About Us
About Us
Omni Bio is currently evaluating an FDA approved, off-patent drug, Alpha-1 Antitrypsin ("AAT"), to treat a variety of new indications, under its broad patent portfolio licensed from the University of Colorado Denver.
Omni Bio's mission is to leverage sponsored research, collaborations with existing AAT manufacturers, and licensed patents for the development and commercialization of AAT in additional indications.
The Company is led by acting CEO Dr. Charles A. Dinarello, a founding father of cytokine biology and current Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Colorado, Denver.
Management Team
Charles A. Dinarello, M.D. was appointed Acting Chief Executive Officer of Omni Bio in March 2009, and is the Company’s principal investigator for cell graft rejection as well as a Scientific Advisory Board member. Dr. Dinarello is considered a founding father of cytokine biology. He is currently Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver, and has published over 700 original research articles on cytokines, particularly interleukin-1 (IL-1) and tumor necrosis factor. Previously, he was Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine and a staff physician at the New England Medical Center Hospital in Boston. He also spent six year at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he started as a clinical associate and before becoming a senior investigator.
Dr. Dinarello currently serves as a director of Techne Corporation (NASDAQ NNM: TECH), and Scientific Advisory Board member of Senesco Technologies, Inc., Source MDx, Aveo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., GlobeImmune, Inc., and Capstone. He is also a member of the editorial board of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Previously, he served as a member of the Board of Scientific Advisors of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Alliance for Lupus Research; Vice President of the American Society of Clinical Investigation; and President of the International Cytokine Society.
Dr. Dinarello has received many awards for his scientific contributions. In March 2010, he was awarded The Paul Ehrlich Prize, one of the most prestigious international prizes in the Federal Republic of Germany in the field of medicine. Recent honors include the joint award of the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research in 2009 for his work in cytokine research, and the Crafoord Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 2009. Other awards include Germany's Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine; the Ludwig Heilmeyer Gold Medal of the Society for Internal Medicine; the Italian National Academy of Medicine’s International Chirone Prize; the Carol Nachman Prize in Rheumatology; the Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashdid al Maktoum Award (United Arab Emirates) and the Beering Award (USA).
Dr. Dinarello received his medical degree from Yale University and his clinical training at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He also has honorary degrees from the University of Marseille (France), the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel) and the University of Frankfurt (Germany).
Edward C. Larkin was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in May 2009 and joined the Company in January 2007, serving as Interim Chief Financial Officer. Since April of 2002, Mr. Larkin has served as Director of Corporate Finance for Bathgate Capital Partners LLC (“BCP”), formerly known as Bathgate McColley Capital Group, a full-service Investment Bank focused on the microcap space. Mr. Larkin has 32 years of experience in the securities industry, enveloping most areas of broker-dealer operational expertise across accounting, operations, compliance, management, research and corporate finance. Prior to joining BCP, Mr. Larkin held various executive leadership positions at Cohig & Associates, an Investment Bank specializing in public and private financing for emerging growth companies, where he was President, Chief Financial Officer, Director of Research and Managing Director, Corporate Finance. He is one of the 12 founding members and former member of the board of directors of the National Investment Banking Association (“NIBA”). Mr. Larkin has also acted as an outside director for three NASDAQ companies. He received his BS degree in Finance and Marketing from the University of Colorado and an MBA from the University of Denver.
Robert C. Ogden was appointed Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary in May 2009. Mr. Ogden has over 20 years of senior financial management experience at both private and public companies. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Ogden was a financial consultant, primarily providing services to a broad spectrum of public companies, from Fortune 500 to micro-cap entities. From 2004 to 2007, Mr. Ogden served as Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary of SAN Holdings, Inc., a publicly-traded data storage solutions provider and software company, where he was responsible for all administrative and finance functions. From 2000 to 2004, he was a multi-industry financial consultantproviding financial controller and reporting services to both private and public companies. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Vice President, Corporate Controller and Chief Accounting Officer for TAVA Technologies, Inc., a publicly held, national systems integration and software company. He began his career as a public accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Ogden holds a B.S. in Commerce from the University of Virginia and is a CPA.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Leland Shapiro is principal investigator for Omni Bio’s viral and bacterial pneumonia applications of AAT. He is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver and a Staff Physician at the Denver Veterans Affairs medical center. Dr. Shapiro was selected as a fellow of the American College of Physicians for outstanding achievements in the areas of clinical care and scientific investigation. His current research projects are investigating the role of innate immunity in the pathogenesis of several diseases. He is also exploring the pathogenesis of HIV through his evaluation of Interleukin-18 (IL-18) cytokine in several in vitro models of HIV as well as stress-activated mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinase signaling pathways.
Dr. Shapiro received BA and BS degrees from Tufts University and an MD from the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine. He was trained as a resident in internal medicine and served as Chief Medical Resident at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Shapiro began his long standing relationship with Dr. Dinarello as a post-doctoral fellow in Infectious Diseases in Dr. Dinarello’s laboratory at the Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston, where he also completed his infectious diseases fellowship, clinical and scientific training.
Board of Directors
Vicki D.E. Barone has served as Board Chairperson since March 31, 2009. From March 31, 2008 until March 31, 2009, she was the Chairperson of the board of Apro Bio Pharmaceutical Corporation (“Apro Bio”), the predecessor operating company to Omni. Since 1996, Ms. Barone has served as the Chief Financial and Compliance Officer for GVC Capital LLC ("GVC"), formally known as Bethgate Capital Partners LLC, where she is also a Senior Managing Partner, and a member of the Commitment Committee, and actively manages the corporate finance projects of the firm. She is a CPA and a Certified Financial Planner and received her BS in Finance and MS in Accounting from the University of Colorado.
Michael D. Iseman, M.D. was appointed to our board in April 2009. From August 2008 until March 31, 2009, he was a director of Apro Bio. Since 1980, Dr. Iseman has been a Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver with appointments in both the Division of Pulmonary Medicine and Infectious Diseases. Since 1983 he has also been a physician with the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, CO and currently serves as its Chief of the Clinical Mycobacterial Disease Service. His primary research interests relate to drug-resistant tuberculosis and disease due to the “atypical mycobacteria.” Dr. Iseman received his undergraduate degree with honors from Princeton University and his MD from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Michael D. Wort was appointed to the Omni Bio board in April 2009. From October 1, 2008 until December 31, 2008, Mr. Wort served as the Interim Chief Executive Officer of Apro Bio. He is a Chartered Graduate Biologist with a background in Industrial Microbiology. He has lectured both in the UK and overseas in Industrial, Pharmaceutical and Medical Microbiology. He spent 16 years in the pharmaceutical industry in a variety of sales, marketing and general management positions with GlaxoSmithKline and Wellcome, both in the UK and overseas. During his nine years as a small-cap specialist in the healthcare industry, he was involved in more than 10 initial public offerings and over 20 secondary financings that raised more than £200 million. He is non-executive director of AudioVisual Prescriptions Limited, Managing Director of Beckpharma, Ltd., a London based pharmaceutical development company, and Managing Director of De Facto.
Albert L. Kramer was appointed to the Omni Bio board in April 2009. From April 2008 until March 31, 2009, he was a director of Apro Bio. Judge Kramer has served as an attorney, State District Court Judge for the State of Massachusetts, Chief Policy Advisor to the Governor of Massachusetts and a Massachusetts State Legislator. Since 1993, Judge Kramer has been in private practice. Previously he served as In-house Counsel to Syratech Corporation and as Chief Counsel to Travelers Marketing, LLC. Judge Kramer received his undergraduate and law degrees from Boston University.
Steven M. Bathgate was appointed to the Omni Bio board in April 2009. From April 2008 until March 31, 2009, he was a director of Apro Bio. Since 1996, Mr. Bathgate has served as Senior Managing Partner of GVC. Prior to starting GVC, he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cohig & Associates, Inc. Mr. Bathgate currently serves on the board of directors of Peerless Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: PRLS), Creston Resources, Inc. (pink sheets: CSTJ) and formerly served on the board of directors of Birner Dental Services Management Inc. (Nasdaq: BDMS). He received his BS degree in Finance from the University of Colorado.
Jeffrey S. Sperber was appointed to the Omni Bio Board in October 2009 and currently serves as the Chariman of our Audit Committee. Mr. Sperber has over 20 years of senior management financial experience and currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Ceragenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded medical device company. From 2001 to 2004, he served as the Vice President and Controller of TeleTech Holdings, Inc., a $1 billion, global public company providing outsourced call center services. From 1997 to 2001, he served as the Chief Financial Officer and led a successful initial public offering of USOL Holdings, Inc., a publicly traded broadband provider focused on multi-family housing communities. Mr. Sperber began his career at Arthur Andersen LLP and received his CPA license in the state of Colorado, which has since expired. He holds a BS in Accounting from Colorado State University.
Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Michael Iseman, Chairperson.
Dr. James Mier has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board since October 2008 and is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. He is also a practicing physician in the Division of Hematology-Oncology at Beth Israel. Dr. Mier has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Senesco Technologies Inc. since April 12, 2007. Dr. Mier's research is funded by the NIH and he is a member of numerous professional societies. He received his MD from Indiana University School of Medicine.
Dr. James D. Crapo has been a member of the Scientific Advisory board since October 2008. Since 1996, Dr. Crapo has been Chairman, Department of Medicine, and Executive Vice President -Academic Affairs at National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver,Colorado. Prior to 1996, he held numerous positions while serving on the faculty of Duke University Medical Center, including Chief of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Division. He is the author of more than 200 original scientific publications, numerous book chapters and seven textbooks. Dr. Crapo holds a BS in Chemistry from Brigham Young University and an MD from the University of Rochester.
Dr. Eli Lewis has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board since May 2009. He is the director of the Clinical Islet Laboratory and a lecturer in clinical biochemistry for the faculty of Health Sciences at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. In October 2008, Dr. Lewis co-published a study in the Publication of the National Academy of Sciences with our Acting Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Charles Dinarello, and our principal investigator, Dr. Leland Shapiro titled “Alpha-1-Antitrypsin Monotherapy Induces Immune Tolerance during Islet Allograft Transplantation in Mice.” Dr. Lewis is a member of numerous professional societies. Dr. Lewis received his undergraduate, masters and Ph.D degrees from Ben Gurion University of the Negev, where he received Magna Cum Laude and Summa Cum Laude distinctions in his masters and Ph.D program, respectively. He completed his Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Colorado Denver.
