September 14, 2015
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Chapel Hill, N.C.-based Pozen, Inc. announced today that James Tursi will step in as chief medical officer on Oct. 1, 2015. Tursi will wrap up his current role at Athlone, Ireland-based Innocoll AG as chief medical officer on Sept. 21, 2015.
Tursi joined Innocoll in March 2015, with his focus on starting the company’s Phase III programs for Cogenzia and XaraColl, as well as finalizing its U.S. clinical programs for CollaGUARD.
At Pozen, Tursi will oversee clinical operations, drug safety, and medical and regulatory affairs. In addition, Pozen is merging with Aralez Pharmaceuticals and Tribute Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. Upon the completion of this business combination, Turzi will assume the chief medical officer duties of the merged companies. He is also expected to lead the re-submission of the company’s New Drug Application (NDA) in the U.S. of Yosprala, the Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for the same drug in Europe, and the New Drug Submissions (NDS) for Yosprala and MT400 to Health Canada.
“James brings significant depth and expertise managing clinical development programs and medical affairs to Pozen, and will be a valuable member of the leadership team,” said Arian Adams, chief executive officer of Pozen in a statement. “His extensive background and track record in clinical development, regulatory and medical affairs will be invaluable as we advance the Yosprala and MT400 regulatory submissions. We welcome James to the team and look forward to his contributions as part of Aralez’s transformational strategy to accelerate growth and drive shareholder value.”
Prior to serving at Innocoll, Tursi was chief medical officer at Auxilium Pharmaceuticals , where he had also served as vice president of clinical research and development from 2009 to 2011. He also worked at GlaxoSmithKline , Procter and Gamble Pharmaceuticals, and continues to serve on the board of directors of Agile Therapeutics, Inc.
Yosprala is an aspirin-based drug that cuts down gastrointestinal side effects, such as ulcers. Pozen has undergone major changes in the last several months as it shifts from drug development toward drug sales. In June, the company hired three executives from Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was bought by Endo Pharmaceuticals in February. The executives are Mark Glickman as chief commercial officer, Eric Trachtenberg as deputy general counsel, and Jennifer Armstrong as the executive vice president of human resources and administration.
Adrian Adams replaced John Plachetka in June, and rather quickly acquired Tribute Pharmaceuticals and made plans to shift the company’s headquarters to Ireland, presumably as part of a tax inversion plan to cut corporate taxes. Once the move is completed, the company will be called Aralez Pharmaceuticals.
Innocoll, where Turzi formerly worked, focuses on drug products and medical devices utilizing a proprietary collagen-based technology. It has a broad pipeline, including XaraColl for post-operative pain, Cogenzia for adjuvant treatment of diabetic foot infections, and CollaGuard, for the prevention of post-surgical adhesions. It also markets CollaGuard outside the U.S., Collatamp G, Septocoll, GenePro, Collieva, CollaCare and other products through partnerships with Takeda Pharmaceuticals , Biomet Inc., and EUSA Pharma.
Innocoll will be looking for Turzi’s replacement. “James has done a great job advancing our lead assets into advanced clinical development during his tenure at Innocoll,” said Tony Zook, Innocoll’s chief executive officer in a statement. “Phase III clinical trials for both Cogenzia and XaraColl are actively recruiting patients. The U.S. clinical program plans for CollaGUARD are in place and we anticipate initiating interactions with the FDA to discuss them in the fourth quarter. Although we are disappointed by his leaving, we credit James with completing the key groundwork that is enabling us to focus on clinical trial execution for Cogenzia and XaraColl and moving toward discussions of our CollaGUARD clinical plan with regulators. We are in good position while we search for his successor.”
