June 12, 2023, Redwood City, CA, USA- Fe Pharmaceuticals (Canada) and its US subsidiary, Fe Pharmaceuticals, announced today that Anne-Marie Duliege, has been elected as Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the company. CEO Michael Weickert relinquished that role to focus on financing the development of DIBI, the lead drug product, in a challenging market. Fe Pharmaceuticals is developing DIBI, a non-toxic, iron-binding copolymer, as a potent, broad-spectrum, antimicrobial agent active against bacterial and fungal infections, including drug-resistant organisms, and as a potential cancer therapy.
Dr. Duliege has served as one of the three independent Directors on the Board of Fe Pharmaceuticals for more than two years and was formerly CMO for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, Rigel, and Affymax. She also worked at Coherus, ChemoCentryx, Chiron, Genentech, and the National Institute of Science and Medical Research in Paris. As Chairperson, Dr. Duliege will have a more involved role in setting the agenda and managing the Board’s activities principally in support of the next financings.
Fe Pharmaceuticals also recently added Rob Klein as a Director and Bob Klein as a Senior Advisor to the Board, significantly augmenting the experience in financing major health endeavors on the Board. Rob Klein is President and a Board Member of Americans for Cures and was President, Campaign Manager, Board Member, and Treasurer of California Proposition 14: The California Stem Cell Research, Treatments, and Cures Initiative of 2020, which provided $5.5 billion in additional bond funding to CIRM. Bob Klein is Chairman of the Americans for Cures Action Network (formerly California Stem Cell Research & Cures Initiative) and Chair, Emeritus of the Governing Board of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) and was responsible for the original Proposition 71, the $3 million bond measure creating CIRM.
“I am honored with the privilege of helping guide a game-changing healthcare innovation at the Board level,” said Dr. Duliege. “Our new Board member and Senior Board Advisor have fantastic experience in bringing public funds to public health needs being ignored by traditional funding mechanisms,” said Fe Pharmaceuticals CEO Michael Weickert. “This is critical in fighting antimicrobial resistant infections because funding new anti-infectives has largely been abandoned by traditional venture and many pharmaceuticals companies”.
The company is planning to raise a Series A to advance DIBI into initial clinical studies.
