Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, a New York City-based biopharmaceutical firm, has officially launched and has made three acquisitions for its commercial operations and development pipeline. The company also introduced its senior management team.

Turing’s founder and executive chairman is Martin Shkreli, who has a history of success in the drug industry as founder and former CEO of Retrophin, Inc. At Retrophin, Mr. Shkreli led the acquisition of three key products in the six months following the company’s initial public offering in 2014. In addition to Mr. Shkreli, Turing has assembled a management team comprised of senior executives with experience in the drug industry. Howard Dorfman was named senior vice president and general counsel; Mr. Dorfman formerly worked at Ferring Pharmaceuticals and Bayer Pharmaceuticals (US) as well as at law firm Ropes & Gray. Hass Patel was named vice president for chemistry, manufacturing and controls; Dr. Patel was previously with Pharmasset, Reliant Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline. Nicholas Pelliccione, PhD, was named vice president of regulatory affairs; Dr. Pelliccione was formerly with Schering-Plough, Regado Biosciences, Aeterna Zenaris, and Chugai Pharma USA. Michael Harrison was appointed chief financial officer. Mr. Harrison was formerly with Retrophin. Nancy Retzlaff was named chief commercial officer; Ms. Retzlaff joins in early March from Mesoblast Ltd. She was previously with Pfizer, Schering-Plough and Bayer. Megan Roberts, PhD was named vice president and product feader for Vecamyl; Dr. Roberts previously worked at Genentech and BioMarin.

Simultaneous to its launch, Turing announced the acquisition of three assets from Retrophin: an intranasal formulation of ketamine, Syntocinon (oxytocin nasal solution), and Vecamyl (mecamylamine HCl tablets).

Turing is developing its new intranasal formulation of ketamine for a variety of psychiatric indications. The company is making investments in a novel delivery mechanism and other innovations to develop ketamine for the treatment of several serious psychiatric conditions and expects to commence clinical trials in the coming year. Turing’s plans further include a development program for Syntocinon in addressing multiple indications across several therapeutic areas.

Turing’s strategic focus is to acquire and advance development of external compounds while also pursuing internal drug discovery through proprietary research and developmeny. Turing has also acquired two early-stage compounds to be developed for various orphan drug indications.

Source: Turing Pharmaceuticals