Mission:
InVixa’s mission is to develop novel inhaled therapies for the treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS).


We are pioneers in the development and use of inhaled statins to treat respiratory diseases. Dr. Amir A. Zeki, scientific co-founder and Chief Medical Officer, has extensive first-hand clinical experience treating respiratory diseases including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

Dr. Zeki has also spent over 13 years investigating the mevalonate pathway in cells and the therapeutic effects of the statin drugs which target this pathway. Most notably, Dr. Zeki has developed and used innovative inhaled statin formulations in the pre-clinical setting at the University of California, Davis.  Based on his extensive experience, we are now applying this expertise and that of our accomplished scientific team to develop a novel inhaled therapy for COVID-19. Our goal is to bring forth a globally-available therapy for the treatment of COVID-19 across the spectrum from mild to more severe disease.

InVixa was spun out of UC Davis along with a separate company, InStatin, where Dr Zeki is also scientific co-founder. InStatin is focused on developing inhaled statins more broadly for the treatment of asthma and COPD.

FUNDRAISING HISTORY

InVixa is a private company and has received financial investment from private North American investors. The Company was founded in May 2020 to progress its most promising projects through pre-clinical studies

InVixa is seeking funding to rapidly progress its pipeline of proprietary inhaled statin therapies into the clinic

THE TEAM

InVixa is led and advised by an ambitious team with a strong background in pioneering respiratory clinical care and research, business development, and financing. The team has first-hand experience in the research and development of inhaled statins for the treatment of asthma and COPD, and is well-positioned to advance this approach as a therapy for COVID-19.

Management
Dr Tim Sparey
CEO

Dr Tim Sparey is a successful, serial entrepreneur with extensive C-suite and board level experience in the pharmaceutical sector. In addition, he works as a consultant/advisor with US, EU and Asian clients. His previous experiences include multiple therapeutic and technology areas including cancer, CNS, ophthalmology and drug delivery in public and private companies including Midatech, Q Chip, Proximagen and Merck & Co. He has over 40 patents and publications.

Professor Amir Zeki
CMO

InVixa’s scientific co-founder and Chief Medical Officer, Associate Professor Dr. Amir A. Zeki, is an expert in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at a leading academic medical institution, the University of California, Davis (in Northern California). He has extensive first-hand clinical experience treating a broad array of pulmonary disorders, with sub-specialty expertise in asthma and COPD. Dr. Zeki also continues to care for critically ill patients with COVID-19 in the intensive care unit, which initially inspired him to work in this new direction to develop a novel therapy. 

Dr Simon Bennett
CBO

Dr Simon Bennett has held senior management positions at a number of start-up and early-stage companies, through to IPO and trade sale, with responsibilities covering all aspects of business and corporate development.  He has over 23 years of business experience and for the last ten years has consulted for and advised a range of biotech and Big Pharma companies and has been involved in around 80 commercial deals globally.  Prior to moving into industry, Simon was a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, and an Honorary Clinical Lecturer at Imperial College London. 

Scientific Founders
Professor Ramaswamy Krishnan

Professor Ramaswamy Krishnan is a basic scientist turned entrepreneur. At his laboratory at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/ Harvard Medical School, he focuses on the role of cell and tissue mechanics across several disease states that impact emergency medicine, including sepsis, acute lung injury, COPD, and asthma. As a co-founder and advisor to InVixa Inc., he is engaged in translating his basic science findings towards the development of new inhaled medications. 

Dr Chandra Ghosh

Dr Chandra Ghosh has spent a decade to understand the critical role of endothelium in regulating inflammatory pathways in health and diseases. He is trained as a pharmacist, molecular biologist and did his research focusing on Inflammation and Immunity. His statin biology expertise, particularly its pleiotropic effects, has paved a way in developing novel statin therapeutics to treat acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. 

Professor Stevan Pecic

Professor Stevan Pecic received a Dipl. Pharm. degree from The University of Belgrade in Serbia. He then obtained his doctorate degree in Biochemistry with concentration in Medicinal Chemistry from The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York. For the next 8 years, he continued his career as an Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University Medical Center in the Division of Experimental Therapeutics. He joined The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at California State University, Fullerton in 2018 as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry. At InVixa, Inc., as an advisor and co-founder, he is using his expertise in the medicinal chemistry field to help the development of inhaled statins.  

Consultants
Dr Sjef De Kimpe

Dr Sjef De Kimpe is drug R&D expert with a proven success in complex translational development programmes and regulatory strategies in EU and US. Formerly VP product development at Biomarin (CA), he has 25 years’ expertise in clinical pharmacology and non-clinical development, toxicology and research.  Interactions with FDA and EMA at all stages from pre-IND to regulatory submissions. Key contributor to raising >€100m in capital and to successful IPO and exits. Provides integrated solutions in the transition to clinical development with coherent regulatory interactions.

Dr Allison Morgan

Dr Allison Morgan is a clinical development professional with 30 years’ experience in developing novel assets across a wide range of therapy areas and therapeutic modalities.  Previous executive level positions include VP Clinical Development and VP Clinical Operations for biotech companies. With specialist expertise at the clinical regulatory interface, Allison has successfully designed a number of registration programmes, gaining EMA and FDA acceptance of accelerated programmes, novel outcome measures and the integral use of real world evidence.  A key contributor to overall regulatory strategies to achieve success.

Rowena Abbey

Rowena Abbey is a highly skilled project manager of over 25 years' experience in international drug development, with a passion for delivering treatments to areas of unmet need. Rowena's attention to detail, adherence to deadlines and ability to foster strong cross-functional teams, have led to industry-recognised awards. Underpinned by both a science degree and training as an oncology nurse, Rowena is also able to bring expert knowledge of clinical trial conduct and global operations and has successfully supported numerous projects across a wide range of therapy areas.

Dr Mark Dyas

Dr Mark Dyas is a pharmacist with 28 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry, in the UK, Denmark and Germany. He has worked in major-Pharma (Bristol-Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca, Sanofi Aventis) as well as in smaller, Pharma-Biotech firms. Working primarily in pharmaceutical product development and, latterly, in regulatory submissions in the US & EU he has experience working with a wide range of dosage forms for the delivery of conventional chemical drug entities and also for biologics. Previously an academic lecturing on pharmaceutical chemistry and industrial pharmacy Mark remains an Honorary Lecturer.in the School of Pharmacy at Liverpool John Moores University.