company’s early-stage immuno-oncology pipeline includes novel multi-specific antibodies targeting unique epitopes with novel mechanisms of action against well-known, validated targets in multiple solid tumors. Tharimmune has a license agreement with OmniAb, Inc. to access the company’s antibody discovery technology platform against specified targets. For more information please visit: www.tharimmune.com
ABOUT US
Leadership
Mr. Milby was the former Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of Directors at CorMedix, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapeutic products for the prevention and treatment of inflammatory and infectious diseases. A seasoned executive who led the increase in market capitalization from $3M to a peak of $350M of Cormedix while improving the company’s financial position with capital raises from equity markets. He oversaw efforts to gain CE Market approval of Neutrolin® in the European Union and held increasing roles of responsibility at Goldman Sachs and Dupont Merck prior in his career.
Sireesh Appajosyula has served as a member of our board of directors since July 2021. Since April 2020, he has served as SVP, Corporate Development and Operations of 9 Meters Biopharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: NMTR) (“9 Meters”), a company focused on rare and unmet needs in gastrointestinal patient populations developing compounds with unique gastrointestinal biology, and since 2018 he has served as Managing Member of Highpoint Pharmaceuticals, LLC, a pharmaceutical research and development company. In addition, since 2015, Mr. Appajosyula has served as Managing Partner of Channel BioConsulting, LLC, a company that assists in enhancing search and evaluation efforts for complementary assets to be added to existing portfolios of biopharmaceutical companies. Prior to joining 9 Meters, Mr. Appajosyula spent approximately 8 years at Salix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Salix”) (Nasdaq: SLXP) in various roles in medical affairs, product commercialization and business development until its acquisition by Bausch Health (Nasdaq: BHC). Prior to Salix, he was involved in various roles at Amgen Inc., Critical Therapeutics, Inc. and Sanofi (formerly Aventis). Mr. Appajosyula received his Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Pharmacy from Rutgers University.
Thomas Hess is an experienced financial expert. From August 2014 until June 2021, Mr. Hess served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance of Genomind, Inc., a mental health company that developed and sold a pharmacogenomic test that analyzed how an individual’s genes may affect medication outcomes. From September 2011 until its sale in April 2014, Mr. Hess served as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Finance of The Keane Organization, a comprehensive provider of unclaimed property services. Mr. Hess also previously served in various other capacities including, but not limited to, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Yaupon Therapeutics, Inc.; Chief Financial Officer and Vice President, Finance of Adolor Corporation; Corporate Controller of Vicuron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and Senior Manager – Accounting and Audit of KPMG. Mr. Hess was formerly an adjunct faculty member/lecturer at Pennsylvania State University and DeSales University. Mr. Hess received his B.S. in accounting from The Pennsylvania State University and his MBA from Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh. Mr. Hess is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Pennsylvania. He currently serves on the Alumni Council of Penn State and is the Chairman of the Nittany Lion Club Annual Fund.
Dr. Rosenblatt is a subject matter expert in the chemistry and manufacturing controls (CMC) of bio-therapeutics, with a proven 30-plus year track record in biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industry. He developed, transferred, and validated purification processes for multiple new molecular entities through all stages of drug development, including licensure by the application of an innovative and comprehensive approach. He is experienced in regulatory and technical support for non-traditional biologics and combined medical/biological devices. Dr. Rosenblatt was responsible for a pharmaceutical development group at Centocor/Johnson & Johnson that developed processes that led to the commercial approval of two biologic candidates, Stelara® and Simponi®.
Dr. Niecestro is the Managing Director of AccelaPHARM, LLC, an executive regulatory-development strategy company in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Dr. Niecestro was a founder and served as the Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs for Axsome Therapeutics as well as was a founder and served as the Executive Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs for TG Therapeutics and Keryx Biopharmaceuticals. Dr. Niecestro held numerous senior management positions in the pharmaceutical industry serving as the Vice President of Clinical Development for Andrx Laboratories; Senior Director, Clinical Development and Therapeutic Head for Gastrointestinal, Oncology and Stroke at Eisai Inc.; and Director, Clinical Operations and NDA Planning for Organon Inc. Dr. Niecestro has been involved in the filing of over 60 INDs; approval of 13 NDAs or BLAs in the United States; has over 60 peer-reviewed scientific presentations, abstracts and/or publications, and holds 3 patents. Dr. Niecestro completed his graduate and post-graduate work at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Scientific Advisory Board Members
Dr. Wong is the Chief of Hematology and Medical Oncology at The Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Medical Center. During his distinguished career, Dr. Wong served in various investigative and leadership roles at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical School. His work has been published in over 250 scientific publications, and his world-renowned research has provided new insight into genetic and environmental causes of lung cancer, enabling novel lung cancer therapies. Currently, Dr. Wong continues his investigative pursuits, in to developing novel therapeutic strategies for small cell and non-small cell lung cancer. He received both his PhD and MD from Columbia University, completed his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, and was a fellow at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Dr. Richardson is Corman professor of Medicine at Harvard medical School and serves as Clinical Program Leader and Director of Clinical Research of the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center and has led several novel, biologically-derived translational efforts in multiple myeloma. He holds numerous advisory board positions and is a member of dozens of professional organizations. In addition, he has published hundreds of original papers, reviews, chapters, and monographs in many leading peer-reviewed publications including The New England Journal of Medicine, Blood, and Journal of Clinical Oncology and many others. Dr. Richardson has led the study and clinical development of numerous novel drugs in the treatment of multiple myeloma which have contributed to improvement in outcome for patients.
Dr. Eder is the Clinical Director of the Early Drug Development Program, performing Phase I clinical trials of new cancer medicines. He was previously the Clinical Director of the Experimental Therapeutics Program for the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and had responsibility for the trials performed at the DF/HCC. These clinical and basic research activities have involved collaboration with clinical and basic scientists at Harvard and elsewhere, the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program of the National Cancer Institute, presentations at national and international meetings, and correspondence with a number of leaders in the field of cancer drug development.
Dr. Dixon obtained a Ph.D. in molecular genetics from the University of Toronto and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at Stanford University. Dr. Dixon is a pioneer in the investigation of non-apoptotic cancer cell death, having spearheaded the discovery of ferroptosis and related iron-dependent cell death mechanisms. His laboratory is focused on detailed characterization of small molecule mechanism of action in cancer, with a view to discovering novel treatments for various indications.
Dr. Rayner received his Ph.D. in Microbiology at Colorado State University (CSU) in 1998 as part of the Arthropod-borne and Infectious Diseases Laboratory where he studied the factors influencing vector-competence for yellow fever virus and dengue viruses (DENV). He then completed two post-doctoral research programs with the American Society for Microbiology/National Centers for Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Arthropod-borne Infectious Diseases and the National Research Council at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. Dr. Rayner continued his research in the private sector before joining academia at University of South Alabama and becoming the director of the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases (LID). Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Rayner and colleagues have been studying SARS-CoV-2 virus, including isolation and characterization of genetic variants from patients both in tissue culture cells and in hamsters, evaluation of disinfectants, and antiviral drug discovery and development. In establishing the hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 virus infection, interesting gender differences were observed, and gender as a biological variable in virus infections continues to be of significant interest in Dr. Rayner’s future research plans.