The new chief medical officer is on board Tenax Therapeutics, which changed its name from Oxygen Biotherapeutics. And she received 25,000 options for company stock.
Tenax (Nasdaq: TENX) confirmed Friday that Dr. Paula Bokesch assumed the CMO role on Feb. 14 and was awarded the stock options the next day.
The company changed its name and stock symbol in September.
the options can be executed at $3.22 per share. Tenex shares closed at $3.31 on Friday.
“Dr. Bokesch will direct clinical development for the Company’s lead asset, levosimendan, including the current Phase 3 LEVO-CTS trial to evaluate the use of levosimendan for the reduction of morbidity and mortality in cardiac surgery patients at risk for developing Low Cardiac Output Syndrome (LCOS),” the company said in a statement.
The drug has been granted “Fast Track” status by the FDA. The company hopes to complete clinical trial recruitment in March.
Noted CEO John Kelley: “With an extensive background in critical care drug development at multiple companies, along with experience as a practicing pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist, Dr. Bokesch is the ideal choice to lead our clinical program as we continue with our ongoing Phase 3 trial in LCOS, consider an expansion into septic shock, and evaluate additional pipeline opportunities.”
Bokesch has more than 10 years of experience in drug development.
According to Tenax: “Dr. Bokesch has more than 10 years of drug development experience in acute and critical care indications. Most recently she worked for 5 years as a Senior Medical Director for Drug Development at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, where she served within the Company’s programs for Daptomycin, pain, acute/critical care and antibiotics. Dr. Bokesch also served as Global Medical Director for Hospira, where she worked in Medical Affairs and Drug Development within the Precedex and acute/critical care programs. She is also a practicing anesthesiologist at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Boston, as well as an Affiliate Assistant Professor at Tufts School of Medicine. Dr. Bokesch holds an M.D. from the Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University.”
