OUR MISSION
We are committed to providing patients living with chronic diseases an alternative to injectable and other inhaled formulation technologies, ultimately improving their treatment efficacy and treatment experience.
OUR APPROACH
Our product development approach combines novel formulations of existing drugs with our inhalation technology for the treatment of rare and severe chronic diseases with high unmet medical need.
MANAGEMENT TEAM
Our management team brings together formulation, device development, clinical and commercial expertise.
ANNE WHITAKER, Chief Executive Officer
Anne is a seasoned healthcare executive with more than 27 years of experience across multiple companies and geographies. She has a proven track record of building and leading high-performance teams to successfully commercialize pharmaceuticals, consumer products and medical devices. Anne attributes her career success to being an authentic, courageous and agile leader who establishes high performance cultures that enable teams to deliver exceptional results. She has been recognized in the pharmaceutical industry by Fierce Pharma as one of the top 25 Most Influential People in BioPharma in 2012 and 2013, and in 2014 as one of the top 25 Most Influential Women in BioPharma. She is active in the North Carolina community mentoring women and men in pursuit of STEM careers and leadership positions. She is a member of Women Corporate Directors, Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association, International Women’s Forum and OnBoardNC.
Anne is currently the chief executive officer of Aerami Therapeutics (formerly Dance Biopharm Holdings, Inc.). Prior to Aerami, Anne served as the chief executive officer and president of KNOW Bio LLC, a privately held life science company, and the founding chief executive officer of its subsidiary, Novoclem Therapeutics Inc. from February 2017 until April 2018 where she advanced the company’s nitric oxide platform. She serves as an independent director on the boards of Cree Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE), a LED and semiconductor company, Mallinckrodt PLC (NYSE: MNK), a specialty pharmaceutical company, and Vectura Group PLC (LSE: VEC), a pharmaceutical and medical device company. She also serves on the board of trustees for the University of North Alabama, her alma mater. She has previously served on the boards of Synta Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: SNTA), now Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: MDGL), Novoclem Therapeutics Inc., KNOW Bio LLC, and foundation board for the North Carolina School of Mathematics and Science. In addition to her public company board work and private company chief executive officer role, she is an active industry advisor to private equity and venture capital funds in the US and Europe.
Anne started her healthcare career with The Upjohn Company selling pharmaceuticals to treat diabetes and arthritis. She subsequently transitioned to GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE: GSK) where she rose in the commercial ranks from a sales representative to become a senior vice president for the cardiovascular, metabolic, and urology franchises in 2009. Anne joined Sanofi SA (SAN-FR: Euronext Paris) in 2011 as the president of the North America Region and chief executive officer of Sanofi US where she led more than 5000 commercial and medical employees to deliver ~$10B in net sales equaling > 30% of the net sales and >50% of the profit for Sanofi globally. Anne served as the chief executive officer and president of Synta Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: SNTA) in 2014 and 2015. She joined Bausch Health Companies Inc. (NYSE: BHC) as an executive vice president and company group chairman for the Branded Pharmaceuticals segment in mid 2015 where she led the successful integration of Salix Pharmaceuticals and Dendreon, built the U.S. pharmaceutical commercial operations and market access team, launched Xifaxan for irritable bowel syndrome and led the Western European Region.
Anne holds a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of North Alabama.
MICHAEL J. KASETA, Chief Financial Officer
Mike Kaseta has 15 years of experience in finance, business strategy, product licensing and commercialization of biopharma products, including insulin.
Prior to Aerami, Mr. Kaseta served as the chief financial officer at Aralez Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: ARLZ). Before that, Mr. Kaseta served as the chief financial officer at Sanofi SA for North America Global Services and the North America Pharmaceutical Region, working on the commercial launch of multiple diabetes products, as well as other biologics and pharmaceuticals.
Mr. Kaseta holds a BBA in accounting from James Madison University.
TIMM CROWDER, Chief Operating Officer
Timm Crowder has over 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical and manufacturing operations with deep experience in the development of inhaled therapeutics.
Prior to Aerami, Dr. Crowder served as chief operating officer at Spyryx Biosciences, a biopharmaceutical company developing inhaled therapeutics for severe respiratory diseases. Previously, he was the director of Advanced Manufacturing Technology at GlaxoSmithKline, PLC (GSK: NYSE), where he led innovation in the areas of aerosol and dry powder inhaler release testing, technology enhanced manufacturing, electronic inhaler and particle engineering technologies. Earlier in his tenure at GSK, he contributed to the development of manufacturing systems and quality-by-design for GSK’s current asthma and COPD products. Prior to GSK, Timm was co-founder and chief technology officer of Oriel Therapeutics Inc., an inhaler technology company launched to commercialize a dry powder inhaler he developed during his graduate research. Oriel was subsequently acquired by Sandoz Pharmaceuticals.
Timm earned his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from UNC-Chapel Hill and has degrees in physics from North Carolina State University and Davidson College. He is an inhalation and manufacturing technology expert credited with 10 issued patents on inhalers and powder filling systems and more than 25 publications, book chapters and international presentations relating to aerosol drug delivery, inhaler design, powder filling, and product formulation and characterization.
MEI-CHANG KUO, PhD, Senior Vice President Pharmaceutics
Mei-Chang Kuo has over 25 years of experience in inhalation medicine, advancing several new and life-cycle-management products through different phases of research and development at a start-up and mid-size life science companies, including PKA BioAnalytical and Polaroid Corp.
At ImmuLogic, Dr. Kuo developed two AllerVax products for cat and ragweed allergies to Phase 3. He spent 15 years, at Nektar Therapeutics, where he formulated dry powder insulin for Exubera® and was responsible for the second and third generation of insulin formulation development.
Dr. Kuo earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin and completed an arthritic postdoctoral fellowship at National Institute of Health (NIH).
TRUC LE, Chief Technical Operations & Manufacturing
Truc Le is responsible for building a Best-in Class Operation , Pharmaceutics, and Quality organization for Aerami. Previously, Mr. Le was the COO for Avid Bioservices, a leading CMO that specializes in clinical trials and commercial distribution of monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins. Le was also SVP of Operations and Quality for Nektar Therapeutics, where he led the CMC quality approval of the first approved inhaled insulin product, Exubera. Truc has over 30 years of experience in worldwide operations, quality systems management, and business effectiveness. He has assisted numerous companies in developing their operations and regulatory affairs to meet USFDA and International Standards, including achievements of ISO registration and CE mark approval for the European Union. He has also assisted multiple companies in Business Excellence, utilizing 6-Sigma programs to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. Previously, Mr. Le was employed by a division of Johnson & Johnson as the Worldwide Vice-President of Regulatory Compliance and Quality Systems. Le has a B.S. in mechanical engineering, an M.B.A. in Management, and completed executive leadership training programs, including World Class Manufacturing at Duke University, Executive Management at Harvard University, and a QSR trainer at AAMI/FDA.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Anne Whitaker, Chief Executive Officer and Director
John Patton, PhD, Director and Founder
Steve Thornton, Chairman, Chair of Compensation Committee
Adam Stern, Director
Benjamin Wolin, Director, Chair of Nomination and Governance Committee
Bill Welch, Director
Kenneth B. Lee, Jr. Director, Chair of Audit Committee
CAREERS
Join us in our effort to redefine the treatment of chronic diseases with inhaled therapies.