Pelthos Therapeutics Establishes Board of Directors

DURHAM, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pelthos Therapeutics (Pelthos), a biopharmaceutical company committed to commercializing innovative, safe, and efficacious therapeutic products to help patients with unmet treatment burdens, today announced it has appointed five seasoned industry professionals to serve on its Board of Directors.

“These directors bring deep operational, clinical and commercialization experience to Pelthos as we approach an important inflection point,” said Scott Plesha, CEO of Pelthos. “I’m proud to serve alongside these four highly accomplished individuals who have decades of experience bringing new treatments to market. The Board is committed to supporting the team at Pelthos as it brings a novel medicine to the patients who need it.”

Pelthos new Board of Directors include:

Peter Greenleaf, an industry executive with nearly 30 years of experience leading successful life sciences companies. He is currently the president, CEO and member of the Board of Directors of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a fully integrated, publicly traded biopharmaceutical company advancing innovative treatments for autoimmune diseases. He previously served as the CEO of Cerecor Pharmaceuticals, Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, and Histogenics Corp., and as President at MedImmune LLC, the global biologics arm of AstraZeneca.

Matt Pauls, who since 2020 has served as Chair of the Board of Directors and CEO of Savara, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company focused on rare respiratory diseases. He is also a member of the Board of Directors at Soleno Therapeutics and Amplo Biotechnology. From 2014 to 2019, Mr. Pauls was President and CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of Strongbridge Biopharma plc., a rare-disease focused biopharmaceutical company that he took public via IPO on the NASDAQ. Prior to 2014, he served as Chief Commercial Officer of Insmed, Inc., where he led both the global Commercial and CMC/Technical Operations teams. In addition, Mr. Pauls previously served as Chair of the Board of Directors of Mast Therapeutics and was a member of the Board of Directors of Zyla Life Sciences.

Todd Davis, CEO of Ligand Pharmaceuticals and a member of Ligand’s Board of Directors. He has more than 30 years of operational and investment experience and has been involved in more than $4 billion in healthcare financings. Prior to Ligand, Mr. Davis was a Founder and Managing Partner of HealthCare Royalty Partners, a global healthcare investment firm that grew from zero to approximately $4 billion in capital commitments during his tenure. He began his career in sales at Abbott Laboratories, where he held several sales and marketing positions of increasing responsibility. Subsequently, he led corporate development and held strategic planning and general management responsibilities at Elan Pharmaceuticals.

Richard Baxter, Ligand’s Senior Vice President of Investment Operations and a member of Ligand’s Investment Committee. He has more than 30 years of operating and investment experience. Mr. Baxter was the co-founder of the healthcare group at Fortress Investment Group, which invested approximately $1 billion in control equity and minority equity investments, senior secured debt financings, royalty financings, public bank debt and bond transactions. He also served as co-head of the healthcare team at Hayfin Capital Management LLP, which deployed $1.4 billion in capital over four years. Prior to working as an investor, Mr. Baxter held senior commercial positions at PathoGenesis Corp., ViroPharma Inc., and SmithKline Beecham.

Scott M. Plesha, currently serves as CEO of Pelthos. He has more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including two decades building and leading specialty pharma commercial organizations. Prior to Pelthos, Mr. Plesha was President and Chief Commercial Officer at BioDelivery Sciences (BDSI) until it was acquired by Collegium Pharmaceutical in 2022. He previously served as Senior Vice President of Gastrointestinal Sales at Salix Pharmaceuticals where he led a nationwide salesforce that grew product sales to more than $1.5 billion annually.

Pelthos is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ligand Pharmaceuticals.

About ZELSUVMI™ (berdazimer) topical gel, 10.3%

ZELSUVMI (berdazimer) topical gel, 10.3% is a nitric oxide (NO) releasing agent indicated for the topical treatment of molluscum contagiosum in adults and pediatric patients one year of age and older. Complete prescribing information is available at www.zelsuvmi.com.

About Pelthos Therapeutics

Pelthos Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company committed to commercializing innovative, safe, and efficacious therapeutic products to help patients with unmet treatment burdens. Our lead product ZELSUVMI™ (berdazimer) topical gel, 10.3%, for the treatment of molluscum contagiosum is now approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In addition to ZELSUVMI, Pelthos has a pipeline of potential product candidates that utilize our proprietary nitric oxide-based technology platform, NITRICIL™. More information is available at www.pelthos.com. Follow Pelthos on LinkedIn and X.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240416929743/en/