New CEO for Drugs Discovery Business

Enterprise Therapeutics, which is focused on therapies for the treatment of respiratory diseases, has appointed Dr John Ford as CEO.

Developing novel muco-regulatory therapies for patients suffering with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and severe asthma, the Company is targeting mechanisms that increase the clearance of mucus or reduce levels of mucus production, in order to alleviate the symptoms and complications associated with respiratory disease.

Dr Ford is a successful biotechnology entrepreneur who has co-founded Xention, Ario Pharma and Metrion Biosciences. Recently, he was a member of the Executive Team at Dezima that developed TA-8995 for dyslipidaemia and later sold the company to Amgen in 2015 for up to $1.55b. He obtained his BSc and PhD at the University of Leeds, where he worked on the structure and function of TRP channels. Dr Ford has over 18 years’ ion channel research, drug discovery and development experience.

Commenting on the appointment, Dr Peter Finan, Chairman Enterprise Therapeutics, said: “John’s experience in ion channels, drug development and biotech fundraising, position him uniquely to lead Enterprise Therapeutics moving forward. His expertise will complement the existing team and we are thrilled to have him on board.”

Dr Ford  added: “I am delighted to have joined Enterprise Therapeutics at an exciting time for the company. Respiratory disease remains an area of high unmet medical need, especially in the area of Cystic Fibrosis where existing therapies do not treat all patients. Our mission is to discover new disease modifying therapies that target the underlying mechanisms of mucus congestion, which will reduce the frequency of lung infections and improve patient quality of life. I look forward to working with the team and our investors in this important next stage of growth.”