Timothy “Timm” Crowder, Ph.D., an entrepreneurial expert in design and development of inhaler technologies for lung therapies, has joined pharmaceutical startup Spyryx Biosciences as vice president of technical operations.
Crowder joined Spyryx from GlaxoSmithKline, where he was most recently director of advanced manufacturing technology at the GSK manufacturing facility in Zebulon.
In his new role reporting to Spyryx president and CEO John Taylor, Crowder is responsible for inhalation delivery technologies for the company’s pulmonary therapeutics, and for overseeing manufacturing and supply chain strategies for them.
A $50,000 Company Inception Loan in late 2014 from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center helped Spyryx evolve from its 2013 spinout from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. That led to an $18 million Series A investment from a venture capital syndicate in May, 2015.
Spyryx is headquartered in temporary offices at NCBiotech headquarters in Research Triangle Park.
Company advancing UNC discovery
Spyryx is commercializing a unique approach for treating devastating lung diseases that was invented by UNC’s Robert Tarran, Ph.D., associate professor of cell biology and physiology. Tarran’s discovery is a biopharmaceutical twist on a previously unknown mechanism used by the lung to regulate fluid in the airways. The mechanism is dysfunctional in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients and is thought to be an underlying cause of the progressive dehydration of the airway surface liquid. It’s a cascade that leads to such CF symptoms as mucus accumulation, chronic bacterial colonization, immune response and tissue scarring, loss of lung function, and often early death.
Tarran’s data suggest that his therapeutic approach may also be useful in treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other obstructive lung diseases.
Before Crowder joined GSK, he was a co-founder of Oriel Therapeutics, a Durham-based inhaler technology company built around device designs he developed during his graduate research. He earned his Ph.D. from UNC and has degrees in physics from North Carolina State University and Davidson College.
Oriel was purchased by Sandoz/Novartis in 2010, and remains as a respiratory product development lab in Durham.
“Timm has an accomplished track record in inhalation and we are pleased to have attracted an individual of his caliber to manage our technical operations and manufacturing functions,” said Taylor.
“Our recent funding has allowed us to assemble the team and resources to rapidly advance our science and product development. With the addition of a chief medical officer, who we are still seeking, our team will be fully staffed.”
(C) NC Biotchnology Center
Note: Veteran journalist Jim Shamp is director of public relations for the N.C. Biotechnology Center.
