BERWYN, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Virpax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRPX), a company specializing in developing non-addictive products for pain management, post-traumatic stress disorder, central nervous system (CNS) disorders and anti-viral barrier indications, today announced that due to ongoing litigation it has accepted the resignation of Anthony P. Mack as CEO and Chairman effective immediately. The Board has appointed Gerald Bruce as CEO and Dr. Eric Floyd as Chairman.
Mr. Bruce has served as the Company’s Executive Vice President of Commercial Operations since August 2017, as a member of the Company’s Board since July 2021 and as the President and CEO of the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Novvae Pharmaceuticals, Inc. since July 26, 2023. Prior to Virpax, Mr. Bruce served as Vice President of sales for Danone Specialized Nutrition North America, Danone’s medical nutrition division. Prior to this position, he has held roles of increasing responsibility at Nitromed, Inc. and Bristol-Meyers Squibb. Mr. Bruce began his career at Johnson and Johnson and moved up the ranks to become a Group Marketing Director in Analgesics. He has a BA from Lincoln University and a Master’s degree in Leadership from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
Dr. Floyd is Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Silence Therapeutics. He has over 25 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology experience in Regulatory Affairs roles of increasing responsibility at Merck, Aventis, Novartis, Lundbeck, Axovant Sciences, and Neurogene, Inc. Most recently, he served as founder and Chief Regulatory Officer at Neurogene, Inc. Neurogene is focused on developing life-changing genetic medicines for patients and their families affected by rare, devastating neurological diseases. Dr. Floyd previously served as the Global Head of Regulatory Affairs at Axovant Sciences and the U.S. Head of Regulatory Affairs at Lundbeck, where he was responsible for strategic regulatory and clinical development activities related to the company’s approvals of Sabril, Onfi, Northera (orphan approvals) as well as Anti-Depression and Schizophrenia drug approvals. Dr. Floyd serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School and Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Aside from Virpax Pharmaceuticals, he also serves on the board of Advent Therapeutics Inc. and is a member of the Board of Trustees of Meharry Medical College. Dr. Floyd completed his undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Illinois, a Master’s degree in Neuroscience from Tennessee State University, a Doctorate in Neurophysiology from Meharry Medical College, an Executive MBA in Pharmaceutical Marketing from Saint Josephs’ University and completed the Global Executive MBA in International Business from the INSEAD Business School in Fontainebleau, France.
“It has been an honor to lead a team of such dedicated and talented colleagues. I am proud of what we have accomplished together and confident that Virpax under Gerald and Eric’s leadership will remain on track to begin first-in-human trials in the coming year,” commented Mr. Mack.
About Virpax Pharmaceuticals
Virpax is developing branded, non-addictive pain management products candidates using its proprietary technologies to optimize and target drug delivery. Virpax is initially seeking FDA approval for two prescription drug candidates that employ two different patented drug delivery platforms. Probudur™ is a single injection liposomal bupivacaine formulation being developed to manage post-operative pain and Envelta™ is an intranasal molecular envelope enkephalin formulation being developed to manage acute and chronic pain, including pain associated with cancer. Virpax is also using its intranasal Molecular Envelope Technology (MET) to develop two other product candidates. PES200 is a product candidate being developed to manage post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and NobrXiol™ is a product candidate being developed for the nasal delivery of a pharmaceutical-grade cannabidiol (CBD) for the management of rare pediatric epilepsy. Virpax has competitive cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs) for all three of its prescription drug candidates, two with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and one with the Department of Defense (DOD). Virpax is also seeking approval of two nonprescription product candidates: AnQlar™, which is being developed to inhibit viral replication caused by influenza or SARS-CoV-2, and Epoladerm™, which is a topical diclofenac spray film formulation being developed to manage pain associated with osteoarthritis. For more information, please visit virpaxpharma.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
