Aerami Therapeutics has announced the promotion of Joshua Ziel from Chief of Staff and VP, Program Development to Chief Operating Officer and interim CEO. Executive Chairwoman Anne Whitaker had been leading Aerami since the sudden death of CEO Lisa Yañez in May 2023. The company also announced the appointments of Gary Burgess as Chief Medical Officer and Sarah Fritchley as Senior VP, Clinical Development and Operations and said that initiation of the Phase 2 uniPHied trial of its AER-901 inhaled imatinib is “imminent.”
Ziel joined Aerami in July 2022 after having held management positions at Syneos Health and at advertising agency WPP. Burgess, who has been advising Aerami on the AER-901 program, was formerly Chief Medical Officer at Vectura and previously held positions in clinical development at Conatus and Pfizer. Fritchley joins Aerami from Exvastat, where she was most recently Chief Development Officer. Her previous experience includes positions at Camallergy, Covance, and Genzyme.
Whitaker commented, “The board and I are proud of the world class management team we have assembled to lead Aerami and oversee initiation of Phase 2 development for AER-901, with the ultimate goal of bringing new therapeutic options to the patients with pulmonary hypertension that we serve. Josh brings an impressive background and familiarity with the pulmonary hypertension space, having worked closely with Lisa Yañez, Aerami’s late CEO, and he has been a driving force behind Aerami’s clinical strategy and execution in PH-ILD and PAH.”
She added, “We are also pleased to appoint Gary and Sarah to our leadership team. Gary has been instrumental to the development of AER-901 since conceptualization, and Sarah is a seasoned executive who brings the depth of clinical development and operations experience Aerami needs to execute on our global program in these two serious and rare forms of pulmonary hypertension.”
Read the Aerami Therapeutics press release.
