Executive Team
Aridis’ global management team is comprised of a highly dedicated group of senior executives with notable clinical development and commercial expertise and achievements, as well as vast knowledge about and familiarity with antibacterial, anti-infectives and monoclonal antibodies. By leveraging their past experience of successfully executing aggressive development programs and previous work at Genentech, FDA, AstraZeneca and Novartis, the collaborative Aridis team is well-equipped for delivering potentially transformative milestones in 2021, including top line Phase 3 data and potential approval for AR-301, Phase 2 data for AR-501, Phase 2/3 date for AR-101 and Phase 1 clinical trial initiation for AR-711.
Vu L. Truong, Ph.D.
Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Dr. Truong is a founder, the company’s Chief Scientific Officer since 2005, and its Chief Executive Officer since 2014. He has over 25 years of biopharmaceutical development and senior management experience.
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He has more than 20 years of experience in biopharmaceutical drug development, having held positions of increasing responsibilities in companies which were eventually acquired by larger entities, including Gene Medicine (sold to Megabios), Aviron (sold to MedImmune) and MedImmune (sold to Astra Zeneca). He has focused on research and development of innovative human monoclonal antibodies and vaccines designed to address life-threatening infections. His product development experience includes FluMist™, Synagis™ mAb and a number of other monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics. Dr. Truong is the principal architect of Aridis’ technologies, which includes a range of anti-infective products and pharmaceutical processing technologies. He received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Hasan Jafri, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Jafri comes to Aridis from AstraZeneca, where he served as Senior Medical Director, Clinical Research and Development, Microbial Sciences, Clinical Head of Antibacterial mAb Program.
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He led the clinical development of AstraZeneca’s anti-bacterial monoclonal antibodies within the Serious Bacterial Infections Franchise, including the company’s Phase 2 programs MEDI4893 (anti-S. aureus alphatoxin mAb) and MEDI3902 (anti-P. aeruginosa Psl/PcrV mAb) and has been a leader in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) R&D. Dr. Jafri has over 25 years of experience in clinical practice and research, especially in the area of serious healthcare associated and community acquired infections, respiratory viral infections and invasive fungal infections (in immunocompromised and immunocompetent hosts). Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Dr. Jafri served as a professor in the department of pediatric infectious diseases and the department of clinical science research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. He was the Chief of Division of Clinical Pharmacology, director of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases fellowship program. Dr. Jafri has authored over 70 peer reviewed journal articles and presented over 100 original research abstracts at National and International Conferences.
Franco Merckling, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Operations
Dr. Merckling has more than 30 years of experience in corporate development, operations, and marketing.
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Dr. Merckling has more than 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, most recently as CEO of Phi Pharma and Kenta Biotech. Dr. Merckling has held senior executive leadership positions at a number of other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including Sanochemia and Eisai, where he served as CEO, Managing Director and General Manager. Throughout his career, he has led corporate operations, organizational development, strategic transactions, fundraising initiatives and product commercialization programs across international markets. Dr. Merckling received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Zurich and completed executive management programs at INSEAD and IMD.
Phillip Lovaleenti, Ph.D.
Senior Director of Research and Development
Dr. Lovalenti has more than 25 years of experience in biopharmaceutical product development, CMC, and manufacturing.
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Dr. Lovalenti has more than 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical, biologics and drug delivery development, most recently as Principal Engineer in Technical Operations at Onyx Pharmaceuticals (Amgen). Dr. Lovalenti has held scientific and engineering leadership positions at a number of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including MedImmune, Novo Nordisk Delivery Technologies and ALZA/Johnson & Johnson. Throughout his career, he has led process development, technology transfer, manufacturing scale-up and product commercialization programs for biologics, vaccines and small molecule therapeutics. Dr. Lovalenti received his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology.
Elizabeth Leininger, Ph.D.
Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality
Dr. Leininger is an expert in regulatory affairs and quality, with more than 25 years of experience at CBER/FDA and at biopharmaceutical companies.
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She previously held senior management positions at Chiron (acquired by Novartis) and GSK. Additionally, she has significant expertise in global strategic development, licensing and post-marketing regulatory activities for biological and biotechnology products. She also ran large QA/QC organizations responsible for the evaluation, development and implementation of Quality Systems, including documentation, training and auditing. Dr. Leininger earned her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Jeffrey J. Fessler, J.D.
Acting General Counsel
Mr. Fessler has more than 25 years of experience providing corporate and securities legal counsel in the biotechnology industry.
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He has extensive experience providing counsel in public offerings and private placements as well as mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, proxy contests, restructurings, and private equity and debt financings. He is a partner in the Sheppard Mullin law firm and has practiced corporate and securities law at several large firms, including Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, and Sichenzia Ross Friedman Ference LLP. Mr. Fessler holds a B.S. degree in Accounting from the University of Maryland and J.D. (magna cum laude) from New York Law School.