- Dr Jennifer Schneider appointed CEO, Dr Helen Bright joins as VP of Research & Development, and Professor David Roblin will Chair the Board of Directors
- Senior appointments support acceleration of novel immunotherapies to treat infectious disease, leveraging the Alphamer platform
- Team expansion follows recent £24m investment from Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Evotec SE and Novo Holdings REPAIR Impact Fund
The appointments bring extensive expertise in the discovery, development and commercialisation of medicines to treat infectious diseases, and further support the development of Centauri’s pipeline of novel candidates, built on the Alphamer® platform, through to first-in-human trials.
Dr Jennifer Schneider joins Centauri as CEO with 20 years’ experience working with life science companies, universities, and non-governmental organisations, globally, to deliver expert guidance on anti-infectives policy, partnering, and fundraising. Dr Schneider was most recently Executive Officer for the Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership (GARDP), North America. She received her PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Notre Dame, and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology and International Health from the University of Michigan.
Dr Helen Bright joins as VP of R&D from Medicines Discovery Catapult, where she supported the discovery and development of anti-infectives, vaccines, and diagnostics as Head of Infection Biology. She has over 30 years’ experience focused on infectious diseases within the biopharmaceutical industry, with senior scientific and operational leadership roles at AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and GlaxoSmithKline, advancing novel therapeutic candidates through the clinic to commercialisation. Dr Bright holds a PhD in Virology and Immunology from Newcastle upon Tyne University.
Professor David Roblin, Chair of the Board of Directors, brings an extensive track record in academic research, therapeutic development, product commercialisation, and fundraising. Professor Roblin held senior leadership positions for over 20 years at Bayer and Pfizer, where he oversaw the successful development of several infectious disease therapeutics, including azithromycin, ciprofloxacin, and moxifloxacin. He is Chair of Scientific Translation at the Francis Crick Institute, honorary Professor of Translational Medicine at St George’s Hospital, and an honorary Professor of Medicine at Swansea University. He has extensive board experience and currently serves as Non-Executive Director of Sosei Heptares (TSE: 4565) and Relation Therapeutics where he is also CEO.
Dr Jennifer Schneider, CEO, Centauri Therapeutics, said: “The Alphamer platform is transformative and allows a new, precision approach to treat patients with life-threatening infectious disease. Alphamers leverage a patient’s immune system, harnessing pre-existing antibodies to induce a pathogen-directed immune response. Currently we are focusing our technology on bacterial infections including multi-drug resistant strains. This technology has enormous potential in the fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR), including for the most vulnerable patients. I am thrilled to be joining the senior team as CEO, as we work to progress novel immunotherapeutic candidates to the clinic.”
The new appointments join Centauri’s esteemed Dr Mike Westby, Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), and Pamela Brown, Head of Chemistry, to further strengthen the senior leadership team.
Dr Mike Westby, CSO, Centauri Therapeutics, commented: “We are delighted to welcome all three members to our senior leadership team following our recent Series A close. Between them they bring an impressive wealth of experience across infectious disease research, drug development and product commercialisation. We are proud to attract such high-calibre talent, and have no doubt that Dr Schneider, Dr Bright, and Professor Roblin will be invaluable in driving our AMR research projects through to first-in-human trials.”
For more information, please visit https://www.centauritherapeutics.com
