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A NEW DIRECTION in Treating Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease and Other Neurodegenerative Disorders
About Us
Our lead compound buntanetap (formerly known as Posiphen or ANVS401) attacks neurodegeneration by reducing multiple neurotoxic proteins, therefore improving axonal transport, the information highway of the nerve cell, which has been shown to be the cause of nerve cell degeneration and ultimately death.
With an aging population, neurodegenerative diseases have become one of the world’s largest unmet medical needs. Annovis understands how the brain works and how brain cells die. Nerve cell death is the underlying cause of all neurodegenerative disease in both slow chronic and fast acute injuries to the brain.
About Us
Our Treatments
We are developing transformative therapies for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), Parkinson’s (PD) and other neurodegenerative disorders. Our lead candidate, buntanetap, simultaneously inhibits the production of multiple neurotoxic brain proteins that have been shown to impair axonal transport and lead to nerve cell death. Specifically, it inhibits the synthesis of amyloid precursor protein (APP), Tau and α-Synuclein. It is distinct from other AD drugs in development, because, unlike many other drugs that attempt to remove one toxic protein, buntanetap inhibits the toxic proteins before they can form, and it inhibits all the major neurotoxic proteins responsible for AD and PD.
Management Team
MANAGEMENT
MARIA L. MACCECCHINI, Ph.D.
Founder, President, CEO and Executive Board Member
Dr. Maccecchini founded Annovis in May 2008 to develop better therapeutics for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Was partner and director of two angel groups, Robin Hood Ventures and MidAtlantic Angel Group; Founder and CEO of Symphony Pharmaceuticals/Annovis a biotech company that sold in 2001 to Transgenomic; General Manager of Bachem Bioscience, the US subsidiary of Bachem AG, Switzerland and Head Molecular Biology Mallinckrodt; Dr. Maccecchini did one postdoc at Caltech and one at the Roche Institute of Immunology, her PhD in biochemistry is from the Biocenter of Basel with a two-year visiting fellowship at The Rockefeller University.
HENRY HAGOPIAN, MBA
Chief Financial Officer
Henry Hagopian joined as Chief Financial Officer in August 2022. Mr. Hagopian brings over 25 years of experience in finance, accounting and capital raising in both public and private companies. Prior to joining Annovis Bio, Mr. Hagopian was Senior Vice President, Finance and Treasurer at Organogenesis, a Nasdaq-listed leading regenerative medicine company. There he assisted in raising several rounds of financing, integration of three acquisitions and led the build out of the finance, treasury, accounting and procurement functions. Mr. Hagopian holds an M.B.A. and M.S. from the Carroll Graduate School of Business at Boston College and a B.S. in Economics and Finance, Summa cum laude from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
MICHAEL CHRISTIE, PhD
Vice President, Process Chemistry
Dr. Christie has spent over 40 years in the pharmaceutical industry, with a focus on process chemistry R&D, pilot plant production and GMP operations. He has held senior management positions in both large (SmithKline, Rhodia, Teva) and mid-size (Cephalon) companies, as well as being the founder of a company providing contract process R&D services (later acquired by ChiRex). Dr. Christie is co-author or co-inventor on several publications and patents. He earned his BS in chemistry from the University of Michigan and his doctorate from MIT.
EVE DAMIANO, MS, RAC
Senior VP, Regulatory Operations
Ms. Damiano has spent over 35 years in the biotechnology sector, focusing on the definition and execution of regulatory strategies and GxP compliance, encompassing early phase development through commercialization. Ms. Damiano has held various senior management positions throughout her career, with experience garnered at companies including Centocor, MedImmune, OraSure Technologies and Vicuron Pharmaceuticals. Ms. Damiano holds an accomplished track record in the definition and execution of regulatory strategies, including the development of innovative solutions and effective management of projects and resources to meet company objectives.
DAVID PROHASKA
Vice President &Toxicology and Pharmacology
Mr. Prohaska has over 25 years of drug development experience primarily focused on the design, management and regulatory submissions of nonclinical studies across a wide range of therapeutic areas. He has additional experience in clinical assay development and logistics. Mr. Prohaska has a long track record of successful regulatory submissions with multiple drug approvals.
CHENG FANG, Ph.D.
Senior VP, Research and Development
Dr. Fang is an accomplished neuroscientist with two decades of experience in neurodegenerative diseases with broad scientific knowledge and hands-on experience. She has a successful track record of scientific publications and contributions. Dr. Fang has deep drug development knowledge with both pre-clinical and clinical development experience.
MELISSA GAINES
VP, Clinical Operations
Ms. Gaines is an accomplished clinical research professional with over 20 years’ experience garnered from positions held in academia, contract research organizations and pharmaceutical companies. She has proven abilities in monitoring and management of Phase I to Phase IV clinical trials, specializing in CNS disorders and extending to a broad range of therapeutic indications. Her CNS experience spans from small Phase I and II studies to large global Phase III trials in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, sleep disorders, and many psychiatric diseases in both adult and pediatric populations. She has demonstrated proven success in leading cross-functional teams as well as driving operational success. In her current role as VP, Clinical Operations she oversees and supports all clinical project activities.
SAB and Board
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD (SAB)
SIDNEY STRICKLAND, Ph.D.
SAB Chairman
Dr. Strickland is Vice President and Dean for Educational Affairs and Research Professor, Patricia and John Rosenwald Laboratory of Neurobiology and Genetics at Rockefeller University. Dr. Strickland’s laboratory investigates how dysfunction of the circulatory system contributes to Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative disorders. He will serve as the Chairman of Annovis Bio’s SAB.
GREGORY PETSKO, Ph.D.
SAB Member
Dr. Petsko is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. His research interests are directed towards understanding the biochemical bases of neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and ALS discovering treatments (especially by using structure-based drug design), that could therapeutically affect those biochemical targets, and seeing any resulting drug candidates tested in humans. He has also made key contributions to the field of protein crystallography.
JEFFREY CUMMINGS, M.D.
Chief Medical Advisor and SAB Member
Dr. Cummings completed a neurology residency and a Fellowship in Behavioral Neurology at Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts. US training was followed by a Research Fellowship in Neuropathology and Neuropsychiatry at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square, London, England. Dr. Cummings was formerly Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at UCLA, director of the Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research at UCLA and Director of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MICHAEL B. HOFFMAN
Chairman of the Board
Mr. Hoffman is the Founder and Managing Partner of Stone Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on power and renewable energy. He was Partner of Riverstone, senior managing director at the Blackstone Group and managing director at Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. He serves as President of Northern Genesis Acquisition Corporation (II and III) and is a Trustee of The Rockefeller University.
MARIA L. MACCECCHINI, Ph.D.
Executive Board Member
Dr. Maccecchini founded Annovis in May 2008 to develop better therapeutics for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Founder and CEO of Annovis (f.k.a. Symphony Pharmaceuticals) focused on protecting brain cells after stroke. It sold in 2001 to Transgenomic.
REID S. McCARTHY
Board Member
Mr. McCarthy is experienced in corporate financial management, operations and new venture development. He was CFO of Topaz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. until its sale in 2011 to Sanofi Pasteur. He also served as CFO of JJ Haines & Company, Inc. and provided consulting CFO services to several life sciences companies. He has been a founding executive of several venture capital-backed companies which were successfully sold.
CLAUDINE E. BRUCK, Ph.D.
Board Member
Dr. Bruck is a pharmaceutical executive and scientist with a strong entrepreneurial drive. Exhibited successes in building a therapeutic research unit de novo and leading discovery and clinical development of biological (vaccines, biopharmaceuticals) and small molecule medicines as well as an ophthalmic drug portfolio. With creativity and a strong results-focus, she is energized to challenge and lead teams. Extensive Pharmaceutical industry experience spans drug discovery and development across several therapeutic.
MARK WHITE
Board Member
Mr. White is a biopharmaceutical executive with global marketing, business development and sales experience. Currently, Mark is an independent consultant and a member of Robin Hood Ventures, a Philadelphia based angel investor group. Previously, Mark held senior level roles at Pfizer in marketing and commercial development, where he led the successful global launches of Inspira, Revatio, Lyrica and Xeljanz. In his last position, he was Vice President Worldwide Marketing, with global responsibility for new product development and in-line marketing for Pfizer’s Inflammation Therapeutic Area.
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