NEWS & EVENTS
PRESS RELEASES 2005
ELIZABETH POSILLICO NAMED PRESIDENT OF ELUSYS
PINE BROOK, NJ – January 31, 2005 -- Elusys Therapeutics, Inc. announced today that Elizabeth Posillico, Ph.D., has been named president of Elusys and will manage and lead all operations of the company. She succeeds Stephen G. Sudovar, who had been president and CEO of Elusys since 1999. Mr. Sudovar resigned due to health reasons.
Dr. Posillico joined Elusys in November 2002 as vice president of business development, and in 2004 was promoted to senior vice president of operations. She came to Elusys with 20 years of experience working in biotechnology companies. In addition to business development, her experience spans product management, product development, marketing, and manufacturing.
Dr. Posillico has held executive positions at several biopharmaceutical companies including: Genzyme, Physiome Sciences, Apoptogen and Damon Biotech. Dr. Posillico also served on the management committee of the Canadian Medical Discovery Fund providing insight and recommendations for funding early stage Canadian biotech firms. She holds a Ph.D. in endocrinology from Duke University, where she also did post-doctoral work in physiology.
“I am pleased to have the opportunity to lead Elusys forward,” said Dr. Posillico. “The company is in a period of tremendous growth, and we are seeing very positive data for the products in our pipeline.”
In the past year, Dr. Posillico oversaw the development of Anthim™, the company’s antibody product for the treatment of anthrax. In animal models, Anthim provided complete protection when given prophylactically, prior to anthrax exposure, and greatly increased survival when given after anthrax exposure. The drug has been formally proposed for procurement by the US Government for the Strategic National Stockpile under Project Bioshield.
Separately, Elusys has continued to advance its Heteropolymer (HP) technology against commercial infectious disease targets in both bacterial and viral animal models. This work has generated unprecedented in vivo data demonstrating that an HP drug provides significant protection against a lethal Staphylococcus aureus challenge, and has been well received by the scientific community and potential collaborators.
In addition, Elusys just relocated to updated and expanded laboratory and office facilities that will support the company’s continuing corporate growth and product development.
Elusys Therapeutics, Inc. develops first-in-class monoclonal antibody-based therapies using proprietary technology in Heteropolymer antibody chemistry, with a focus on infectious diseases. Current products in the pipeline target Category A biowarfare agents, including anthrax, and antibiotic-resistant infections, including Staphylococcus Aureus. Elusys’ corporate offices and drug development operations are based in Pine Brook, NJ. Founded in May 1998, the company currently has 34 employees.