An early-stage biotech company focused on expedient development of a first-in-class treatment for NASH, TB-019. Our experienced team, along with our partners, are advancing TB-019 through IND enabling studies with plans for an initial clinical trial in 2023.
TamuroBio is an early-stage biotech company with a mission to transform the lives of patients suffering from NASH. The technology stems from approximately two decades of research on polyamines and obesity conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Salim Merali at the Temple University School of Pharmacy and two decades of medicinal chemistry experience of Dr. Wayne Childers at the Moulder Center for Drug Discovery in the School of Pharmacy and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.
The focus of TamuroBio is preclinical candidate, TB-019, which is designed to bind to the lipotoxic product, 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE), and treat non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
TB-019 offers a novel mechanism of action that has demonstrated both prevention and treatment of NASH in preclinical models. Through further research and development of its technology, the TamuroBio team remains both well-poised and committed to achieving the goal of providing a meaningful therapy to NASH patients.
Leadership
Lonnie Moulder
President & Chief Executive Officer
Salim Merali, PhD
Founder & Scientific Advisor
Dr. Merali is currently an Associate Dean of Research and Laura H. Carnell Professor of Pharmacy at the Temple School of Pharmacy. Dr. Merali also is a Director of the Proteomics Facility at Temple University. He has vast experience in identifying novel molecular transducers as biomarkers and therapeutic targets. TamuroBio, Inc. lead candidate, TB-019, was developed over 12 years in his laboratory. Dr. Merali has raised over $15M in grant funding, mostly from NIH, to support the efforts of understanding the pathophysiology of diseases to identify drug targets. His focus on human studies resulted in the seminal publication in Science Translational Medicine that has been characterized as a molecular basis for the cause of insulin resistance. Dr. Salim Merali received his BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Biochemistry from The City University of New York. While completing his doctoral program, Dr. Merali joined New York University (1992-2005) to work on drug development on opportunistic fungal pathogens in AIDS (Pneumocystis). He also developed state of the art technology in Proteomics and Metabolomics. He joined Temple University School of Medicine (2005-2013) as Associate Professor of Biochemistry, The Fels Institute of Cancer Research and Molecular Biology, and Director of the Proteomics Core Facility. Dr. Merali joined The School of Pharmacy in November 2013.
Maxine Gowen, PhD, MBA
Director & Advisor
Dr. Gowen serves on the TamuroBio Board of Directors and served as CEO from July 2019 until March 2022. Prior to Tamuro, Dr. Gowen was the founding President and Chief Executive Officer of Trevena, Inc. from 2007 to October 2018. Previously, she held a variety of leadership roles at GlaxoSmithKline, GSK, over a period of 15 years. As Senior Vice President for GSK’s Center of Excellence for Drug Discovery, she developed an innovative new approach to externalizing drug discovery. She also currently serves as Chairwoman of the board of directors for Passage Bio and serves on the boards of Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc., Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Merus N.V. Dr. Gowen graduated with a BSc in biochemistry from the University of Bristol, UK, received a PhD in cell biology from the University of Sheffield, UK, and received an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Heidi Kempinski, MBA
Chief Operating Officer
Ms. Kempinski is the Chief Operating Officer for TamuroBio. She also serves as Senior Principal and Operating Executive at Tellus BioVentures, LLC, an early-stage life sciences investment fund and Head of Operations for Aegle Therapeutics, a Tellus portfolio company. Previously, she also served Chief Operating Officer for Zenas BioPharma, a Tellus portfolio company. Prior to Tellus, Ms. Kempinski served as VP of Business Operations and Strategic Alliances at GlaxoSmithKline following the acquisition of TESARO in 2019. Ms. Kempinski was part of the founding management team of TESARO where she established pharmaceutical development and manufacturing, quality, regulatory, clinical operations, and program management for the company. She also managed business development diligence processes, all global development and commercialization relationships with licensors and licensees, and collaborative discovery, clinical and diagnostic relationships.
Ms. Kempinski began her career as a molecular biologist followed by a 25+ year career in executive roles in R&D Operations and Program Management at several biopharmaceutical companies including Abraxis BioScience, Eisai, MGI PHARMA, Altus Pharmaceuticals, ZYCOS, and Transkaryotic Therapies. She received a B.S. in Microbiology and Chemistry from Quinnipiac University and an MBA with a specialty in innovation and entrepreneurship from Northeastern University.
Mahmoud Ghazzi, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Mahmoud Ghazzi is an experienced Physician Scientist with extensive leadership experience across Phase 1-4 of drug development at Warner-Lambert/Pfizer, GSK, and Daiichi Sankyo. With over 25 years of experience, Dr. Ghazzi has held several executive leadership roles that cover the spectrum of Drug Development including President, Global Development Head, Chief Medical Advisor, Medicine Development Center Head, and Therapeutic Area Head. Prior to consulting, his most recent role was President, Daiichi-Sankyo Pharmaceutical Development, and Global Development Head, Daiichi-Sankyo Research & Development. Dr. Ghazzi earned his MD from the School of Medicine at Damascus University in Syria and a MPH degree, as well as a Ph.D. in Bioengineering, from the University of Michigan.
Maha Ghazzi, PharmD
TB-019 Program Lead
Dr. Maha Ghazzi has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to consulting, she has worked at Pfizer, most recently as Executive Director/Development Team Leader. In this role, she was responsible for leading late-stage development teams for several candidates in thrombosis (apixaban) and atherosclerosis (Biologics: HDL infusions). Dr. Ghazzi also provided cross functional leadership to develop an integrated strategy, communicate with senior management for endorsement, and ensure timely implementation of agreed plans. She worked closely with opinion leaders and experts in the field in order to ensure that the clinical development plan was optimized to meet regulatory and commercial needs. Additionally, she interacted with regulatory agencies (FDA, CHMP, and PMDA) for alignment on clinical and non-clinical development plans. Dr. Maha Ghazzi earned her Doctor of Pharmacy at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy in Ann Arbor, Michigan.