LONDON (Alliance News) - Destiny Pharma PLC said Wednesday it has formed a scientific advisory board to provide "expert, independent analysis" of the company's research and clinical development plans.
The members of the board are: David Roblin, Richard Proctor, Vance Fowler, Leonard Mermel and Glenn Whitman.
Roblin, who will chair the new board, is president of research & development at Summit Therapeutics PLC and was a non-executive director at Destiny from 2011 to 2017. He has previously held roles at Pfizer Inc and Bayer AG.
Proctor is the professor emeritus at the department of Medical Microbiology/Immunology as well as professor emeritus at the department of Medicine at University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health in Madison, Wisconsin.
Fowler is a professor in the Departments of Medicine & Molecular Genetics & Microbiology at Duke University Medical Center, while Mermel was a technical expert panel member of the Medicare Patient Safety Monitoring System, US Department of Health and Human Services.
Whitman is a professor of surgery in the division of Cardiac Surgery at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.
Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board Roblin said: "There is an urgent global need for new antimicrobials to meet the challenge of rising levels of drug-resistant infections. Over the past two decades there has been a lack of innovation in developing novel antibiotic classes which is central to the issue of drug-resistant infections.
"Destiny Pharma's XF series of molecules provide the potential for such innovation and I look forward to advising the Destiny Pharma team to ensure we maximise the opportunity in the portfolio and speed new medicines to patients."
Destiny Pharma's Chief Executive Neil Clark said: "We are excited to announce the formation of such a strong scientific advisory board of recognised key opinion leaders in the fields of infection and hospital care. Their extensive insight and experience will be invaluable as we finalise plans for the development of our lead programme, XF-73, and our earlier pipeline."
Shares in Destiny Pharma were down 4.3% Wednesday to 112.00 pence each.
Destiny Pharma. (DEST)