Tavanta Therapeutics Announces New Appointments to Strengthen its Executive and Senior Leadership Teams

RADNOR, Pa., July 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tavanta Therapeutics, a specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced new additions to its executive and senior leadership teams with the appointment of Andreas Maetzel, M.D., PhD as chief medical officer (CMO) and the promotion of Elizabeth Manning Duus, PhD to vice president of clinical development. These key management additions further the build out the medical and clinical teams of the organization as it advances a diverse pipeline of late-stage specialty drugs designed to bring clinically meaningful benefits to patients with serious and debilitating medical conditions.

"Andreas brings more than two decades of experience in the development of biotechnology innovations and pharmaceuticals, and we are delighted to welcome him to the Tavanta team as we advance a robust pipeline of clinical candidates, including our Phase 3 program evaluating TAVT-45 (abiraterone acetate) Granules for oral suspension (TAVT-45 granules) for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer," said Lynne Powell, chief executive officer of Tavanta Therapeutics. "We are also pleased to announce the promotion of Elizabeth who has contributed a wealth of clinical research experience to our pipeline strategy since joining the organization in 2019. Together, these management additions strengthen our ability to address the high unmet medical needs for patients facing serious disorders where current treatment options are limited."

Dr. Maetzel's career spans more than two decades of experience with biotechnology products and rare disease interventions across all stages of development and commercialization. He joins Tavanta as CMO from KalVista Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where he served as senior vice president, medical and contributed to the successful transition of KalVista's lead asset into late-stage clinical development. Prior, Dr. Maetzel held senior global medical affairs positions with BioCryst Pharmaceuticals and Cornerstone Biopharma, overseeing manufacturing, regulatory, drug safety, clinical development, and pricing and market access. In 2009, he co-founded Stratas Partners, a strategic market-access consultancy that was later sold to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Dr. Maetzel currently holds an academic appointment as adjunct professor at the Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto where he earned his PhD and MSc after completing his medical training in Paris, France.

"It is my pleasure to join Tavanta at such an exciting time in the Company's evolution," said Dr. Maetzel. "I look forward to lending my experience to help rapidly advance the rich and differentiated pipeline of specialty drugs that have the potential to deliver meaningful benefits to patients with serious and debilitating diseases, including clinical programs, such as TAVT-45, and a new exciting pre-clinical peptide conjugate platform with potential early promise in cystic fibrosis (TAVT-135)."

Dr. Duus joined Tavanta in January of 2019, bringing 15 years of clinical research experience in the biopharmaceutical industry spanning early and late development across multiple therapeutic areas. Dr. Duus earned her PhD in pharmacology and molecular sciences from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In her new role, she will report to Dr. Maetzel and will be responsible for shaping clinical strategy, including advancing the Company's lead program for TAVT-45 as a treatment for prostate cancer, as well as TAVT-119 for anal fissures.

About Tavanta Therapeutics
Tavanta Therapeutics (Tavanta), headquartered in the greater Philadelphia area, is a clinical stage specialty pharmaceutical company developing a diverse pipeline of specialty drugs designed to bring clinically meaningful benefits to patients with unmet medical needs. Tavanta has developed a risk-balanced approach to discovery and product development by both enhancing the clinical performance of established molecules and synthesizing novel small molecules and therapeutic peptides. The result is a business model designed to lower the risk associated with the early stages of drug development, aimed toward accelerating new drug candidates into the clinic to reach patients with unmet medical needs.

Conditions represented in the Tavanta pipeline include metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and high-risk metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (Phase 3), anal fissures (Phase 2), and cystic fibrosis (Discovery/preclinical). Tavanta makes use of strategic partnerships early in the drug candidate identification process through in-licensing of drug targets to complement its own internally developed pipeline. The Company also seeks collaborative relationships for the development and commercialization of certain clinical candidates and welcomes inquiries from interested parties.

Tavanta has established two platforms to support the rapid screening, identification, and design of drug products for clinical development: High Throughput (HT) Matrix Screening Platform, and the Peptide Conjugate Development (PCD) Platform. The proprietary HT Matrix Screening platform is a bottom-up approach to improving the pharmacokinetic properties of poorly soluble pharmaceuticals, leading to the enhancement of certain critical product characteristics. The PCD Platform is an integration of synthesis, in-vitro and pre-clinical in-vivo testing designed to synthesize, screen, characterize and design new peptides and peptide conjugates.

For more information, visit https://www.tavanta.com/ and connect with us on LinkedIn.

Contacts:

Corporate:
Lynne Powell, CEO,
[email protected] 

Media:
Elixir Health Public Relations
Lindsay Rocco
+1 862-596-1304
[email protected]

SOURCE Tavanta Therapeutics