Business
Equillium Strengthens Leadership Team with Key Appointments
Maple Fung, M.D., joins as vice president clinical developmentMatthew Ritter, Ph.D., joins as vice president corporate development LA JOLLA, Calif., Feb. 27,
About this update from Equillium, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Maple Fung, M.D., joins as vice president clinical developmentMatthew Ritter, Ph.D., joins as vice president corporate development\n LA JOLLA, Calif., Feb. 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Equillium, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQ), a clinical-stage biotechnology company leveraging deep understanding of immunobiology to develop products to treat severe autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, today announced the appointment of Maple Fung, M.D., as vice president of clinical development and Matthew Ritter, Ph.D., as vice president of corporate development. Dr. Fung will be responsible for leading Equillium’s clinical development programs and integrating the Equillium’s development and translational research efforts to advance programs successfully through all phases of clinical development. Dr. Ritter will be responsible for identifying and pursuing business development and licensing opportunities that fit within Equillium’s overall corporate strategy to further drive innovation and growth. “Equillium has made significant strides this past year in advancing our clinical and business objectives and we expect 2020 to be a year of multiple catalysts with initial data readouts expected in the second half of the year from our uncontrolled asthma, acute graft-vs-host disease (aGVHD), and lupus nephritis clinical trials,” said Bruce Steel, chief executive officer at Equillium. “In order to support this continued momentum, I’m excited to welcome Maple and Matt to the team as their professional backgrounds complement our continued efforts toward advancing development of itolizumab in multiple indications and expanding the breadth of our pipeline through business development collaborations.” Dr. Fung is a board certified nephrologist and joined Equillium from Arena Pharmaceuticals where she served as a senior medical director of clinical development. Throughout her career she has designed and executed early and late stage global clinical drug development programs through to approval. Prior to Arena, Dr. Fung was executive director of clinical development at Ionis Pharmaceuticals where she leveraged her expertise in nephrology to lead several clinical trials. Previously, Dr. Fung was executive medical director at Ardea Biosciences where she held increasing levels of responsibility focused in rheumatology and was critical to the NDA approval of lesinurad (Zuram...