John Cooper has served as a member of the Board since April 2022.
Mr. Cooper’s career spans over 30 years of senior executive experience managing publicly-traded companies in the life sciences industry. He has played key leadership roles building companies with transformational medical technologies, including the first FDA approved synthetic peptide-containing pulmonary surfactant for premature infants with severe respiratory disease and the second FDA approved blood diagnostic test for HIV. Mr. Cooper has significant experience in corporate and organization development, raising capital, mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, investor relations, and corporate governance. Over his career, Mr. Cooper has raised approximately $1 billion in capital through various financing and strategic transactions. Currently, Mr. Cooper provides corporate development and financial advisory services to emerging public and private companies in the life sciences industry.
Mr. Cooper held executive leadership positions for Windtree Therapeutics (formerly Discovery Laboratories), a specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on respiratory therapeutics, from 2001 to 2016. His roles included President, Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of Directors, President and Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to Discovery Labs, Mr. Cooper served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Chrysalis International Corporation (acquired by Phoenix Life Sciences) and its predecessor DNX Corporation, where he managed its initial public offering and negotiated and integrated several strategic acquisitions. Previously, Mr. Cooper served in senior financial management and executive committee roles at ENI Diagnostics (acquired by Pharmacia AB).
Mr. Cooper received his B.S. in Commerce from Rider University and holds a CPA designation.
Mr. Zook has served as a member of the Board since April 2022. Mr. Zook was executive vice president of global commercial operations of AstraZeneca Plc from 2010 until 2012. He also served as president and chief executive officer of the North American division of AstraZeneca Plc from 2006 until 2009, and president of Medimmune, the company’s wholly-owned biologics division from 2009 until 2010. Mr. Zook has served as a director of BioSig Technologies, Inc (Nasdaq: BSGM) since July 2020, and had previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of AltheRx from 2013-2014, InHibikase in 2014, Rib-X Pharmaceuticals in 2009, the National Pharmaceutical Council from 2007-2009, PhRMA from 2011-2012, the Pennsylvania Division of the American Cancer Society from 2005-2007 and his alma mater, Frostburg State University from 2016-2018 and re-joined in 2021, where he earned a B.S. degree. Mr. Zook also earned an A.A. degree in chemical engineering from Pennsylvania State University. Mr. Zook brings extensive commercialization experience and expertise in executive leadership, making him a valuable resource on the Board.
Ms. Cowley has over ten years of experience in roles of increasing responsibility in entrepreneurial biotech environments. Prior to Oxidien, Helena was CEO of Captozyme, Inc., a contract manufacturing organization she built, alongside the two scientific co-founders, to a successful exit in 2019 to Arranta Bio. At Captozyme, Helena drove cross-functional collaboration and performance across disciplines, including marketing, accounting/finance, HR management, and technical programs. She managed technical and pre-clinical work, built a virtual clinical team and led the successful execution of a first-in-man clinical trial. Over Helena’s tenure, Captozyme tripled revenues and was named among the top 50 fastest-growing University of Florida alumni-led businesses in the 2019 Gator100 and a “Florida Company to Watch” in 2017. Helena is a co-inventor on two patents and first author on a peer-reviewed publication all related to novel oxalate-reducing technologies. She was recognized by Governor Rick Scott with the Florida Governor’s Entrepreneur Award in 2015. She holds a Master’s in Business Administration, M.B.A., from the University of Florida, and a Master of Science in Bioengineering, from Chalmers Technical University, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Ira Kalfus, MD, has over 15 years of experience in drug development and 30 years of experience in medicine. Previously, he was at Thar Pharmaceutics where he led the clinical development of T121 before Thar’s acquisition by Grünenthal GmbH. He was also a Medical Director at Redhill Therapeutics where he led the clinical development and FDA approval of Talicia® which is now being commercially launched. Previously, he was the VP of Medical Affairs at Lev Pharmaceuticals, where he led the clinical development for Cinryze®, which was approved by the FDA. Lev was acquired by ViroPharma in a deal valued at $618 million. His other positions have included Aetna/US Healthcare (Medical Director), Hillside Medical Associates (Internist), and Long Island Jewish Medical Center (President of the Staff Society and Chairman of Performance Improvement). Dr. Kalfus completed residency in Internal Medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center and graduated from Albert Einstein College of Medicine (MD) and Columbia University (BA in Biology).
Matt has served as Chief Executive Officer & board member of Oxidien Pharmaceuticals. since April 2022, and has more than thirty years’ experience in the healthcare arena, as both a healthcare and Wall Street executive.
Mr. Duffy has extensive development-to-market experience, beginning at Pfizer, Inc., in 1984, in Sales, Sales Management and Marketing (CNS, Cardiovascular, Anti-Infectives, Metabolic). He subsequently led the efforts to bring several important new drugs to commercialization including Synagis, while head of Marketing at MedImmune, Inc., from 1995 to 2001, and Cinryze, while head of Commercial Operations (Sales, Sales Management, Marketing, Managed Care, Patient Services, Distribution, FDA Advisory Committee preparation) at Lev Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 2007 to 2008.
More recently, from 2017 to 2018, Mr. Duffy was President, Chief Operating Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of AltMed Enterprises, LLC, a medical cannabis company, where he was instrumental in raising capital; executed an overhaul of the company’s Arizona operation which led to a significant improvement in productivity; launched the company’s first retail dispensary; oversaw the commercial launch of AltMed Florida; restructured the corporate operation and implemented a comprehensive budgeting process.
Mr. Duffy is also a Managing Partner at Laidlaw Venture Partners dba Laidlaw & Company (UK) Ltd. and is part of the Investment Banking Healthcare Team.