Peptilogics Strengthens Leadership Team with Five Key Strategic Hires

PITTSBURGH, July 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Peptilogics, a biotechnology platform company leveraging computational design to discover novel peptide therapeutics, today announced the appointments of Nikhil (Nik) Bhide as Chief Business Officer, Dr. Marc Lesnick as SVP Regulatory & Quality, Jodie GiIlon as SVP Corporate Affairs & Patient Advocacy, Albert Fonticiella as VP of People, and Steve Kulp as VP of Operations. These leaders will apply their decades of experience in business development, drug development, medical affairs, advocacy, talent development, and corporate strategy to further scale the company as it continues to grow strategic operations. They join Peptilogics to help drive its first-in-class lead peptide therapeutic drug candidate (PLG0206) for the treatment of prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) through the clinic while continuing to evaluate new indications and discover novel, optimally-designed peptide therapeutics using the company's computational platform.

"Nik, Marc, Jodie, Albert, and Steve will serve as key members of our leadership team, bringing new dimensions of experience to Peptilogics as we continue to grow," said Jonathan Steckbeck, PhD, Founder and CEO of Peptilogics. "Their varied backgrounds will enable us to execute on our mission of discovering and developing medicines for patients in need of novel therapeutic solutions. We are thrilled to have them on board."

Nik Bhide, Chief Business Officer
Nik Bhide brings over 20 years of biopharma strategy and business development experience to his new role at Peptilogics. Most recently, Mr. Bhide was a member of the Business Development team at Merck Research Laboratories. Previously, he was at Allergan in a variety of business development positions of increasing responsibility. Earlier, Mr. Bhide worked at Novartis, Genzyme, and RBC Capital Markets in finance and corporate development roles. Mr. Bhide has completed multiple deals in the pharma industry with an aggregate transaction value exceeding $100 billion. Mr. Bhide received his MBA from UCLA Anderson and a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rochester (NY). 

Dr. Marc Lesnick, SVP Regulatory and Quality
Dr. Lesnick is a leader in drug development joining Peptilogics with over 20 years of experience in development, quality, and regulatory strategy with multiple successful marketing applications in the fields of anti-infectives, oncology, and women's health in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Most recently, Dr. Lesnick co-founded and served as the Chief Development Officer of Park Therapeutics, where he guided development of their novel pain drug until its acquisition in 2021 by Tris Pharma. He has been directly responsible for multiple successful drug approvals including anti-infectives and drugs in oncology, hepatology, and other therapeutic areas. Prior to Tris, he served as SVP of Quality and Regulatory Affairs at Spruce Therapeutics, Cascadian Therapeutics, and at Shionogi, Inc. He received his PhD from the University of Oregon and performed post-doctoral work at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. In his new role at Peptilogics, he will focus on regulatory and quality strategy as the company advances their novel peptide candidates through preclinical and clinical studies.

Jodie Gillon, SVP Corporate Affairs and Patient Advocacy
Jodie Gillon brings over 20 years of advocacy, medical affairs, and communications experience to her new role at Peptilogics as SVP, Corporate Affairs & Patient Advocacy. She recently served as Chief Patient Officer and Head of Corporate and Medical Affairs at Abeona Therapeutics, a cell and gene therapy company. Ms. Gillon held similar roles at Novartis, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca, where she served as the head of the Chief Medical Office. She has built out platform functions serving virtually every therapeutic area, including anti-infectives, at Pfizer. Jodie began her career in hospitals, government, and advocacy both in the US and abroad. She holds a Master of Public Health with a dual degree in Health Economics and Epidemiology from Hebrew University as well as a BSFS from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. At Peptilogics, she will lead stakeholder engagement, medical, internal, and external communications.

Albert Fonticiella, VP of People
Albert Fonticiella is a highly experienced operations and human resources executive with expertise developing key support functions for emerging companies. Previously, Mr. Fonticiella was the Vice President of Corporate Services for specialty food company Edwards Marc Brands, where he scaled the business from 12 to 350 employees while building all administrative functions, leading talent development, and implementing organizational planning. His accomplishments include growing a refugee empowerment program and he has experience in healthcare startups as well as healthcare policy. Mr. Fonticiella holds an MBA with Honors from Georgetown University and a BBA from The George Washington University. As VP of People at Peptilogics, his role will focus on developing internal governance, employee engagement, and talent attraction.

Steve Kulp, VP of Operations
Steve Kulp has extensive experience in biotechnology, planning, and corporate operations. Most recently he was the head of corporate operations at Idera Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for building out and managing the technology, facilities, and procurement functions for the company. Prior to Idera, Mr. Kulp served as Head of Business Systems and Service Strategy at ViroPharma and led the information technology integration with Shire post acquisition. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Juniata College. Mr. Kulp will be responsible for contracting, procurement, corporate information technology, and facilities management at Peptilogics.

About Peptilogics 
Peptilogics is a clinical-stage biotechnology platform company that designs and develops novel peptide therapeutics. The company is supported by investors including Presight Capital, Founders Fund, and Peter Thiel, who are known for their investments in companies such as AbCellera, Compass Pathways, SpaceX, and Synthego. Through its computational platform, Peptilogics is advancing drug discovery to uncover new, previously unexplored chemical design space while ensuring biological viability and scalable manufacturing. Peptilogics' internal anti-infectives pipeline includes a novel clinical stage anti-infective, PLG0206, that has been granted FDA Orphan Drug Designation and Qualified Infectious Disease Product Designation for its initial focus on the treatment of prosthetic joint infections, an urgent unmet medical need. More information on Peptilogics can be found at www.peptilogics.com as well as on Twitter and LinkedIn.

SOURCE Peptilogics