Therma Bright Inc (TSX-V:THRM, OTC:TBRIF), a developer and investor in a range of proprietary diagnostic and medical technologies, revealed that industry veteran Dr John Patton has joined as chairman of its investee company InStatin Inc.
Therma Bright recently invested in InStatin, a privately held innovative, research-based pharmaceutical company specializing in inhaled therapies. Most notably, Therma Bright has invested in InStatin's novel inhaled statins treatment for patients with chronic lung conditions.
Dr Patton is one of the top industry pioneers in the development of inhaled drugs, according to the company. Most recently, he was the executive chairman and co-founder of iPharma Labs, a contract development research organization (CDRO), developing inhalation delivery products, which was acquired by Kindeva Drug Delivery in June 2022.
READ: Therma Bright invests in novel treatment using inhaled statins to treat respiratory conditions
Prior to joining InStatin, Dr Patton was in senior leadership roles and on the board of several companies within the space. In 1990, Dr Patton co-founded Inhale/Nektar (NKTR), which went on to achieve a US$2.1 billion valuation on the tech-dominated Nasdaq.
The company received global recognition for its inhaled insulin solution with Pfizer, which was recognized by the Wall Street Journal as the 2006 Medical Innovation of the Year. Furthermore, Dr Patton was a founding investor of Halozyme (HALO) in 1999 and served on the company's board director until 2015. In 2006, Halozyme was recognized as one of the top biotech stocks in California. It has a current market valuation of US$6.5 billion.
In addition to iPharma, Inhale/Nektar and Halozyme, John's other successes include being the founder CEO of Dance Biopharm (now Aerami Therapeutics), a third generation inhaled insulin Phase 3 ready solution and co-founder of InCarda Therapeutics, a developer of inhaled medicines for acute cardiac conditions.
Dr Patton has received numerous honours and awards in his career, and has been published in over 100 publications. He also has over 45 patents.
"I'm thrilled to work with Dr Patton as part of the InStatin team," Therma Bright CEO Rob Fia said in a statement. "Dr Patton brings a great deal of experience in building multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical solution companies within the inhaled formulation space, and we believe his experience and contributions will have great impact on the company’s future success."
Therma Bright revealed that Dr Patton has assumed his role with InStatin immediately and will begin working with the management team on the company’s 2023 and long-term plan.
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
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