Inhalation contract R&D company iPharma Labs has announced the introduction of new GMP testing services for testing and development of OINDPs, including inhaled drugs for the treatment of COVID-19. The company also announced the addition of two board members and two management hires with extensive experience in the inhaled drug delivery industry.
The iPharma board has added well-known inhalation expert John Pritchard, who was Chief Technology Officer of the respiratory drug delivery group at Philips Respironics from 2011 to 2018 following many years of aerosol drug delivery work at GSK, 3M, and AstraZeneca. Pritchard is also a founding member of the Aerosol Society, a co-founder of the DDL meeting, and the winner of the 2018 Charles G. Thiel Award.
The second new member of the board is Cadence Health co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Samantha Miller, who has previously served as Chief Business Officer at InCarda Therapeutics and Dance Biopharm (now Aerami) and in business development roles at a number of companies including Theravance, Inhale/Nektar, and Onyx.
iParma co-founder and Executive Chairman John Patton commented, “We are elated to have John and Samantha on our board. They are both stars of the industry, with deep business and technical experience in our field, each with a brilliant history of helping bring innovative inhalation products to market.”
The company also announced the addition of former Aerami Therapeutics Chief Technical Operations Officer Truc Le as Chief Compliance Officer. Le’s career includes management positions at numerous organizations, including Avid Bioservices, Nektar, and Johnson & Johnson. Additionally, Mei-chang Kuo, a co-founder of iPharm, has rejoined the company as Senior VP, Drug CMC Development. Kuo’s career includes management positions at Dance, Inhale/Nektar, and ImmuLogic, and his formulation work includes Aerami’s inhaled insulin, Exubera inhaled insulin, and Allervax.
iPharma CEO Keith Ung said, “We have always planned to expand our capabilities, from showing clients the very best inhalation system and formulation for their molecule, to providing them the validation of GMP testing as we grow the business. We could not be more pleased to have Truc and Mei-chang lead this effort.”
Read the iPharma press release.
