Team
CEO
Gerald W. Bruce has spent over 30 years, including 20 years in senior leadership roles, in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Nutrition industry. He started his career at Johnson and Johnson where he was an award-winning sales representative and held leadership positions of increasing responsibility in sales and marketing ending with his role as Group Product Director of Analgesics. He then served as Vice President of Sales at Bristol-Myers Squibb where he led the Cardiovascular and Metabolic sales force responsible for over $1.2 Billion in sales. He later served as Vice President of Managed Markets where he led the team responsible for the development and implementation of the reimbursement strategy for the Bristol-Myers Squibb $7 billion US portfolio. Mr. Bruce went on to become the Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations at NitroMed where he was responsible for building the commercial strategy and led the team responsible for the development and implementation of the commercial plan for the start-up company’s first product for the treatment of Heart Failure. He also spent close to ten years in the Medical Nutrition industry where he was Vice President of Sales for Nutricia North America, Danone Medical Nutrition Division. Mr. Bruce currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Lincoln University and serves on the executive committee of the Board for the National Sales Network. He received his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Lincoln University and a master’s degree in Leadership from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Shah brings more than 20 years of financial leadership experience in the medical device and biopharmaceutical industries to our company. Prior to joining our Company, Mr. Shah served as the Chief Financial Officer of Aravive, Inc (Nasdaq: ARAV) since 2018 and as the Chief Financial Officer of Aravive Biologics, Inc. since 2010, initially as a consultant and from 2017 as an employee. Aravive Biologics merged into Aravive, Inc. in October, 2018. Prior to joining Aravive Biologics as an employee, Mr. Shah served in various financial positions of increasing responsibilities at Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company. Before Pacira, he worked for Cardinal Health’s medical device group in various finance management positions. The group was subsequently spun off as CareFusion and then sold to Becton, Dickinson and Company. His prior work experience includes positions at PwC and KPMG in India and the Middle East.
Mr. Shah received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Ranchi University in India. He is a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in India and has an MBA from W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Sheila A. Mathias has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry accelerating drug development. She brings extensive global regulatory affairs strategic guidance and clinical development experience having worked across a range of therapeutic areas, including pain management, addiction medicine, and dermatology. This experience has spanned across big pharma, mid-sized, to start-up biotechnology companies. Most recently, she held the position Senior Director Global Regulatory Affairs at Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company. Sheila has held increasing roles of responsibilities, entering the pharmaceutical industry at Merck US Human Health in the position of Medical Science Liaison. Dr. Mathias transitioned into Regulatory Affairs at Aventis Pharmaceuticals and has successfully brought multiple products through regulatory approval. Dr. Mathias received a B.S in Zoology from Howard University, a PhD in Neurophysiology from Meharry Medical College, an executive MBA from Saint Joseph’s University, and a JD from Northwestern California University School of Law. Since 2018 she has served on the Advisory Board for Tennessee State University Department of Biology.
CEO
Gerald W. Bruce has spent over 30 years, including 20 years in senior leadership roles, in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Nutrition industry. He started his career at Johnson and Johnson where he was an award-winning sales representative and held leadership positions of increasing responsibility in sales and marketing ending with his role as Group Product Director of Analgesics. He then served as Vice President of Sales at Bristol-Myers Squibb where he led the Cardiovascular and Metabolic sales force responsible for over $1.2 Billion in sales. He later served as Vice President of Managed Markets where he led the team responsible for the development and implementation of the reimbursement strategy for the Bristol-Myers Squibb $7 billion US portfolio. Mr. Bruce went on to become the Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations at NitroMed where he was responsible for building the commercial strategy and led the team responsible for the development and implementation of the commercial plan for the start-up company’s first product for the treatment of Heart Failure. He also spent close to ten years in the Medical Nutrition industry where he was Vice President of Sales for Nutricia North America, Danone Medical Nutrition Division. Mr. Bruce currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Lincoln University and serves on the executive committee of the Board for the National Sales Network. He received his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Lincoln University and a master’s degree in Leadership from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.
Director
Ms. Judy Su was lead pharmacist at a national drug store for six years and has knowledge and experience of large-scale retail distribution of scheduled drugs and medications. Currently, Ms. Su works as a pharmacist in the public sector. She has years of experience serving as an independent director for multiple publicly traded companies listed in Canada (CSE,TSX). Judy graduated in 2012 at the University of British Columbia with a bachelor's degree in pharmacy.
Director
Mr. Gary Herman is a seasoned investor. From 2006 until 2021, he co-managed Strategic Turnaround Equity Partners, LP (Cayman), and from 2005 until 2020 he was affiliated with Arcadia Securities LLC. Gary’s expertise extended to his role as a managing member of Abacoa Capital Management, LLC from January 2011 until August 2013, where his focus centered on the Global-Macro investment strategy. His background also includes tenure as an investment banker at Burnham Securities, Inc., a managing partner of Kingshill Group, Inc., and as a director for various public company boards. Mr. Herman received a B.S. in Political Science from the University at Albany, with minors in Business and Music.
Director
Mr. Jatinder (Jay) Dhaliwal is a registered pharmacist and has served as CEO and director of multiple publicly traded companies listed on Canadian (CSE, TSX) and American (Nasdaq) exchanges. Mr. Dhaliwal is currently a director of a Nasdaq listed leading seed to patient cannabis producer in Europe as well as serving as an independent director of a Nasdaq listed premier marketing agency specialized in the liquor industry. Previously, he worked in an upper management role in a large national pharmacy and has extensive knowledge in agricultural, medical and pharmaceutical operations. Mr. Dhaliwal holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy from the University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Science in biology from the University of Victoria.
Director
Ms. Katharyn (Katie) Field’s background includes positions spanning both the private and public sectors and brings a wealth of experience and expertise in strategy consulting and executive leadership. Ms. Field is currently the CEO and Chairman of Halo Collective Inc., an Executive Director at Akanda Corporation, and the Chairperson of Aerwins Technology. She has held prominent positions at renowned organizations including in the White House in the office of the public liaison, the Brookings Institution as a manager of operations, and Bain & Company as a consultant. In 2014, Ms. Field entered the cannabis industry working with one of the original vertically integrated licensed medical marijuana treatment centers in Florida. Subsequently, she operated a strategy consulting practice focused on cannabis and served as Executive Vice President of Corporate Development at MariMed from 2018 to 2019. Ms. Field holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA with honors from Stanford University.
Probudur™
Professor of Biochemistry and the head of the Liposome and Membrane Research Lab at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School of Jerusalem at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was a visiting professor in many universities world-wide (US, UK, Japan, China, Italy, Denmark). He is on the Editorial Boards of few scientific journals. Professor Barenholz is coauthor in more than 435 publications (cited >39,000 times, h-index >98). He is in the world top 5000 scientists (among almost 1 million scientists world-wide) according to Stanford evaluation. Barenholz is a co-inventor of more than 55 allowed patents, (>50% were licensed). He is one of the key inventors of Doxil®, the first FDA approved nano-drug (November 1995), currently marketed by Baxter for a cancer treatment. On October 2021 FDA approved a generic Doxil developed by Barenholz and Ayana Pharma LTD, one of the six start-ups co-founded by Barenholz. Professor Barenholz was awarded many national and international prizes, the last one is the Israel Prime minister 2020 EMET prize in The Exact Sciences (Nanotechnology). He is married to Dr. Hanna Barenholz, together they have 4 daughters and 12 grandchildren.
MET • Envelta™ • NobrXiol™
Dr. Uchegbu is a multi-award winning nanotechnology scientist and Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. She is the founding Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Nanomerics. In addition, Dr. Uchegbu holds a chair in Pharmaceutical Nanosciences at University College London. She has received a number of awards, notably the UK’s Women of Outstanding Achievement Award (2007) in Science Engineering and Technology.
Liposomal and Nanotechnology Delivery Platforms
Probudur™ · Envelta™ · NobrXiol™
Pardeep Gupta, Ph.D., currently serves as Professor, Burroughs Wellcome Chair, Director Industrial Pharmacy Laboratory at St. Joseph’s University. He has spent nearly 33 years teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in controlled drug delivery systems, pharmaceutical solutions, drug stability, drug diffusion and pharmaceutical rate processes. Before that, he received his doctorate degree in pharmaceutics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
For the past 20 years, Dr. Gupta has focused his academic research on delivery of proteins and poorly soluble drugs. Current projects in his laboratory are in the area of nanoparticle based protein delivery systems, use of amphiphilic peptides as stabilizers of nanosuspensions, and design of peptide drugs. He has served on editorial board of Remington-The Science and Practice of Pharmacy and also authored several chapters in Remington and other reference books.
Dr. Gupta is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists.
Probudur™
Dr. Neil Singla, a board-certified anesthesiologist, is the founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Lotus Clinical Research. Since its inception in 2001, Dr. Singla has served in several roles within the organization including: Research Coordinator, Sub-Investigator, Principal Investigator, Coordinating Investigator, and Chief Scientific Officer.
Dr. Singla has published extensively and is a frequent lecturer for physicians, pharmaceutical companies, and medical research institutes throughout the country. He currently chairs the Analgesic Clinical Trials Shared/Special Interest Group at the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), chaired the Clinical Trials Shared Interest Group at the American Pain Society (APS) through 2019, chairs the annual Conference on Analgesic Clinical Trials, which aims to help experts advance best practices in analgesic drug development, as well as, serving on the Clinical Research Committee at Huntington Hospital.
The main focus of Dr. Singla’s academic endeavors has been to analyze and understand how the inherent variability in subjective endpoint analgesic clinical trials can be minimized. As a result, he has developed novel techniques for patient education designed to minimize variability, reduce placebo response, and increase effect size.
Neurologist & Epileptologist
NobrXiol™
Dr. Sommerville is a board-certified neurologist and was in private practice in Lebanon, Pennsylvania 1980-1991. He was in charge of the EEG lab and was a consultant to a local psychiatric hospital and held a clinical position at the Hersey Medical Center. He joined the pharmaceutical industry in 1991 and since that time has been in Clinical Research for drugs in epilepsy, pain (abuse-deterrent opioids), and movement disorders including Parkinson Disease and Restless Leg Syndrome. He also contributed to research on a drug for prostatic hypertrophy. He has been the Medical Director or Vice-President for over one dozen NDA filings that have achieved approval. He has also been in charge of the clinical data for several drugs for epilepsy including vigabatrin, tiagabine, divalproex, intravenous valproate, lacosamide, diazepam injection, and most recently cannabidiol which received approval after a rapid clinical program of just four years. He has been in charge of clinical data for successful submissions in Parkinson Disease (rotigotine patch) and abuse-deterrent opioids (morphine and oxycodone formulations). He worked for a number of companies including Abbott, Schwarz, UCB, Marion Merrill Dow, King, Pfizer, and lastly Greenwich Biosciences (GW Pharma). He retired in 2018 after the submission of cannabidiol for Lennox-Gastaut and Dravet Syndrome. He has extensive experience in epilepsy and development of other CNS drugs.
Pediatric Neurologist & Epileptologist
NobrXiol™
Dr. Lawrence Fried’s research focuses on telemedicine, family engagement, transition of care, and increased coordination with primary care for pediatric epilepsy patients. He is also interested in healthcare disparities, especially as it pertains to telemedicine. He received his medical degree from Drexel University College of Medicine.
He currently serves as an Attending Physician in the Pediatric Regional Epilepsy Program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, as well as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania and is a Corporate Advisory Committee member of the American Epilepsy Society. Following medical school, he completed five years in residency positions in pediatrics and pediatric neurology, followed by a fellowship in epilepsy and pediatric neurology and has published extensively in those fields.
IP Portfolio
Dr. Smith previously held the positions of Chief Intellectual Property Counsel for Alpharma, Inc. and before that Head of North American Intellectual Property for Sanofi Aventis. In both positions, Dr. Smith had global responsibility for all intellectual property issues related to multiple business units involved with various technologies including branded products, animal health products, active pharmaceutical ingredients, generic drugs, and vaccines. Dr. Smith also brings extensive background and knowledge in the area of abuse-deterrent intellectual property. Dr. Smith has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Houston, an M.B.A from Lehigh University, and a J.D. from the University of Houston.
Our experienced executive team, board, and advisors have
PROVEN TRACK RECORDS
developing, launching, and marketing numerous FDA approved products
The U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR)
Virpax entered into a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR) on May 5, 2022 to evaluate Virpax’s Probudur™, an injectable long-acting liposomal bupivacaine in a formulation that is injected at the wound site. Probudur is being developed to significantly reduce or eliminate the need for opioids after surgery in approved indications. In pre-clinical trials, Probudur has shown pain control for 96 hours. The USAISR is the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD) primary laboratory for developing solutions for trauma and critical care challenges in combat casualties.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)
Virpax advances Envelta™ Development with NCATS Under CRADA Agreement to support the development and manufacturing of Envelta. The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded research and development contracts to support Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) production of drug substance and drug product. as well as to support Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) toxicology, safety studies and preclinical efficacy studies to develop Envelta.
Envelta is Virpax’s endogenous enkephalin intranasal spray for Acute pain, including pain associated with cancer. Virpax entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with NCATS on August of 2020.
National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council
Virpax entered into a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Division of Translational Research which conducts and funds research on brain and nervous system disorders. Virpax will be partnering with the Epilepsy Therapy Screening Program (ETSP) whose mission is to identify novel agents to address unmet medical needs in epilepsy, including the identification of next generation products focused on addressing drug resistant epilepsy, disease prevention and modification. Under the CRADA, NINDS ETSP will evaluate Virpax’s NobrXiol™ product candidate that is being developed for the management of rare pediatric epilepsy. NobrXiol utilizes a unique intranasal Molecular Envelope Technology (MET) delivery platform for pharmaceutical-grade cannabidiol (CBD).
