People on the Move
Ario Pharma
Ario Pharma has grown its Scientific Advisory Board with two new appointments.
Peter Barnes (pictured) and Wisia Wedzicha are both professors in respiratory medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, London.
As well as leading the respiratory medicine department, Barnes is known as the most highly cited clinical scientist in Europe, and the most cited respiratory researcher worldwide in the last 20 years. He is the current president of the European Respiratory Society and co-founder of Imperial College spin-out company RespiVert. RespiVert was acquired by Johnson & Johnson and has developed treatments for COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and severe asthma.
Wedzicha is a COPD expert, with a particular focus on the role of bacterial and viral infection in exacerbating the condition. She directs a research group on the subject and is a member of the group developing NICE (the UK’s National Institute for Healthcare and Clinical Excellence) guidelines of COPD.
Ario is a company developing drugs for respiratory indications. It recently began a Phase IIa study of its TRPV1 antagonist, XEN-0501, for the prevention of coughing in patients with COPD.