Management team strengthened as Auspherix drives new class of antibacterials towards the clinic

In line with its R&D strategy, Auspherix has further strengthened its senior scientific team

Auspherix, the anti-infectives company meeting the urgent need for new antibiotics by developing a novel class of organogold antibacterials, has announced further strengthening of its management team, with Dr Neil Miller transitioning to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) from Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), and the company announcing two new appointments of Dr Richard Rutter as CSO and Dr Paul King as Head of Chemistry.

Dr Miller has served as CSO of Auspherix during the past 12 months, where he has been responsible for the company’s antibiotic R&D programmes, having previously gained two decades of experience working at GlaxoSmithKline.

In his role as CEO he will take on overall responsibility not only for driving Auspherix’s novel compounds through preclinical development and into the clinic, but also for extending the company’s contacts with future potential investors and partners.

Auspherix Chairman Dr Roberto Solari, said: “Neil has provided excellent hands-on scientific leadership as CSO. His proven expertise in drug discovery has been instrumental in focusing our R&D and driving our programmes forward. As CEO I am confident that he will continue to ensure scientific progress as well as to secure the finance and partnerships needed to give our innovative organogold antibiotics the best chance of success.”

An expert pharmacologist and biologist with more than 15 years of industry experience, Dr Rutter joins the Company as CSO with responsibility for leading and progressing its drug discovery programmes. Prior to his role at Auspherix, Richard was the Head of Biology at GlaxoSmithKline’s Neuroscience R&D Centre in Singapore.

Previously, Richard was a Senior Research Biologist at Merck Sharpe and Dohme in the UK. Richard has a PhD in molecular neuroscience from the University of London, UK.

A medicinal chemist, Dr King joins Auspherix as Head of Chemistry bringing to the company more than 15 years of experience in small-molecule drug discovery, working across multiple therapeutic areas.

Prior to his appointment at Auspherix, Paul also held a number of positions at GlaxoSmithKline, including Team and Programme Leader in the Neural Pathways Discovery Performance Unit, Singapore. Paul has a PhD in chemistry from Imperial College, UK and conducted post-doctoral research at the Scripps’ Research Institute, USA.

Welcoming Richard and Paul, Dr Neil Miller, CEO of Auspherix, said: “We believe our new class of organogold antibiotics has the potential to make a major contribution to the treatment of bacterial infections and are committed to diligently progressing our antibacterial pipeline, to help address the worldwide healthcare crisis of rising antibiotic resistance and the need to expand the repertoire treatment options. Auspherix will greatly benefit from the expertise that Richard and Paul bring to the company.”

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