On June 15, 2020 Aridis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARDS), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel anti-infective therapies to treat life-threatening bacterial infections, reported that it has appointed Dr. Hasan Jafri as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) (Press release, Aridis Pharmaceuticals, JUN 15, 2020, View Source [SID1234561117]). Dr. Jafri replaces Dr. Paul Mendelman who has been serving as the Company’s interim CMO since October, 2019 and will transition to the role of senior medical advisor to the Company.
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"It is a pleasure to welcome Dr. Jafri to the Aridis team as he brings extensive clinical, research and industry experience across the full spectrum of the infectious disease treatment landscape, especially in anti-infective immunotherapies," commented Vu Truong, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Aridis Pharmaceuticals. "I also wish to extend gratitude to Dr. Mendelman for his tremendous contribution in helping maintain the development pace of our clinical programs and implementation of the Company’s APEX technology platform used in the discovery of COVID-19 mAbs and other antibodies against lung disease pathogens."
Dr. Jafri comes to Aridis from AstraZeneca, where he most recently served as Senior Medical Director, Clinical Research and Development, Microbial Sciences, Clinical Head of Antibacterial mAb Program, and Coordinator of the European Public-Private COMBACTE-NET & COMBACTE-MAGNET consortia focused on antibacterial drug development supported by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI). During his tenure at AstraZeneca, he led the clinical development of the anti-bacterial monoclonal antibodies within the Serious Bacterial Infections Franchise, including its Phase 2 programs MEDI4893 (anti-S. aureus alphatoxin mAb) and MEDI3902 (anti-P. aeruginosa Psl/PcrV mAb). He also served as the AstraZeneca representative on the Infection Control Strategic Governance Group (SGG), an industry committee tasked with advising the European Commission and IMI on R&D priorities. In addition to the antibacterial programs, Dr. Jafri has been a leader in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) R&D. Dr. Jafri has over 25 years of experience in clinical practice and research, especially in the area of serious healthcare associated and community acquired infections, respiratory viral infections and invasive fungal infections (in immunocompromised and immunocompetent hosts), and biomarker and translational research. He has been involved in the design and conduct of multiple Phase 1–4 clinical studies to assess novel small and large molecules against bacterial, viral and fungal pathogens. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Dr. Jafri served as a Professor in the Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and the Department of Clinical Science Research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. He was the Chief of Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Director of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases fellowship program, and Director of the NICHD Pediatric Pharmacology Research Center. Dr. Jafri has authored over 70 peer reviewed journal articles and presented over 100 original research abstracts at National and International Conferences.
"I’m excited to join Aridis especially at such a critical time within the infectious disease arena given the COVID-19 pandemic, the global antibiotic resistance challenges and the need for new innovative antibacterial therapies. I look forward to playing an integral role in advancing our pipeline of differentiated anti-infective treatments for multiple indications and bringing these novel and potentially lifesaving medicines to patients," commented Dr. Hasan Jafri, Chief Medical Officer of Aridis Pharmaceuticals. "I’m particularly passionate about antiviral and antibacterial immunotherapy using monoclonal antibodies after having spent the past decade working on this area at AstraZeneca/MedImmune and have helped advance multiple programs through global Phase 3 clinical studies."