Fedora Pharma Bolsters Board to Push Antibiotic Toward Clinic

Fedora Pharmaceuticals added three infectious disease specialists to its scientific advisory board, strengthening the team that will guide its lead antibiotic candidate toward clinical testing.

Michael Dudley, former CEO of Qpex Biopharma, brings experience negotiating with the U.S. government's BARDA and Europe's Innovative Medicines Initiative. Keith Micetich, a retired obstetrician, has held executive board positions at biotech and pharmaceutical research companies. Jürgen Bulitta, a pharmacologist at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, focuses on drug-resistant bacterial infections and bacterial target site penetration. They join a board that already includes veterans from Bristol-Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson.

The existing board includes Karen Bush, a β-lactamase researcher who spent decades at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Lederle, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson. John Domagala, a medicinal chemist with 40 years at Parke-Davis, Warner-Lambert, and Pfizer, also serves. Other members include Leonard Post, Jennifer Leeds, Jehangir Khan, and Samarendra Maiti.

The company's most advanced candidate, nacubactam, completed Phase 3 trials. The new board will focus on FPI-2119, a first-in-class antibiotic for Gram-negative infections like hospital-acquired pneumonia and complicated urinary tract infections. FPI-2119 is a derivative of lactivicin and has shown activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii, among other Gram-negative pathogens.

CEO Christopher Micetich said he looks forward to "leveraging their combined expertise as we advance our pipeline."

Fedora, founded in 2011 and based in Edmonton, aims to tackle antibiotic resistance. FPI-2119 remains in preclinical development.