Our core mission:Bringing novel mode of action therapies to people in the United States suffering from urinary tract infections
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections worldwide.1 Each year more than 30 million people in the United States are treated for UTIs.2,3
Historically, infections were effectively managed with antibiotics, but increasingly the bacteria causing UTIs have become resistant to standard treatments.1,4 In addition, antibiotic overuse has become a major challenge in a market where no new alternatives have become available for decades.4 Compounding this is the fact that a number of first-line treatments have been associated with significant safety concerns, leaving limited options for effective and safe therapies.1
Our mission is driven by our aspirational vision: A world in which everyone with a UTI has a range of safe and highly effective first-line treatment choices
New therapies are needed to reduce the burden of UTIs in the United States
With a growing burden, unmet need, and lack of effective and safe alternatives available, new solutions are needed to tackle these infections. UTILITY therapeutics is committed to the development and commercialization of innovative UTI treatments for the US market.
Meet Our Team
Board of Directors
Alan Roemer is an entrepreneurial life sciences executive and board member who has launched 3 biotechnology companies, raised over $1.5 billion in private and public capital, and consummated 3 IPOs. Mr Roemer was a founding leadership team member of Roivant Sciences, where he served in various senior management roles responsible for Finance and Operations and Corporate Development. He also served as Chief Financial Officer of Axovant Sciences, a Roivant subsidiary. Prior to launching Roivant and Axovant, Mr Roemer was a Managing Director of the Trout Group, and he previously served as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Zelos Therapeutics and was a Vice President of Pharmasset (acquired by Gilead). Mr Roemer is a Director and Audit Committee Chair of NexImmune, a Trustee of the Helene Fuld College of Nursing, and a Management Committee Member of DC Brau Brewing. He previously served as a director of SomPharmaceuticals (acquired by Amryt Pharma).
Mr Roemer received a BSBA from Georgetown University and MBA and MPH degrees from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School and Rollins School of Public Health.
Morten Sommer is the co-founder of several biotech companies working within fields of drug development, industrial biotechnology, and microbiome research. Morten is also a Professor and Scientific Director at the Technical University of Denmark, with a lab of more than 20 PhDs and postdoctoral researchers working primarily in the field of antibiotic resistance and the human microbiome. Morten is the inventor of more than 20 issued patents/patent applications and author of scientific papers in journals such as Science, Cell, and Nature. Morten was named among the Top 10 under 40 in the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News list of biopharma research and business executives.
Morten holds an MSc in Physics from University of Copenhagen and a PhD in Biophysics from Harvard University from the laboratory of Professor George Church.
Rasmus Toft-Kehler is co-founder, board member, and Chief Operating Officer at UNION. Rasmus has extensive leadership and strategic development experience from founding and building companies in the life science industry, and he is co-founder and board member of multiple biotechnology and life science companies. Before going into biotech, Rasmus worked in investment banking and in management consulting, and acted as board member of a family-owned company that was sold in 2005. Rasmus is the inventor of over 5 patents issued and has published research in leading entrepreneurship and scientific journals such as Journal of Business Venturing and Nature Reviews Microbiology.
Rasmus holds a PhD in Entrepreneurship from Copenhagen Business School and executive education from Harvard Business School.
Henry Skinner, PhD, MJur, is the Chief Executive Officer of the AMR Action Fund, which invests in companies that are developing antimicrobials for priority pathogens and advocates for market reforms to change how society values these lifesaving drugs. Prior to joining the Fund, Dr Skinner held leadership positions across the pharmaceutical and venture capital sectors, including serving as Senior Vice President, Venture, at Tekla Capital Management and as Deputy Head and Managing Director of the Novartis Venture Fund. In addition, he was the CEO of SelectX Pharmaceuticals, which focused on developing small-molecule antimicrobials, and NeoGenesis Pharmaceuticals, which developed a platform for identifying and optimizing drug candidates.
Dr Skinner was a postdoctoral fellow at Baylor College of Medicine in the department of Human and Molecular Genetics, and he earned a PhD in Microbiology and an MS in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois.
Andrew Davis has served as the Chief BD/M&A Officer at iNova Pharmaceuticals since September 2017, leading all company transactions and serving as a member of the company’s executive team. In 2016, Mr Davis served as the Head of Oncology Business Development at Merck. Prior to Merck, Mr Davis served as the SVP of Business Development at Valeant Pharmaceuticals (now Bausch Health Companies), a global pharmaceutical, consumer products, and medical device company, where he led all business transactions from 2014 to December 2016. Before that, Mr Davis held positions of increasing responsibility within the Business Development function within Valeant Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Valeant, he served as a management consultant at McKinsey & Co. focused on the healthcare space from 2007 to 2012.
Mr Davis received his BA in Economics from Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts.
Larry Edwards has served as a Director, President, and Chief Executive Officer of La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company since 2020. From 2015 to 2020, he served in various positions at Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc., most recently serving as Chief Executive Officer. Previously, Mr Edwards served as Senior Director of Marketing of the Gram-negative Franchise of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (acquired by Merck), and multiple ascending leadership roles during more than 15 years at Merck. Mr Edwards also serves on the board of directors at Clarametyx Biosciences.
Mr Edwards received a BS degree in business and healthcare administration from Ohio University.
Tom Hadley is the President and Chief Executive Officer of UTILITY therapeutics and has 30 years of experience commercializing drugs and devices with both multinational and start-up pharmaceutical companies. He has extensive experience in preparing and executing numerous highly successful commercial launches across multiple therapeutic areas spanning both primary care and specialty markets in the United States and globally. Most recently, Mr Hadley served as Head of Market Strategy/Development at EyePoint Pharmaceuticals where he also led marketing and sales. Before joining EyePoint, Mr Hadley served as the GVP, General Manager of the Primary Business Unit at Horizon Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Horizon, Mr Hadley was Head of Marketing for Salix Pharmaceuticals, a business unit of Bausch Health. While at Bausch, he also served as VP of Marketing for Dermatology.
Mr Hadley received his BS in Marketing from Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey.
Tero Wennberg, PhD, has been serving as Business Development Director at LEO Pharma A/S since 2019. He has more than 15 years of experience in business development including in-licensing, out-licensing, divestments, and Mergers and Acquisitions. Prior to joining LEO Pharma, Dr Wennberg served in various positions at Oy Amersham Health AB, Orion Corporation, and Neomed Oy.
Dr Wennberg also served on the board of directors at Neomed Oy. Dr Wennberg holds a PhD in Pharmacy from the University of Helsinki.
Henni-Karoliina Ropponen, PhD, is a venture analyst at the AMR Action Fund, the world’s largest public-private partnership investing in antimicrobials. A medicinal chemist by training, she has extensive experience in working on antibiotic drug discovery. Over the course of her career, Dr Ropponen has worked on several small-molecule antibiotic programs, applying computational, synthetic, and biophysical methods to advance promising molecules in preclinical settings. Prior to joining the Fund, Dr Ropponen worked for the Global Antibiotic R&D Partnership (GARDP), Roche, and the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS).
She holds a Master of Chemistry in Drug Discovery from the University of Strathclyde and a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from the Saarland University.
Leadership Team
UTILITY therapeutics is led by a strong team of industry leaders highly experienced in the launch and commercialization of anti-infectives in the United States and abroad
Tom Hadley is the President and Chief Executive Officer of UTILITY therapeutics and has 30 years of experience commercializing drugs and devices with both multinational and start-up pharmaceutical companies. He has extensive experience in preparing and executing numerous highly successful commercial launches across multiple therapeutic areas spanning both primary care and specialty markets in the United States and globally. Most recently, Mr Hadley served as Head of Market Strategy/Development at EyePoint Pharmaceuticals where he also led marketing and sales. Before joining EyePoint, Mr Hadley served as the GVP, General Manager of the Primary Business Unit at Horizon Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Horizon, Mr Hadley was Head of Marketing for Salix Pharmaceuticals, a business unit of Bausch Health. While at Bausch, he also served as VP of Marketing for Dermatology.
Mr Hadley received his BS in Marketing from Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey.
Ian Friedland, MD, is currently a consultant, focusing on advising companies on early and late development of anti-infective products. He completed his general medical and pediatric training in South Africa (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) and completed his pediatric infectious disease fellowship at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He served as the chief medical officer at Achaogen from 2014 to 2017, where he was responsible for leading the clinical development, regulatory strategy, and medical affairs functions. As CMO and consultant he led the successful filing of plazomicin. Prior to Achaogen, Dr Friedland headed the clinical development of numerous antibiotics at Cubist Pharmaceuticals. He has worked in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry for 20 years, at both large pharma (Merck, J&J) and several small biotech companies, leading clinical development teams of several important antibiotics and has played a pivotal role in the development and regulatory submission in the US, EU, and other regions of new drugs including ertapenem, caspofungin, doripenem, alvimipan, fidaxomicin, ceftolozane/tazobactam, and plazomicin, in addition to supporting many marketed anti-infective agents. He is a frequent participant in FDA/FNIH/PhRMA infectious disease working groups. He is an author on over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.
Anne Santerre Henriksen, PhD, is the Executive Vice President of Development at UTILITY therapeutics. Dr Henriksen specializes in anti-infectives, with more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Her industry experience spans medical affairs, research, clinical development, scientific communication, and business development. Dr Henriksen serves as the medical expert for phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials and has conducted extensive work on evaluation of microbiological data and microbiology expertise for both new and existing antibiotics. She brings significant experience in the design of clinical trials for antibiotics and analysis of results.
Dr Henriksen holds a PhD in Microbiology and Biotechnology from Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse.
Anita Das, PhD, has more than 20 years of experience as a biostatistician. Dr Das has significant expertise in the field of anti-infective development and in-depth knowledge of clinical trial design, including determining appropriate endpoints, conduct, and analysis. She previously served in senior positions in Contract Research Organizations, the pharmaceutical industry, and academia. Dr Das has worked on more than 30 phase 2 and 3 studies of antibiotics and antifungals in acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI), community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP), complicated urinary tract infection, uncomplicated urinary tract infection, complicated intra-abdominal infection, resistant pathogens, nosocomial pneumonia (HAP/VAP), bacteremia, and candidemia/invasive candidiasis, leading to successful new drug applications for several antibiotics, including ceftaroline, tedizolid, dalbavancin, eravacycline, lefamulin, and omadacycline. She also has extensive experience with regulatory interactions and has participated in 7 FDA Advisory Committees. She was a member of the BioMarkers Consortium of the Foundation of the National Institutes of Health, which provided recommendations to the FDA on endpoints for ABSSSI, CABP, and HAP/VAP studies.
Dr Das has a PhD in Epidemiology from George Washington University and an MS in Statistics from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Nina Aabenhus Kromann is the Head of CMC at UTILITY therapeutics. Ms Kromann specializes in CMC with more than 20 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Her roles within the industry span research, development, QC, regulatory CMC, and management. Ms Kromann acts as senior CMC specialist as well as Head of CMC. She has extensive experience within both small molecules and biologics and has worked with CMC of antibiotics for the past 5 years. She brings significant experience in all aspects of CMC as well as relations to CMOs.
Ms Kromann holds a master’s degree in Biology from University of Copenhagen and has previously worked with Novo Nordisk, LEO Pharma, ALK-Abelló, Jacobsen Pharma, and MedTech Advice.
Claus Maxel Henriksen, PhD, is the Head of Project Management at UTILITY therapeutics. Dr Henriksen brings more than 20 years of professional experience working within the international pharmaceutical and food ingredient industries in various line management and project management positions (Chr. Hansen A/S, Novo Nordisk A/S, F. Hoffmann-La Roche). Dr Henriksen has successfully led and managed numerous cross-disciplinary projects. He brings significant experience with business excellence and process design and optimization, as well as academic authorship of numerous journal articles in the fields of microbial physiology and metabolism.
Dr Henriksen holds a PhD in Biotechnology from Technical University of Denmark.
Peter Aksel Villadsen is a co-founder of UTILITY therapeutics and an industry executive with years of experience in strategy development, digital transformation, and business model innovation. Mr Villadsen is a Vice President and member of the Global Management Team at GN Hearing. Prior to joining GN Hearing, Mr Villadsen spent nearly 20 years working across various functional areas of the pharmaceutical industry, most recently as a Global Vice President at LEO Pharma. Mr Villadsen is also the co-founder and board member of several companies, academic advisory boards, and nonprofit initiatives.
Mr Villadsen holds a master’s degree in Economics of International Strategy and Governance as well as a bachelor’s degree in Commercial Law from Copenhagen Business School. Mr Villadsen also earned an executive degree from IMD Business School in Lausanne and has trained in health economics at Oxford University.
Scientific Advisory Board
The UTILITY therapeutics Scientific Advisory Board is led by a prestigious and experienced group of medical and industry experts in anti-infectives
Keith A. Rodvold, PharmD, received his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy (1978) and Doctor of Pharmacy (1980) degrees from the University of Minnesota. He completed his research fellowship in clinical pharmacokinetics and pharmacology at St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center and the University of Minnesota (1980-1981) and was a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield, Wisconsin, from 1981 to 1984. Dr Rodvold was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) in 1984, was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure in 1989, and to the rank of Professor in 1994. In 2020, Dr Rodvold was appointed the title of UIC Distinguished Professor. He is also a Professor of Pharmacy in Medicine in the College of Medicine at UIC.
Dr Rodvold is currently conducting research in the area of clinical pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of anti-infective agents for infectious diseases. Dr Rodvold has authored more than 200 original research and review publications and 60 book chapters, and has edited 6 textbooks. The American College of Clinical Pharmacy presented Dr Rodvold with the 2003 Russell R. Miller Award in recognition of his sustained and outstanding contributions to the literature of clinical pharmacy. Dr Rodvold is a former member of the Anti-Infective Drug Advisory Committee and Pediatric Drug Advisory Subcommittee for the United States Food and Drug Administration. He is an active member of numerous professional societies and has been elected Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, American College of Clinical Pharmacology, and American College of Clinical Pharmacy.
Lindsay Nicolle, MD, is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Manitoba. She was previously Professor of Internal Medicine and Medical Microbiology at the University of Manitoba and a Consultant in Adult Infectious Diseases at the Health Sciences Centre and Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. She is a past Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Manitoba and has contributed to many national and international committees including past chair of the Health Canada Nosocomial Infections Steering Committee from 1994 to 2005, past President of the Canadian Infectious Diseases Society, member of the Board for the Community and Hospital Infection Control Association and the Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation, chair of the Long Term Care Committee and Annual Meeting Planning Committee, and secretary of the Society of Health Care Epidemiology of America. She was the Editor-in-chief of the Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology for 20 years and is a former Chair of the Canadian Drug Expert Committee for CADTH. She is currently Chair of the University of Manitoba Biomedical Research Ethics Board and a consultant in adult infectious diseases for Manitoba Health, Seniors and Healthy Living. She is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America.
Dr Nicolle’s research interests have been in urinary tract infection, hospital-acquired infections, antimicrobial resistance, and infections in long-term care facilities, and she has published extensively in these fields. She has contributed to the development of many national and international consensus documents and practice guidelines relevant to aspects of antimicrobial resistance and infection prevention and control.
David P. Nicolau, PharmD, FCCP, FIDSA, is the Director of the Center for Anti-Infective Research and Development at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut. After graduating from Northeastern University, he completed a residency in hospital pharmacy at Boston University Medical Center. After receiving his PharmD from the Medical University of South Carolina, Dr Nicolau completed a residency in adult internal medicine at the university’s affiliated hospital and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Hartford Hospital.
Dr Nicolau’s research activities involve a wide range of preclinical drug development studies to assess the in vitro potency, in vivo efficacy, and toxicity profiles of novel compounds. He has been a principal investigator for phase 1 to 4 studies, as well as Investigational New Drug Applications. Dr Nicolau is also widely recognized for his efforts focusing on the development of antimicrobial utilization strategies to improve outcomes and reduce the cost of care in infected patients. Dr Nicolau’s investigations are reported in over 800 publications, 550 abstracts, and 1200 local, national, or international presentations.
Keith Kaye, MD, MPH, is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Department of Medicine at University of Michigan Medical School. He is the Director of Research for the Division of Infectious Diseases. He has devoted his career to the prevention and effective management of healthcare-associated infections. In addition to serving in a variety of quality improvement and administrative roles in infection prevention, antimicrobial stewardship, and quality and patient safety, he has served on national and international clinical guidelines committees.
In addition to his clinical work, Dr Kaye’s research interests include the development of antimicrobial resistance, particularly among gram-negative organisms; prevention of healthcare-associated infections; management of hospital-acquired infections in the elderly; and innovative approaches to antimicrobial stewardship. He has a long and consistent record of federal funding for research pertaining to management and prevention of multi-drug resistant organisms and healthcare-associated infections, including groundbreaking clinical trials.
Dr Kaye received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and completed his Internal Medicine residency and Infectious Diseases fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA. During fellowship, Dr Kaye earned a Masters in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr Kaye has authored over 300 peer-reviewed articles and 20 book chapters and has presented original research at national and international conferences. Dr Kaye is a past President of the Society for Health Epidemiology of America (SHEA). He is a recognized expert in healthcare epidemiology and antimicrobial resistance and has been invited to speak on these topics at venues throughout the world.
Ian Friedland, MD, is currently a consultant, focusing on advising companies on early and late development of anti-infective products. He completed his general medical and pediatric training in South Africa (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) and completed his pediatric infectious disease fellowship at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He served as the chief medical officer at Achaogen from 2014 to 2017, where he was responsible for leading the clinical development, regulatory strategy, and medical affairs functions. As CMO and consultant he led the successful filing of plazomicin. Prior to Achaogen, Dr Friedland headed the clinical development of numerous antibiotics at Cubist Pharmaceuticals. He has worked in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry for 20 years, at both large pharma (Merck, J&J) and several small biotech companies, leading clinical development teams of several important antibiotics and has played a pivotal role in the development and regulatory submission in the US, EU, and other regions of new drugs including ertapenem, caspofungin, doripenem, alvimipan, fidaxomicin, ceftolozane/tazobactam, and plazomicin, in addition to supporting many marketed anti-infective agents. He is a frequent participant in FDA/FNIH/PhRMA infectious disease working groups. He is an author on over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.
Thomas Lodise, PharmD, PhD, is a Professor at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Albany, New York. He is also an infectious diseases clinical pharmacy specialist at the Stratton VA Medical Center, Albany, New York. Integrating his dual interests in research and patient care, his overall research goal is to quantitatively enhance our current understanding of antimicrobial exposure-response relationships in patients with invasive bacterial infections. His research encompasses 3 interrelated domains: pharmacokinetics (PK)/pharmacodynamics (PD), epidemiology, and outcomes. He has published over 190 peer-reviewed articles in numerous medical and pharmacy journals. He is a scientific editor for Pharmacotherapy and is an editorial board member for Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Open Forum Infectious Diseases, Antibiotics, and Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. He is the current chair of the PK Special Emphasis Panel for the Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group (ARLG) (https://arlg.org), an initiative funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Jason Pogue, PharmD, is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy and an Infectious Diseases Clinical Pharmacist at Michigan Medicine. Prior to this position he spent just over a decade at the Detroit Medical Center (DMC) as an Infectious Diseases Clinical Pharmacist at Sinai-Grace Hospital and as the co-chair of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee at the DMC.
Dr Pogue received a bachelor degree in Chemistry from Gannon University, before obtaining his doctor of pharmacy degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He then completed a PGY-1 pharmacy residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center followed by an Infectious Diseases PGY-2 Residency at the University of Michigan Health Systems. His research interests focus on epidemiology and management of multi-drug resistant gram-negative organisms and antimicrobial stewardship.
Dr Pogue is a recognized leader in gram-negative resistance and antimicrobial stewardship as evidenced by his significant contribution of over 100 peer-reviewed articles, over 100 abstracts, multiple book chapters, and presentations at numerous national and international conferences. Dr Pogue is the immediate past president of the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP) and is an executive committee member of The United States Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (USCAST) where he is intimately involved with antimicrobial susceptibility breakpoint setting.
References: 1. Flores-Mireles AL, Walker JN, Caparon M, Hultgren SJ. Urinary tract infections: epidemiology, mechanisms of infection and treatment options. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2015;13(5):269-284. doi:10.1038/nrmicro3432 2. Lodise TP, Henriksen AS, Hadley T, Patel N. US-focused conceptual health care decision-analytic models examining the value of pivmecillinam relative to current standard-of-care agents among adult patients with uncomplicated urinary tract infections due to Enterobacterales. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2021;8(10):ofab380. doi:10.1093/ofid/ofab380 3. Medina M, Castillo-Pino E. An introduction to the epidemiology and burden of urinary tract infections. Ther Adv Urol. 2019;11:1756287219832172. doi:10.1177/1756287219832172 4. Salam MA, Al-Amin MY, Salam MT, et al. Antimicrobial resistance: a growing serious threat for global public health. Healthcare (Basel). 2023;11(13):1946. doi:10.3390/healthcare11131946