Company Profile

PLx has focused its development efforts on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug products that have active ingredients previously approved for marketing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This strategy reduces development risks, as these active ingredients have well known safety and efficacy profiles, and speeds product development, as an expedited regulatory path called the 505(b)(2) pathway is available for new drug products containing these already approved active ingredients.

Similarly, the company has focused the development of its lead products on indications where there is a significant clinical need and large commercial opportunity, such as in osteoarthritis, pain, fever and cardioprevention, while advancing other candidates toward preclinical proof-of-concept in more niche markets, such as in ductus arteriosus. In both cases, PLx intends to enter into one or more strategic alliances with partners who can enhance the value of these products and speed their development and commercialization.

Ronald R. Zimmerman
President & CEO

Mr. Zimmerman has over 30 years experience in investment banking, venture workout/turnaround and startup company management and is a founding investor in PLx. He has successfully closed M&A transactions with an aggregate value in excess of $10 billion and private placements and licensing transactions with an aggregate value greater than $500 million. Ron is an investor in several life science ventures and has served on the Board of Nanospectra Biosciences, Inc. and the Advisory Board of BioImagene, Inc.

Gary Mossman
Chief Operating Officer

Gary retired as President of Dixie Chemical, a privately held firm whose operations include supplying the Pharmaceutical industry with intermediate API's. Formerly he was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Cambrex Corporation where he was responsible for day to day operations and interacting with many Pharmaceutical companies for this leading Pharma contract manufacturing company. Earlier in his career he had increasing levels of responsibility with several companies.

Lenard M. Lichtenberger, Ph.D.
Founder and Chairman, Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Lichtenberger is a Professor of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He has more than 25 years of pioneering research on the biochemical basis of NSAID-induced gastrointestinal injury and the “barrier function” of gastrointestinal tissue, which has been supported by over $10 million of grants awarded by NIH, the Army, the Arthritis Foundation and the State of Texas, and has over 100 scientific publications in the field. He is on the editorial board of a number of scientific journals and also serves as the Associate Director of the Texas Medical Center Digestive Disease Center. Len is an inventor of the core technology and he continues to lead the scientific direction of the Company.

Upendra K. Marathi, Ph.D. , M.B.A.
Senior Vice President

Dr. Marathi is involved with all facets of PLx’s clinical and manufacturing programs. He was previously with BCM Technologies, the venture subsidiary and incubator for the Baylor College of Medicine where he was involved in the founding and launch of several biotechnology companies, including drug discovery, bio-tool and pharmaceutical companies. Prior to BCMT, Upendra was a post-doctoral fellow at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and earned a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics from Loyola University. He has more than 15 years of drug development experience in increasing the safety and efficacy of approved cancer and pain products. Upendra has served on the Faculty of the Jones School of Management at Rice University.

Jason E. Moore, M.S., M.B.A., R.A.C.
Vice President

Mr. Moore has nearly 15 years of biotech industry experience, having managed a spectrum of new-drug development, regulatory, medical/technical writing, and successful SBIR/STTR grant programs for both established and emerging biopharma companies. He has used financial modeling and quantitative risk assessment tools for product portfolio management and partnering, and has managed strategic alliance and M&A activities. Jason's drug development experience includes both small molecule and biological therapeutics and spans preclinical and CMC related projects, domestic and international clinical trials, and major and minor regulatory submissions. Among the previous companies for which Jason has worked are Amgen, Antigenics, Aronex Pharmaceuticals, and Introgen Therapeutics. He earned an M.S. in Science and Technology Journalism from Texas A&M University and an M.B.A. from the C. T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston. He has been a Visiting Scholar in the Professional Program in Biotechnology at Texas A&M University and been an instructor in the Life Science Entrepreneurship Program at Rice University.

Michael J. Valentino
Chairman of the Board

Mike Valentino has had a successful career in the pharmaceutical industry leading entrepreneurial companies experiencing rapid growth and a broad range of critical leadership positions at major pharmaceutical companies. He joined Adams Respiratory Therapeutics in 2003 and successfully transformed Adams into a fully integrated specialty pharmaceutical company with more than $490 million in annual revenues and a leading Over-The-Counter brand, Mucinex®. Under Mike's leadership Adams completed its initial public offering in July 2005, which was ranked by The Wall Street Journal as the number one healthcare IPO in 2005 and in 2008 Adams was acquired by Reckitt Benckiser for approximately $2.3 billion. Subsequently, Mike served as President and CEO of Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where he organized a management transition and new product commercialization in the pain management market. Mike has also served as Executive Vice President, Global Head of Consumer Pharmaceuticals for Novartis AG, President and Chief Operating Officer of Novartis Consumer Healthcare, North America, President of Pharmacia and Upjohn's Consumer Products Divisions, President and Chief Executive Officer at Alpharma and earlier in his career was with Warner Lambert in a variety of senior roles.

David Anderson
Director

Mr. Anderson serves on the Board of Directors for PLx Pharma Inc. and as Chairman of the Board for Nanospectra Biosciences, Inc. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Halsa Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and serves as an advisor to other companies in the life sciences industry. He has over 20 years of experience in the life sciences industry and formerly served as the President and CEO of MithraGen and as the Chief Operating Officer and a director of Tanox, joining Tanox in 1987 as Vice President of Corporate Development. At Tanox, he was a member of the steering committee overseeing development of Tanox's anti-IgE products, including XolairT, a first in class treatment for asthma. From 1977 to 1987, Mr. Anderson was engaged in the private practice of law, with a focus in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, financing transactions and intellectual property licensing.

Tim Black, J.D.
Director

Mr. Black is Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer of Strategic Income Management, LLC and has been a partner at Integra Ventures, a Seattle based venture capital fund, for 8 years. Prior to joining Integra Ventures, Mr. Black was the President of SunWest International, an international consulting firm advising U.S. and Asian companies on cross border transactions. Prior to founding SunWest, Mr. Black was Managing Partner of a Seattle law firm specializing in securities and business law. He has served on the boards of United Paging Group, Westmoor Ltd., and several non profits. Mr. Black received his B.A. in Economics from Colorado College and his J.D. from Seattle University.

David Jorden
Director

Mr. Jorden has 20 years of public and private company investment experience. He has served as an Executive Board Member of Cytomedix, Inc since October 2008 and was previously with Morgan Stanley's Private Wealth Management group since 2003 where he was responsible for equity portfolio management for high net worth individuals. Prior to Morgan Stanley, David served as CFO for Genometrix, Inc., a private genomics/life sciences company focused on high-throughput microarray applications. David was previously a principal with Fayez Sarofim & Co from 1989 thru 2000. David has a MM from Northwestern University's Kellogg School and a BBA from UT/Austin. He holds both CFA and CPA designations. David serves on the board of two public companies, Cytomedix, Inc., a company involved with tissue regeneration therapies, and Opexa Therapeutics, Inc., a company developing novel cell therapies for multiple sclerosis. He is also on the board of DLush, a private deluxe beverage retail concept.

Alexander F. Seelenberger
Director

Mr. Seelenberger is Managing Director of Aurus Bios. Aurus is a leading Life Science focused venture capital firm in South America. He also serves on the board of Andes Biotechnologies. From 2007 to 2008, Mr. Seelenberger worked at Athelera LLC, a merger and acquisitions firm in New York. Previously, he was a consultant for the Boston Consulting Group (between 2002 and 2005) focusing primarily in pharmaceutical industry, financial services and in mining projects. Alex holds an MBA —Baker Scholar— from Harvard University and a commercial engineering degree from Universidad de Chile.