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Antibe Therapeutics names former FDA official Dr Joseph Stauffer as chief medical officer

Published: 08:35 06 May 2020 EDT

Antibe Therapeutics Inc - Antibe Therapeutics Inc names former FDA official and ex-Abbott Laboratories executive Dr Joseph Stauffer as its new chief medical officer
He served as the FDA's medical review officer for anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs and later became Abbott Laboratories' global medical director

Antibe Therapeutics Inc (CVE:ATE) (OTCQB:ATBPF) has named Dr Joseph Stauffer, an industry veteran who has worked for both the US government and the private sector, to the new role of chief medical officer (CMO).

An anesthesiologist, Dr Stauffer has served as CMO in public and private drug therapy companies for nearly 20 years, building teams of physicians, scientists, regulators and safety experts to drive clinical success for a number of chronic and acute pain assets. 

Antibe said he will assume a leadership role in its clinical development strategy and its increasing engagement with global regulatory agencies and potential large-market partners.

READ: Antibe Therapeutics expects results from Phase 2B study of pain drug ATB-346 within six weeks

“Joe’s hands-on knowledge of drug development for both chronic and acute pain, and his stature in pharmaceutical and regulatory circles, made him our top choice as CMO,” Antibe CEO Dan Legault said in a statement Wednesday.

“In particular, his commercial awareness and expertise in analgesic trial design will serve as a great asset as we shift our focus to late-stage clinical development and partnering opportunities for the large markets.”

Following his medical training, Dr Stauffer practised frontline medicine for a decade, including eight years as a US Navy general practice physician. 

He then joined the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a medical review officer for anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs, subsequently being recruited by Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) as global medical director. 

Over the succeeding years, Dr Stauffer led clinical operations, regulatory and medical affairs teams at Alpharma and Ikaria, each of which was acquired in $1.6 billion cash transactions. He was also instrumental in guiding the clinical development programs that underpinned equity raises totaling more than $250 million for Cara Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CARA), a developer of novel chemical entities to treat post-operative pain and chronic itch in Chronic Kidney Disease.

He is a founding member of the Initiative on Methods, Measurement and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials, which became an official public-private partnership among pharmaceutical companies, the FDA, the National Institutes of Health, academia and patient advocacy organizations across the US.

“The world is in desperate need of safer therapies for pain and inflammation,” Dr Stauffer said. “Antibe represents one of the few truly novel platforms in the field, and I look forward to playing a role in navigating its drug pipeline through the later stages of clinical development, and ultimately providing patients with a safer treatment paradigm for pain management.”

In connection with Dr Stauffer’s appointment, the company has granted him a total of 500,000 restricted share units (RSUs). All RSUs are subject to time-based vesting; one-third of the RSUs granted will vest on each of the first, second and third anniversaries of today’s date.

Antibe, based in Toronto, is currently developing ATB-346 as an alternative to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs. The company is now conducting a Phase 2 trial designed to validate ATB-346’s effectiveness compared to placebo in reducing osteoarthritis pain.

Contact the author: patrick@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow him on Twitter @PatrickMGraham

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on 12/8/20