08/16/18
Aeromics, Inc. Appoints Pharmaceutical and Biotech Veterans Mark Day, Ph.D. and Thomas Zindrick, J.D. to Its Board of Directors
Dr. Day is renowned for his neuroscience and business development accomplishments and Mr. Zindrick is prominently recognized for his legal and corporate governance experience
BRANFORD, CONN., AUG. 16,2018 – Aeromics, Inc. (“Aeromics” or “the Company”), a privately-held, clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on controlling cerebral edema, or brain swelling, for people affected by disabling and life-threatening severe ischemic stroke, announced today the appointments of Mark Day, Ph.D. and Thomas Zindrick, J.D. to the Aeromics board of directors.
“Mark and Tom bring extensive leadership and drug development experienceto our board,” said Jeffrey P. Draime, chairman of the board, Aeromics. “Both of these individuals have achieved tremendous success in advancing medicine. Their backgrounds within major pharmaceutical companies and biotech will add significant value to our board. Their contributions will be important as we move forward to the successful completion of our clinical trials.”
Mark Day, Ph.D. is a director and the president and chief executive officer at Bioasis Technologies Inc. (TSX.V:BTI; OTCQB:BIOAF). Dr. Day also serves as adjunct associate professor at Yale University. Dr. Day has more than 20 years of experience working in the industry. He has developed business plans for Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth, Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) in multiple functional areas ranging from the development of external research discovery engines and global scouting strategies to the creation of internal venture/investment funds. He has established and managed more than 20 collaborations, mergers and acquisitions and licensing deals in research and development (R&D) and business development. Dr. Day was head of translational medicine neuroscience at Wyeth and was the co-chair of the early development team. At Abbott, he was responsible for translational imaging and biomarkers across the R&D portfolios. At BMS, Dr. Day was instrumental in the acquisition of iPierian and he has developed strategies that can shorten evaluation periods by several months, leading to early decisions regarding the advancement or early termination of the evaluative processes. Dr. Day previously served as head, CNS virtual discovery, at Purdue Pharma. Prior to joining Purdue Pharma, he served as executive director, head of external research and scouting, at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He is widely recognized for his expertise and success in the recognition, evaluation and development of pipeline acquisition and collaboration targets across several therapeutic areas. Dr. Day has presented his evaluations and formal recommendations at the highest corporate levels and has also participated in the resulting deal negotiations, leading to several high-profile acquisitions and collaborations. He has more than 60 peer-reviewed manuscripts on translational medicine, impulsivity, stroke, cognitive dysfunction in neurological and psychiatric illness such as Alzheimer’s diseases and ADHD, including first authorships in Nature, Science, Nature Neuroscience, Neuroimaging, Proceedings of the Royal Society.
Dr. Day earned his bachelor of science degree in biological psychology and his doctor of philosophy degree in neuroscience from Cardiff University. He completed his post doctorate studies in systems level neuroscience at The University of Edinburgh under Professor Richard G. Morris, FRS., FRSE.
“I am absolutely delighted to join the board of Aeromics at such an exciting time for the company. Their Phase 1 is progressing well, and the company’s novel approach to the treatment of CNS edema and stroke has the potential to radically change the prognosis of these diseases and significantly treat and improve lives of patients and their caregivers,” said Dr. Day. “One of the wonderful attributes of the Aeromics approach is the simplicity of their scientific story. In a nutshell, by simply blocking water from entering the CNS, via aquaporin 4 blockade, they have an excellent shot on goal. I look forward to working with the board, Marc Pelletier and his management team to help shape a successful development path.”
Thomas Zindrick, J.D.is the president and chief executive officer of Genelux Corporation, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. He is a distinguished life sciences and biotechnology executive with a career spanning more than 25 years. Mr. Zindrick joined Genelux Corporation in May 2014 after retiring from Amgen, Inc. where he built his 16-year career. He has also served as chief executive officer of Amitech Therapeutic Solutions, Inc., a La Jolla, Calif.-based discovery and drug development company focused on commercializing allosteric kinase inhibitors.
During his career at Amgen, Mr. Zindrick held positions of increasing responsibility, including vice president, associate general counsel and chief compliance officer. As vice president, associate general counsel, Mr. Zindrick led intellectual property, licensing and regulatory law teams, and served on cross-functional business and product development teams. These teams were responsible for acquisitions totaling over $20 billion and the licensing and development of six therapeutic products and numerous clinical candidates. As chief compliance officer, he reported to the board of directors and led the corporate compliance program, which oversaw the compliance activities of numerous company functions including product development, manufacturing and marketing. Prior to joining Amgen, Mr. Zindrick was an attorney at The Dow Chemical Company.
Mr. Zindrick earned his juris doctor degree from the University of Illinois College of Law and a bachelor of arts degree in biology from North Central College in Naperville, Ill.
“I am thrilled to join the board of Aeromics and look forward to partnering with Marc and his team,” said Mr. Zindrick. “I am pleased to be in a position to help bring this desperately needed therapy to patients and physicians.”
ABOUT STROKE
Every 50 seconds someone in the United States suffers from a stroke. Roughly 800,000 strokes are seen in the U.S. each year, of which approximately 692,000 are acute ischemic strokes. An estimated 140,000 patients with large hemispheric infarction suffer life-threatening and severely disabling cerebral edema, or brain swelling, and may benefit from an anti-edema medication.
ABOUT AER-271
AER-271 is a patented, intravenous (IV) prodrug that delivers AER-270, a potent inhibitor of Aquaporin-4 (AQP4) water channels, to the neurovascular unit. These channels are the primary route of water movement into the central nervous system (CNS) under conditions of ischemia. The osmotic imbalance and subsequent influx of water via AQP4 occurs as a result of a lack of oxygen and leads to edema (swelling), midline shift, increased intracranial pressure and brain herniation resulting in permanent disability or death. AER-271 is an investigational drug and is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
ABOUT AEROMICS, INC.
Aeromics is a privately-held, clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing a first-in-class anti-edema therapy to treat patients affected by acute central nervous system edema as a consequence of large hemispheric infarction. A paradigm shift in the understanding of water physiology was the discovery aquaporins, proteins that form water channels to allow water in and out of cells, by Peter Agre (2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry). Despite the vital role of aquaporins in maintaining water homeostasis and its implications in various disease states, therapeutic agents targeting aquaporins have remained elusive until now. Aeromics was founded in 2006 by Marc F. Pelletier, M.Sc., Ph.D. and Walter F. Boron M.D., Ph.D., both Yale University scientists. Aeromics maintains headquarters in Branford, Conn. with offices in Cleveland, Ohio. For more information, please visit: https://www.aeromics.com.
CONTACT
Aeromics, Inc., Marc F. Pelletier, Ph.D., 216-633-6708, marc.pelletier@aeromics.com