Vantia Therapeutics appoints new chief executive
Andrew Crockett wins promotion after 12 months with pharma company
Since joining the Southampton, UK-based emerging pharmaceutical firm in 2009 as vice president of business development, Crockett has made a significant contribution to Vantia’s corporate development. He was previously with US specialist pharma company ZARS Pharma.
Martin Murphy, non-executive chairman of Vantia, said: ‘We are very pleased that Andrew Crockett has accepted the position as ceo. Vantia has made considerable progress over the past two years in advancing its pipeline of novel small molecule drug candidates into Phase II clinical trials. We wish Jim Phillips, the former ceo, well and appreciate his contribution to the team. The management team has created a solid platform for Vantia and we are therefore very pleased that Andrew will continue the great work that has been started.’
Crockett added: ‘We are looking forward to an exciting second half of the year when we expect important clinical data from our Phase IIa efficacy study in dysmenorrhoea and from our Phase IIb study in nocturia.’
Vantia Therapeutics develops novel, small molecule drugs targeting large, underserved medical markets. Formed in 2008 as a spin-out of Ferring Research’s small molecule r&d, it has two clinical phase products, VA106483 for the treatment of nocturia and VA111913 for the treatment of dysmenorrhoea, as well as preclinical and discovery programmes based on protease inhibition with potential in the areas of oncology and inflammation.