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By Staff Reporters
02/06/2007
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Anti-bacterial drug developer Targanta Therapeutics Corp. has named two new members to its executive management team, appointing George Eldridge to become its chief financial officer and Paul Gesellchen as its vice president of regulatory affairs.
Eldridge joins the company from Therion Biologics Corp., where he also served as chief financial officer. Prior to that, he was CFO of Curis Inc. and served as an investment banker with Kidder Peabody & Co.
Gesellchen comes to the company from Eli Lilly & Co., where he was senior scientific director of the company's U.S. regulatory affairs division. He also held the position of research scientist for Eli Lilly, according to a Targanta press release.
Targanta has raised $40 million in venture financing to date, from investors including Seaflower Ventures, VenGrowth Capital Partners, MDS Capital, GeneChem Management, CDP Capital-Technology Ventures and others. Targanta President and Chief Executive Mark Leuchtenberger told VentureWire last month that it planned to close a $50 million round in at the end of January, taking in $35 million from new investors and $15 million from existing ones. Leuchtenberger couldn't be reached immediately for comment.
The company is developing its drug Oritavancin, a semi-synthetic glycopeptide, which kills bacteria through three to four independent mechanisms, and targets hospital-based infections. The company is also developing the drug for pneumonia and plans to begin Phase II studies in that indication this year. It also expects to begin Phase II studies this year for a less-frequent dosing of the drug for complicated skin and skin-structure infections.
http://www.targanta.com
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