NORFOLK, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ReAlta Life Sciences, Inc. (“ReAlta” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to saving lives by rebalancing the inflammatory response to address rare and acute inflammatory diseases, today announced the appointment of Lewis T. “Rusty” Williams, M.D., Ph.D. as Chairman of its Board of Directors, effective immediately. Edward A. “Buzz” Heidt Jr., who has served as Chairman since 2020, will continue to serve as a member of the Board of Directors.
“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Williams as Chairman of our Board of Directors,” said David Marek, Chief Executive Officer of ReAlta. “His exceptional track record in building successful biopharmaceutical companies and expertise in drug development will be invaluable as ReAlta advances its clinical programs.”
“I would like to welcome Rusty to ReAlta at this exciting time in the company’s evolution,” said Buzz Heidt, member of ReAlta’s Board of Directors. “Rusty brings a wealth of leadership experience and insight to ReAlta, and I am eager to work with him as our incoming Board Chairman.”
“On behalf of the entire Board,” said Mr. Marek, “I wish to extend our sincerest gratitude to Buzz Heidt for over four years of Board service to ReAlta. Buzz’s collaborative partnership in the boardroom and strong leadership has positioned ReAlta for long-term success and Rusty and I look forward to his continued contributions as a Board member.”
“ReAlta is taking an innovative approach to address inflammation – the key driver of diseases across a wide spectrum of therapeutic areas. The unique ability of ReAlta’s dual-targeting EPICC peptides to address the earliest stages of the inflammatory cascade holds promise for treating inflammatory diseases successfully in ways existing therapies have been unable to,” said Dr. Williams. “I look forward to working closely with the Board Directors and management team to help realize the full potential of ReAlta’s technology to benefit patients with severe inflammatory diseases who currently have limited therapeutic options.”
Rusty Williams, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Williams currently serves as Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Ten30 Biosciences and is a member of the board of Protagonist Therapeutics. Previously, he founded and served as Chairman and CEO of Walking Fish Therapeutics and Five Prime Therapeutics (acquired by Amgen), and co-founded Cor Therapeutics (acquired by Millennium Pharmaceuticals). He has held senior management positions and Board seats at numerous other biopharmaceutical companies, including Chiron Corporation (now Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics).
Dr. Williams has also held a variety of distinguished positions in academia, including Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, where he was Director of the Cardiovascular Research Institution and Daiichi Research Center. As an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, he served on the faculties of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Williams is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has served on the Boards of Trustees of both institutions, as well as the Berklee College of Music. Dr. Williams received his B.S. from Rice University and his M.D. and Ph.D. from Duke University.
About ReAlta Life Sciences
ReAlta Life Sciences, Inc. is a clinical mid-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to saving lives by rebalancing the inflammatory response to address life threatening rare and acute inflammatory diseases. The Company’s EPICC peptide platform is based on discoveries related to the human astrovirus, HAstV-1, which causes a non-inflammatory, self-limiting gastroenteritis by inhibiting components of the innate immune system – a trait unique among viruses. By inhibiting activation of the complement cascade and two key neutrophil-driven mechanisms of inflammation and host tissue destruction – myeloperoxidase (MPO) and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), ReAlta’s therapeutic peptides leverage the dual-targeting mechanisms of this human enteric virus – and its millions of years of evolutionary adaptations – to modulate both complement and innate inflammatory pathways. The Company’s pipeline is led by RLS-0071 (pegtarazimod), which has received both Orphan Drug Designation and Fast Track Designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Orphan Drug Designation by the European Medicines Agency, for the treatment of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), a devastating disease that causes brain damage in oxygen-deprived newborns and is a leading cause of cerebral palsy; Orphan Drug Designation and Fast Track Designation by the FDA for the treatment of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD), a disease associated with bone marrow and stem cell transplants whereby transplanted white blood cells attack the new host in an inflammatory response; and IND clearance by the FDA for the treatment of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an inflammatory lung disease characterized by progressive airflow limitations and tissue destruction that makes it challenging for patients to breathe. The company launched in 2018 and is located in Norfolk, Virginia and Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. For more information, please visit www.realtalifesciences.com.
Contacts
Investors:
John Rickman
Chief Financial Officer
jrickman@realtals.com
Media:
Harrison Wong
ICR Healthcare
ReAltaPR@icrhealthcare.com
