SAN DIEGO, Sept. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Mpex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing products to overcome issues of antibiotic resistance, today announced the appointment of Dr. Jeffery Loutit as the Company’s Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Loutit joins Mpex from InterMune, Inc. where since 2001 he has held positions of increasing responsibility and most recently was Vice President of Clinical Science. At InterMune he led multiple Phase 1-3 clinical trials, including two global Phase 3 trials for pirfenidone in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. In addition, he negotiated pivotal trial designs for pirfenidone with US and European regulatory agencies and led the late stage clinical development of the anti-infective compound oritavancin, which was subsequently successfully out-licensed.
Prior to entering industry, Dr. Loutit was Chief of the Infectious Diseases Section, Veterans Administration Health Care System in Palo Alto and Assistant Professor of Medicine, Stanford University Medical School, where he published extensively in the area of infectious disease. He received his medical and microbiology degrees from Otago University in New Zealand and is board certified in the US in both infectious disease and internal medicine.
“We believe Jeff will be a great addition to our senior management,” said Daniel Burgess, President & CEO of Mpex Pharmaceuticals. “His distinguished reputation and extensive early and late-stage trial experience will be a perfect complement to our scientific and clinical team as we advance our drug candidates. In particular, his protocol design background in both pulmonary and infectious disease medicine is ideally suited to leading our development efforts for MP-376, an agent being developed for the treatment of chronic respiratory infections in patients with cystic fibrosis and other serious lung diseases.”
“In addition, we are eager to use his expertise in the development of our proprietary class of efflux pump inhibitors, which are now approaching the development stage. Lastly, we believe Jeff can be an integral part of evaluating and subsequently prosecuting attractive clinical-stage in-licensing opportunities. With the addition of Jeff we have now assembled a clinical team that is highly experienced in all aspects of trial design and management and is capable of advancing a drug candidate through late-stage development,” added Burgess.
“I am pleased to be joining Mpex at this exciting time,” said Dr. Loutit. “Based on preclinical and early clinical data, MP-376, the company’s lead product, has the potential to be a best-in-class aerosol anti-infective for management of chronic lung infections in patients suffering from CF and other serious lung conditions. In addition, Mpex scientists are widely acknowledged as leaders in the area of efflux pump biology, a primary source of antibiotic resistance in gram negative organisms. The impressive progress this group has made over the last year in developing efflux pump inhibitors may lead to a clinical candidate in the near-term for one of the most intractable problems in infectious disease drug development. I am eager to work with the Mpex team to establish the Company as a leader in the development of novel approaches to overcoming gram-negative antibiotic resistance.”
About Mpex Pharmaceuticals:
Mpex Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to develop critical new therapies to combat the growing issue of antibiotic resistance. The company’s initial focus is on the treatment of gram-negative bacterial pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, for which limited effective treatment options exist. Mpex’s lead product candidate, MP-376, is currently in clinical trials and is being developed for the treatment of chronic lung infections due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis patients. The company is also pursuing applications related to its extensive intellectual property estate around inhibitors of bacterial multi-drug resistant (MDR) efflux pumps (EPIs). Efflux pumps have been shown to be a primary source of drug resistance in gram-negative organisms. Mpex has identified a number of promising lead EPI compounds that, when combined with existing antibiotics, have been shown to restore the potency of these existing antibiotics against previously resistant gram-negative organisms. These compounds are being profiled in further preclinical studies and may be candidates for clinical development. Additional information about Mpex can be obtained from the company’s website at http://www.mpexpharma.com.
Mpex Pharmaceuticals is a registered trademark of Mpex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. All other product and company names may be registered trademark or trademarks of their respective owners.
Mpex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
CONTACT: Dana Krzyston of Mpex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., +1-858-875-6677; orJennifer Larson, +1-415-409-2729, jlarson@labfive.com, for MpexPharmaceuticals, Inc.
Web site: http://www.mpexpharma.com/
