Turing Pharmaceuticals officially has launched. New York-based Turing will focus on developing and commercializing innovative treatments for serious diseases and conditions across a broad range of therapeutic areas, for which there currently are limited or no treatment options.
Turing's founder and executive chairman is Martin Shkreli, the founder and former CEO of Retrophin. At Retrophin, Shkreli led the acquisition of three key products in the six months following the company's IPO in 2014 and significantly accelerated their commercial success.
Turing has assembled a management team comprised of senior executives with extensive experience in the drug industry, including:
Hass Patel, Ph.D.—vice president for chemistry, manufacturing and controls. Patel previously was with Pharmasset, Reliant Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline.
Michael Harrison—chief financial officer. Harrison formerly was with Retrophin.
Nancy Retzlaff—chief commercial officer. Retzlaff joins in early March from Mesoblast; she previously was with Pfizer, Schering-Plough and Bayer.
Megan Roberts, Ph.D. —vice president and product leader for Vecamyl. Roberts previously worked at Genentech and BioMarin.
Simultaneous to its launch, Turing announced the acquisition of three major assets from Retrophin: an intranasal formulation of ketamine, Syntocinon (oxytocin nasal solution) and Vecamyl (mecamylamine HCl tablets).
Turing is developing its new intranasal formulation of ketamine for a variety of psychiatric indications. The company is making significant investments in a novel delivery mechanism and other innovations to develop ketamine for the treatment of several serious psychiatric conditions for patients who currently have limited treatment options, and expects to commence clinical trials in the coming year.
Turing's plans further include a development program for Syntocinon in addressing multiple indications across several therapeutic areas.
The acquisition of Vecamyl provides Turing with its first FDA-approved product and revenue stream, which it plans to grow through a robust clinical development and education program.
Turing's strategic focus is to acquire and advance development of external compounds while also pursuing internal drug discovery through proprietary research and development to best address the needs of diverse patient populations. Reflecting its mission to address unmet medical needs, Turing also has acquired two early-stage compounds to be developed for various orphan drug indications.
