TherimuneX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical research and development company with offices and laboratories located in Doylestown and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The purpose of the company is to fully exploit the commercial applications of a new medical discovery by Dr. James D. Thacker, Professor, Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research and the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine.
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Michael N. Pocalyko, MPA, MBA
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Mr. Pocalyko is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Monticello Capital, an investment banking firm with offices in Reston, Virginia and New York City. Monticello Capital advises high growth companies in advanced technology industries. Mr. Pocalyko is an entrepreneur, an international economist, and an experienced executive leader of high-performance teams. Best known for board-level management, international transactions, and client networks, his focus is typically in the advanced technology manufacturing, information technology, biomedical, and aerospace industries. He advises clients worldwide on financial structures, mergers and acquisitions, and capital investments. He has been a principal, founder, director, or retained advisor to multiple corporations and a director in the medical, biotechnology, Internet services, steel, environmental, and engineering services industries, as well as a university trustee.
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James D. Thacker, PhD
President and Chief Science Officer
Dr. Thacker is the founder of TherimuneX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and is a Professor at the Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research where he maintains an office and research laboratory in the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center in Doylestown, PA. He also holds a joint appointment as an Adjunct Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Drexel University College of Medicine where he maintains an office at the Queen Lane medical school campus in Philadelphia. Dr. Thacker's research in the host response to cell injury has led the discovery of a host derived regulator of the innate immune response and is the enabling technology for TherimuneX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Through his 20+year scientific career Dr. Thacker has served in academia, managed contract research laboratories in the environmental and pharmaceutical services industries, and formed three successful companies in the biotechnology industry. Dr. Thacker received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry with Honors from North Carolina State University where he also received his PhD in Organic Chemistry/Biochemistry. His graduate research made significant contributions to the landmark body of work that established the chemical signaling between insect predators and their host plants. Dr. Thacker holds five U.S. Patents and currently has two patents pending. Dr. Thacker is the recipient of two Research Fellowships and was the 2003 recipient of the Thomas A. Edison Emerging Technology Award.
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We rely heavily upon independent third party scientific advisors for advice as to the design, conduct, and interpretation of study results. In the coming months we will formalize a Scientific Advisory Board and these scientific advisors will populate that advisory body and begin to advise the Board of Directors on strategic aspects of the Company's long-range Research and Development Plan. Our key scientific advisors are identified below.
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Brian Wigdahl, PhD
Professor and Chair
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Drexel University College of Medicine
Dr. Wigdahl is the Director of the Center for Molecular Virology and Neuroimmunology and the Director of the Institute for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Disease. He is the Associate Editor of the Journal of NeuroVirology and is a member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer of the International Society of NeuroVirology. Dr. Wigdahl is an internationally respected molecular virologist whose academic carrier has spanned over 25 years.
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Jeffrey Jacobson, MD
Professor of Medicine
Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine
Drexel University College of Medicine
Dr. Jacobson received his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College. He completed his internship at University of Wisconsin Hospitals and his residency and infectious disease fellowship at Mount Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Jacobson has extensive experience in the design and conduct of immune-based studies for HIV infection. He conducted the pivotal studies in the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) that demonstrated the effectiveness of thalidomide in treating HIV-related aphthous ulceration of the oropharynx and esophagus. Dr. Jacobson collaborates with several biotechnology companies in developing monoclonal antibodies targeting proteins involved in the HIV-host cell interaction leading to viral entry. Dr. Jacobson has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, and was the editor of Immunotherapy of Infectious Diseases.
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Timothy Block, PhD
Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Drexel University College of Medicine
Dr. Block is the Director of the Drexel Institute for Biotechnology and Virology Research, Founder and Director of the Hepatitis B Foundation, Director of the Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research. He was instrumental in founding the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center in Doylestown, PA. Dr. Block's research focuses mainly on hepatitis B and C as well as liver cancer. Using a pioneering glycobiology focus Dr. Block and his team have discovered two therapeutics now in human clinical trials and new biomarkers of disease (two of the discoveries are in human trials for early detection of liver and colorectal cancer). His research is now examining the role of protein folding in antigen presentation and how viruses antagonize and oppose the host innate immune system.
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Seth L. Welles, ScD, PhD
Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Drexel University School of Public Health
Dr. Welles has focused his research on the molecular epidemiology of the development of HIV-1 ARV resistance, and the impact of ARV resistance and host immunity on disease progression and vertical transmission. Dr. Welles has served as Co-PI and PI for HIV-1 ARV resistance projects since 1995. Previously, Dr. Welles served as senior statistician and epidemiologist for the ACTG, where he was part of a team of scientists to first demonstrate the capacity of plasma HIV-1 RNA level and CD4 cell count as surrogate markers of clinical progression at a quantitative level, and among the first to evaluate phenotypic and genotypic HIV-1 drug resistance in studies on HIV-1 virologic markers and host responses as prognostic/surrogate markers of disease. During the late 1980s, Dr. Welles trained in the viral epidemiology of HTLV-1 infection, working with Dr. Nancy Mueller to elucidate the relation of changes in host biomarkers to immune suppression and leukemogenesis. Dr. Welles has served on several NIH scientific review panels including study sections that have reviewed CFARs, the WHIS, and NCI's Viral Epidemiology Branch intramural research program. Taken together, Dr. Welles has had more than 16 years of relevant experience in the management and epidemiologic analysis of viral and immunologic biomarker data.
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Institutional Collaborations
We are developing new drug-like molecules and druggable targets in parallel efforts. We have been fortunate to develop collaborations with other scientists at nationally and internationally recognized institutions that have the same passion and excitement for our technology as we do. These institutions are identified below.
- Drexel University College of Medicine
- University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine
- Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research
- Drexel Institute for Biotechnology and Virus Research
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