TFF Pharmaceuticals Announces Leadership Transition
Glenn Mattes to step down as Chief Executive Officer and as a Member of the Board of Directors
Dr. Harlan F. Weisman, Vice Chairman of the Board, appointed as Interim Chief Executive Officer
FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TFF Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: TFFP), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative drug products based on its patented Thin Film Freezing technology platform, today announced that Glenn Mattes will step down as Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of Directors. Dr. Harlan F. Weisman, Vice Chairman of the Board, has been appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer, effective December 5, 2022.
“On behalf of the entire Board of Directors and our shareholders, I would like to thank Glenn for his leadership and accomplishments,” said Dr. Aaron Fletcher, TFF Pharmaceuticals’ Chairman of the Board. “During Glenn’s tenure, TFF Pharmaceuticals completed its IPO financing, advanced two proprietary pipeline candidates into clinical testing, and began collaborations with many of the leading global biotechnology and pharmaceuticals companies. Under his leadership, Thin Film Freezing applications have expanded, and the platform is now recognized as a promising, next-generation technology in drug delivery. We thank Glenn for helping TFF Pharmaceuticals, and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”
“I would like to thank the dedicated employees of TFF Pharmaceuticals for having the opportunity and privilege to work with all of you over the last five years on a truly unique and innovative technology that could have a great impact on many patients,” said Glenn Mattes. “I am confident that under Harlan’s leadership, this mission will continue, and I look forward to helping the Board in any way during this transition period for the Company.”
“I am honored to serve as Interim Chief Executive Officer of TFF Pharmaceuticals, and I would like to thank our Board of Directors for this opportunity,” said Dr. Harlan F. Weisman. “Based upon the Company’s significant pipeline growth and impressive collaboration activity, I remain confident that we are only starting to realize the full therapeutic and commercial potential of Thin Film Freezing technology.”
Harlan F. Weisman, M.D. has more than 30 years of experience as a senior healthcare executive responsible for the discovery, development, regulatory approval and launch of pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostic products. He is currently Managing Director of And-One Consulting, LLC, advising medical product companies, investment firms, and government and non-government healthcare organizations in formulating and implementing strategies for driving innovation in healthcare products and services. He is on advisory committees to the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Technology Development Fund.
Dr. Weisman began his career in the pharmaceutical industry at Centocor, Inc., where he pioneered monoclonal antibodies as medical breakthroughs for wide therapeutic applications, including ReoPro®, REMICADE®, Simponi® and STELARA® which have combined annual sales of over $8 Billion. He was the head of R&D when Johnson & Johnson acquired Centocor in 1999. He then became President of J&J Pharmaceutical R&D, where he accelerated pipeline growth by advancing more than15 new molecular entities into late-stage development within 3 years, and gaining approvals of 10 drugs with over $15 Billion in annual sales. Dr. Weisman was promoted to Company Group Chairman, Pharmaceutical R&D, and had executive oversight of ALZA Corporation and J&J Pharmaceutical R&D, and led the acquisition and integration of 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals and later TransForm Pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Weisman was Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Flame Biosciences, a clinical stage company focused on the research, development, and commercialization of transformative therapies for cancer, from January 2020 to January 2022. Between December 2012 and December 2013, Dr. Weisman was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Coronado Biosciences, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel immunotherapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer.
Dr. Weisman graduated from the University of Maryland with High Honors and the University of Maryland School of Medicine Cum Laude. After his residency in Internal Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, he was a fellow in cardiovascular disease at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and was then appointed as Assistant Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Consultant Cardiologist, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Director of the Experimental Cardiac Pathology Laboratory.
About TFF Pharmaceuticals’ Thin Film Freezing technology platform
TFF Pharmaceuticals’ proprietary Thin Film Freezing (TFF) technology allows for the transformation of both existing compounds and new chemical entities into dry powder formulations exhibiting unique characteristics and benefits. The Thin Film Freezing process is a particle engineering process designed to generate dry powder particles with advantageous properties for inhalation, as well as parenteral, nasal, oral, topical and ocular routes of administration. The process can be used to engineer powders for direct delivery to the site of need, circumventing challenges of systemic administration and leading to improved bioavailability, faster onset of action, and improved safety and efficacy. The ability to deliver therapies directly to the target organ, such as the lung, allows TFF powders to be administered at lower doses compared to oral drugs, reducing unwanted toxicities and side effects. Laboratory data suggests the aerodynamic properties of the powders created by Thin Film Freezing can deliver as much as 75% of the dose to the deep lung. Thin Film Freezing does not introduce heat, shear stress, or other forces that can damage more complex therapeutic components, such as fragile biologics, and instead enables the reformulation of these materials into easily stored and temperature-stable dry powders, making therapeutics and vaccines more accessible for distribution worldwide. The advantages of Thin Film Freezing can be used to enhance traditional delivery or combined to enable next-generation pharmaceutical products.
About TFF Pharmaceuticals
TFF Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaging patented rapid freezing technology to develop and transform medicines into potent dry powder formulations for better efficacy, safety, and stability. The company’s versatile Thin Film Freezing (TFF) technology platform has broad applicability to convert most any drug, including vaccines, small and large molecules, and biologics, into an elegant dry powder highly advantageous for inhalation, with improved absorption so drugs can also be delivered to the eyes, nose and topically to the skin. TFF has two lead drug candidates in the clinic: Voriconazole Inhalation Powder and Tacrolimus Inhalation Powder and continues to expand its pipeline by collaborating with a broad array of pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and government partners to revolutionize healthcare around the globe. The TFF Platform is protected by 120+ patents issued or pending in the U.S. and internationally. To learn more about TFF Pharmaceuticals and its product candidates, visit the Company’s website at https://tffpharma.com.
Safe Harbor
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding TFF Pharmaceuticals, Inc., including, the benefits of the Company’s TFF platform and the Company’s plans to add to its existing pipeline of product candidates. Those forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. Among those factors are: (i) the risk that the Company may not be able to successfully conclude clinical testing or obtain pre-market approval of any of its dry powder product candidates, (ii) no drug product incorporating the TFF platform has received FDA pre-market approval or otherwise been incorporated into a commercial drug product, (iii) the Company has no current agreements or understandings with any large pharmaceutical companies for the development of a drug product incorporating the TFF Platform, (iv) the risk that the Company will not be able to conclude a long-term commercial agreement with any third-party, and (vi) those other risks disclosed in the section “Risk Factors” included in the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on November 14, 2022. TFF Pharmaceuticals cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. TFF Pharmaceuticals does not undertake, and specifically disclaims, any obligation to update or revise such statements to reflect new circumstances or unanticipated events as they occur, except as required by law.
TFF Contacts:
Corporate Contact:
Bill Begien
VP of Investor Relations
TFF Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
c (617) 842-2222
bbegien@tffpharma.com
Investor Relations Contact:
Corey Davis, Ph.D.
LifeSci Advisors
(212) 915-2577
cdavis@lifesciadvisors.com
Media Contact:
Raena Mina, Ph.D.
LifeSci Communications
rmina@lifescicomms.com
