Five Questions With: Richard A. Andrews

Richard A. Andrews recently was appointed chief operating officer at ProThera Biologics in Providence, a company that is developing inter-alpha inhibitor proteins to treat severe inflammation associated with infection, trauma and disease. / COURTESY PROTHERA BIOLOGICS
Richard A. Andrews recently was appointed chief operating officer at ProThera Biologics in Providence, a company that is developing inter-alpha inhibitor proteins to treat severe inflammation associated with infection, trauma and disease. / COURTESY PROTHERA BIOLOGICS

Richard A. Andrews recently was appointed chief operating officer at ProThera Biologics in Providence, a company that is developing inter-alpha inhibitor proteins to treat severe inflammation associated with infection, trauma and disease. He discussed his new role at the company with Providence Business News, as well as his past experience.

PBN: How did you initially become involved in the company in 2008?
ANDREWS:
In 2003, I established a cell therapy company in Lincoln called RenaMed and through that became acquainted with the Slater Technology Fund. Through Slater I had the opportunity to learn of many of the promising technologies under development in the state. ProThera was particularly exciting as its technology was showing extraordinary results in early studies on inflammatory disease. This is an especially important part of critical care medicine and an area I have been interested in for many years. The founder of ProThera, Dr.Yow-Pin Lim, and I became friends and I have maintained an active advisory role in ProThera ever since.
PBN: What do you hope to bring to the COO position? (Is it new – are you replacing someone?)
ANDREWS:
ProThera is at an exciting stage in its development. The company is pioneering the application of inter-alpha inhibitor proteins to treat inflammatory disease. IAIP are blood proteins which the body uses to manage inflammation. In severe disease states (e.g.. septic shock, trauma, brain injury) IAIP can become depleted and the disease then progresses rapidly. The company has shown that replacement therapy has the potential to dramatically improve health outcomes in these critical situations. The key to success for ProThera has been to secure a long-term partner that will supply clinical-grade material. In the last year, the company was able to complete this critical partnership with ProMetic Life Sciences, a Montreal-based life sciences firm. ProThera is now extremely well-positioned for near-term significant growth. My particular interest and experience is in building operations, securing financing and creatively addressing the challenges of clinical development in critical care. These are precisely the challenges we, at ProThera, face today, and I look forward to working closely with Drs. Denice Spero (president) and Lim (founder and CEO) to get IAIP into clinical testing.
PBN: How close is ProThera to bringing its technology to market?
ANDREWS:
The process of developing a new biological product for clinical use can be expensive and very time consuming. Years are devoted to understanding an agent’s potential efficacy in different disease states. We have to understand the mechanism of action and how best to measure the agent when administered to patients. Much of this work has been completed and ProThera has had the benefit of significant federal SBIR support to meet these goals. Following this early work a drug developer moves to safety evaluations and then through three stages of clinical testing as mandated by the FDA. The first clinical studies are of course devoted to safety, and we are approaching this stage today. Following the completion of safety testing we will begin Phase 2 studies. Phase 2 focuses on safety and preliminary efficacy – this is a critical stage and at this point we will have a much deeper understanding of the potential of IAIP. When Phase 2 is complete we will be well-positioned to work worldwide with partners and investors in Phase 3 studies to prove, what we believe today, is the very significant value IAIP can provide.
PBN: Tell me about ProThera’s mission to develop and commercialize human plasma-derived inter-alpha inhibitor proteins to treat orphan diseases.
ANDREWS:
ProThera is addressing some of the most important and intractable diseases we face today including diseases with large patient populations. Inflammation underlies many of the most significant life-threatening and expensive diseases we face today. Most therapies available commercially address specific pathways or target infectious agents with powerful antibiotics but these approaches do not address the problem of inflammation associated with such diseases. Even in cases where a disease can be directly treated, inflammation can lead to long-term consequences or even death. The mission of ProThera is to complement these specific therapies and address inflammatory disease by supplementing the body’s own natural defense mechanisms.
PBN: What about this field interests you?
ANDREWS:
There are a number of things that interest me:

  • Scientifically we are developing a truly exciting technology – it has multiple modes of action and has shown some extraordinary results in suppressing disease processes in multiple experimental setting – and IAIP is part of the natural process used by the body
  • Medically we have the potential to target some critically important disease targets – targets that have huge health and financial consequences for society
  • Clinically the path forward will require creativity and we will have the opportunity to work with some extraordinary clinicians
  • From a business perspective, ProThera can grow and prosper in R.I. and in that way it has the potential to develop into an important contributor to the R.I. economy

No posts to display