Current RDD Pharma CEO John Temperato elaborated on the thinking behind the Innovate and RDD Pharma merger to Becker's ASC Review and offered insights into what's expected after the merger closes and 9 Meters Biopharma is formed.
Note: Responses were edited for style and clarity.
Question: How did the Innovate and RDD merger come to be?
John Temperato: Innovate is headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., where I live and where Salix Pharmaceuticals, where I worked for more than 10 years, was headquartered. Prior to Salix being purchased by Valeant, we were in the process of evaluating Larazotide, which is Innovate's asset for celiac disease — and the first ever to enter a phase 3 registration trial for celiac. Lastly, about three months ago, Innovate announced that it was looking for a CEO. So with those facts as the preamble — plus Lorin Johnson, the co-founder of Salix, being a current board member at Innovate — conversations began.
Q: What sort of effect will 9 Meters have on the GI space?
JT: In short, we want to address the unmet needs of patients suffering from debilitating rare, orphan or specialty gastrointestinal diseases. Since Salix was acquired by Valeant, there is a clear void of a public independent company focused on GI — we plan to fill that void by building the next-generation GI company. 9 Meters has a deeply experienced leadership team and board, with a proven track record of in-licensing developing and commercializing multibillion-dollar assets in gastroenterology and liver disease.
Q: What diseases will 9 Meters attempt to address in its work?
JT: We want to focus on true unmet needs for patients suffering from debilitating GI diseases such as celiac disease, where we have the first and only drug ever to make it into phase 3 for this condition. We also have an ongoing targeted in-licensing program and are in the midst of diligence on several compounds that align with our strategy. Over the next 24 months, we expect to have multiple data readouts and inflection points. Ultimately, we want to deliver to people living with GI diseases who are waiting for treatment options.
Q: How will you use your past experience at Salix and at RDD to lead 9 Meters forward?
JT: We will leverage our deep GI clinical and commercial relationships to establish a best-in-class management team. In addition, we have an experienced board of directors that includes Mark Sirgo, PharmD, who is CEO of ArunA Bio, Inc., and vice chairman of BioDelivery Sciences International; Lorin Johnson, PhD, co-founder of Salix Pharmaceuticals; Sandeep Laumas, MD, executive chairman of Innovate; and Nissim Darvish, MD, PhD, senior managing director of OrbiMed Advisors.
Since I was at Salix for more than a decade and responsible for the commercial and operational buildout, I know where there are still unmet needs in GI and what types of drug candidates could hold promise. We will build the company organically while investing into meaningful science, which we hope produces meaningful readouts and inflection points for shareholders — and most importantly, better lives for patients.