EIR

I am highly qualified to serve as the PI and also as the primary business consultant for Infectious Diseases (ID) and other Therapeutic Area (TA) grants. Over the last 40+ years, I gained considerable experience in business and Pharmacology while with The Medical University of SC (Pharmacology), TUC which became Pharmacia, PharmOptima LLC, MPI Research, as an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) at The Michigan State University Foundation, as President of Pharmocular, Inc. as an independent consultant (Vrbanac Consulting LLC) and currently as the CEO of Tarn Biosciences, Inc. Although an expert in Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics (DM&PK) and mass spectrometry, my academic training was in Pharmacology and Toxicology and I have a fundamental understanding of the ID TA and of ID Pharmacology. I have been the Responsible Party in core Mass Spectrometry Facilities in Industry and at CROs and as such I was responsible for the qualitative and quantitative analysis for all drug development projects including ID. The Upjohn Company was a leader in antibiotics for many years where I worked on Zyvox and other antibiotics. I have extensively worked in Drug Discovery and Development (DD&D) in CNS Pharmacology, CV Pharmacology, ID Pharmacology and Ocular Pharmacology. My experiences include tenure-track academic, large pharmaceutical and CRO and small company drug IP and contract research. Importantly, I was a key member of the Pharmacia World-Wide In-Licensing Team and was a primary PharmTox reviewer in half of the 60+ projects undergoing formal review during its existence from 1998-2003, including all of the ID programs. I co-founded PharmOptima, which still exists today. In 2008 my wife developed early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, and I decided to accept a position as Director of ADME at MPI Research in 2011 for more financial stability. I voluntarily decreased my role at MPI over time and severed ties in early 2018 when my wife moved to assisted living. In 2003, I had also started a second company, Biopolymer Innovations, with Ramani Narayan at MSU, an expert in converting natural product polymers to more useful materials. However, at this time I decided to provide more focus to PharmOptima and dropped these efforts after about 2 years of involvement. The only significant publishing I have done in the last 10 years is a method for MIST in Rapid Communications in MS and a Book Chapter on eADMET in the popular toxicology manual, “A Comprehensive Guide to Toxicology in Nonclinical Drug Development” Ali Faqi Ed., Elsevier, 3rd Edition. I am 77 years old but have continued to stay highly active and contribute to other science business responsibilities. In January of 2019 I started Pharmocular Inc., an ocular drug discovery company with highly experienced and talented co-owners. In August 2019, I accepted a position as an EIR at The Michigan State University Foundation and have assisted in the development of three different companies, including Tarn Biosciences, Inc. I was at The MSU Foundation for 2-years and my term ended in June 2019. I am currently the CEO of Tarn Biosciences, Inc. and these responsibilities have my complete focus, other than that I am also a NIAID Reviewer, an activity I have greatly enjoyed and benefited from. Contributions to Science: While my PhD is in Pharmacology & Toxicology, I am an expert in Biomedical MS. The majority of my research is in described in proprietary Research Reports for Big Pharma and CRO Clients. In 1998 while at Pharmacia, I developed the theory that highly potent drugs with the good flux through aqueous and lipid mediums, high aqueous solubility and LogP, should represent effective topical therapies for Retinal Degenerative Diseases (Ideal Solubility Properties; ISP). This theory was discussed internally at Pharmacia and I was tasked with further developing this theory. This theory was used to search various Pharma libraries and thus helped start PanOptica. These thoughts on ISP are of general applicability in drug distribution and DD&D. I am proud of the early work I did in Metabolic Profiling using GC-MS, by driving the development of the first fully automated GC-MS-DS for steroid metabolic profiling. In addition, I believe my manuscripts in Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry (MIST applications) and Journal of the American Society of Mass Spectrometry (ion optics) represent useful, original thinking. Throughout my career, I have focused a being a critical thought leader and a contributing team member in Academia, Large Pharma and small companies such as Tarn. My most valuable experiences in DD&D include serving as a key member of the Pharmacia World-Wide In-Licensing Team and as a leader at CROs determining the best paths forward with the resources available in DD&D for each of my clients.