Jaguar Animal Health, Inc. ("Jaguar" or the "Company"), an animal health company focused on developing and commercializing first-in-class gastrointestinal products for companion and production animals, foals, and high value horses, announced today that it has appointed Dr. Roger Waltzman as Chief Scientific Officer.
Dr. Waltzman is a human medical oncologist and experienced drug-development executive. He spent over 10 years in academic clinical oncology practice at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Mount Sinai, and Saint Vincent hospitals in New York, and nine years in drug development with Novartis Pharmaceuticals, leading successful NDA and sNDA filings for Glivec, Tasigna, and Jakavi, and serving most recently as Head of Development for anti-malarials at Novartis.
Dr. Waltzman earned his MD degree from Brown University School of Medicine and completed internal medicine training at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, as well as a fellowship in hematology/oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
He is board certified in medical oncology. Dr. Waltzman's research has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Haematologica, Cancer Investigation, Gynecologic Oncology, Supportive Cancer Therapeutics, Diseases of the Colon and Rectum, Oncologist, Seminars in Hematology, Journal of the National Cancer Comprehensive Network, Leukemia Research, Cancer and the Journal of Supportive Oncology.
Dr. Waltzman will lead product development efforts for the commercial formulation of SB-300, Jaguar's drug product candidate for equine gastric ulcer syndrome, and lead development efforts in chemotherapy-induced diarrhea ("CID") for Canalevia, the Company's drug product candidate that is currently being assessed, in a final Jaguar field study, for acute diarrhea in dogs. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors are utilized in long-term cancer management in dogs, with some dogs experiencing dose-limiting diarrhea.
"We are very happy to have a drug development leader of Roger's stature join the Jaguar management team as we focus on preparations for the expected commercial launch of SB-300 and Canalevia," stated Lisa Conte, Jaguar's president and CEO.
"Roger brings a wealth of knowledge to the table, including experience overseeing an investigator-initiated program for Napo Pharmaceuticals ("Napo") for CID that is analogous in mechanistic rationale to the CID program Jaguar will be looking at for chronic diarrhea management in dogs. He is also well-versed with the manufacturing, supply, and novel mechanism of action of Croton lechleri-derived anti-secretory products."
Jaguar and Napo have been engaged in exploratory discussions since February 2016 regarding a potential merger and/or other ways to cooperate with their respective business endeavors. Jaguar holds the exclusive global rights to Canalevia and SB-300 under license from Napo. It is expected that Dr. Waltzman will continue to contribute to Napo's development efforts through a service agreement between Napo and Jaguar.