HIGH POINT – The High Point-based publicly traded vTv Therapeutics will soon have new executive leadership.
The clinical stage biopharmaceutical company announced today that it had appointed Paul Sekhri as the firm’s chief executive officer and president.
Rich Nelson, who currently is serving in an interim CEO role since March 2, 2022, will remain with the company following Sekhri’s assumption of the chief executive post on August 1, 2022. Nelson will remain with the firm under the role of executive vice president, corporate development, and he will also remain a member of the board of directors.
“During my long career as a biotechnology executive, I have been attracted to truly novel therapeutic approaches that address serious medical challenges and/or improve patient care,” said Sekhri, in a statement.
Sekhri will join the company’s board of directors, as well. The company statement noted that over a 30-year career, Sekhri has served as president and CEO of several companies and served on the board of directors for more than 30 organizations.
Future fundraising possible?
“While I’ve served in the Interim CEO role for the past four months, we diligently searched for the right candidate to steer the company through this final stage of TTP399 development and are highly confident that Paul is the right person for the role,” said Rich Nelson. “We are thrilled to have Paul join vTv at this very exciting time in the company’s lifecycle as we actively engage in activities in preparation of the initiation of our Phase 3 trials and continue to have positive discussions with institutions in the biotech community about further investment in vTv.”
The company announced earlier this week that it had taken on a cash investment, which will come in two separate payments, of $10 million from CinPax LLC, a subsidiary of CinRx Pharma, LLC.
Last December, vTv announced it would be cutting its workforce by 65% as it moved to focus the firm’s efforts on the final stages of development for TTP399, which in April 2021 was granted a Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as previously reported on WRAL TechWire.
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