Ventus Therapeutics Appoints Victor Lobanov, PhD, as Head of Computational Sciences

WALTHAM, Mass. & MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ventus Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company utilizing structural biology and a proprietary computational platform to identify and develop small molecule therapeutics across a broad range of diseases, announced today the appointment of Victor Lobanov, Ph.D., as Senior Vice President, Head of Computational Sciences.

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Victor Lobanov, Ph.D., Ventus Senior Vice President, Head of Computational Sciences (Photo: Business Wire)

Dr. Lobanov brings to Ventus more than 25 years of experience in developing and implementing leading-edge computational methods across the drug discovery continuum. He has unique expertise in machine-learning, artificial intelligence, and computational chemistry, all critical aspects of the ReSOLVE platform. At Ventus, Dr. Lobanov will oversee all scientific and operational aspects of computational sciences and information technology. He will focus on driving the rapid growth of Ventus’ internal computational capabilities and also help direct the strategy for extending the scope and application of Ventus’ ReSOLVE platform.

“ReSOLVE integrates unique capabilities in structural biology, physics-based in-silico modeling, and machine learning, and is embedded in our drug discovery organization. Victor has an extraordinary track record of growing and leading teams to build and scale up innovative technologies in these very areas. We believe his expertise is ideally suited to Ventus’ strategy and a wonderful complement to our renowned scientific advisors and internal computational leaders,” said Marcelo Bigal, M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO of Ventus.

Michael Crackower, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Ventus added: “Victor brings a depth of valuable expertise developing computational and machine learning platforms across multiple scientific disciplines. He is a rare individual with expertise in physics-based drug design and compound library development, as well as cutting-edge machine learning. His leadership will be critical to further expanding the moat around ReSOLVE, to identify and develop complementary approaches to build the computational capabilities of Ventus, and to attract other field-leading scientists and engineers to our growing organization.”

Dr. Lobanov has deep expertise across chemistry, cheminformatics, computational chemistry, machine learning and clinical trial operations, leading the delivery of innovative solutions for drug discovery and development. After receiving his Ph.D. in computational chemistry from the University of Tartu in Estonia, he conducted post-doctoral research in cheminformatics at the University of Florida. Early in his career, Dr. Lobanov worked at 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals (acquired by J&J) where he developed computational programs for drug design and discovery, incorporating machine learning methods. Dr. Lobanov had a decade-long tenure at Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), where he played leadership roles in the Informatics Center of Excellence and in Pharma R&D IT; his accomplishments include the design, development, and implementation of an industry-first enterprise-wide discovery informatics platform utilized by the entire J&J/Janssen R&D organization. Dr. Lobanov joins Ventus from Labcorp Drug Development (NYSE: LH), where he served as Vice President, Informatics Solution Development, leading Xcellerate technology development focused on applying machine learning and data science for clinical trial optimization.

“I believe that Ventus has created something unique with the ReSOLVE platform, as I view it as a first-of-its-kind physics-based computational chemistry platform that utilizes advanced and unique solvation modeling tools to transform virtual screening. This advanced platform capability is fully integrated into a small molecule drug discovery organization with strong structural biology capabilities. I look forward to supporting Ventus in becoming a leading company in targeting difficult to drug proteins. It is a privilege to join an organization with the potential to create an unmatched pipeline of new medicines,” said Dr. Lobanov.

About Ventus Therapeutics

Ventus Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company utilizing structural biology and computational tools to identify and develop small molecule therapeutics across a broad range of diseases, with an initial focus on immunology, inflammation, and neurology. We have developed a proprietary drug discovery platform, called ReSOLVE, which is built upon our structural biology and protein science expertise and our proprietary computational chemistry capabilities, to address the current limitations of small molecule drug discovery. We are leveraging our ReSOLVE platform to discover and characterize previously unknown or poorly understood pockets on the surface of proteins and identify small molecules that can bind to those pockets with optimal affinity. We are focused on high-value targets that have been extensively implicated in human diseases but were previously considered undruggable or where we believe there is a significant opportunity to improve upon existing therapies. Our lead programs target key innate immune modulators, including NLRP3 and cGAS. For more information, please visit www.ventustx.com and engage with us on Twitter @Ventus_Tx or on LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements about future expectations, plans and prospects, including, but not limited to, statements related to the anticipated benefits of executive leadership team additions, our business strategy, current programs, and timing of planned preclinical and clinical activities and future results of operations and financial position. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and inherently involve significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of these risks and uncertainties, which include, without limitation, the timing, progress and results of preclinical and clinical studies involving our development programs; the results of our earlier studies not being predictive of future results; our ability to enhance the ReSOLVE platform; our ability to continue to obtain funding for our operations and implement our business strategy; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and our efforts to address its impact on our business; anticipated developments related to our competitors and our industry; the performance of third-party service providers, including suppliers and manufacturers; and our ability to obtain, maintain and protect our intellectual property. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no duty or obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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