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Our Company
About Savara
Savara is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on rare respiratory diseases. Our lead product candidate, molgramostim, is an inhaled granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in Phase 3 development for autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (aPAP).
Our management team has significant experience in orphan drug development and pulmonary medicine, identifying unmet needs, and effectively advancing product candidates to approval and commercialization.
Our goal is to become a leader in rare respiratory disease therapeutics through the development and commercialization of novel, best-in-class medicines that address unmet medical needs in this field.
Management
Mr. Pauls has served as Chair of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Savara since 2020. He is also currently on the Board of Directors of Soleno Therapeutics, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company focused on rare diseases, where he is the Lead Independent Director. Mr. Pauls also serves on the Board of Directors for two private companies; Amplo Biotechnology, a gene therapy company focused on rare neuromuscular disorders, and Pelthos Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on dermatologic infectious diseases. From 2014 to 2019, Mr. Pauls was President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Strongbridge Biopharma plc., a publicly traded rare disease focused biopharmaceutical company that he took public via IPO on the NASDAQ. Prior to 2014, he served as Chief Commercial Officer of Insmed, Inc., where he built the global Commercial organization and led Global Technical Operations. Prior to Insmed, Mr. Pauls worked at Shire Pharmaceuticals, most recently as Senior Vice President, Head of Global Commercial Operations, and earlier in his career held senior U.S. and global commercial leadership positions at Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson. In addition to his other Board positions, Mr. Pauls has also served as Chair of the Board of Directors of Mast Therapeutics and was a member of the Board of Directors of Zyla Life Sciences. Mr. Pauls holds B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from Central Michigan University and a J.D. from Michigan State University College of Law.
Ms. Erickson has served as Savara’s Chief Business Officer since August 2023 and is responsible for the Investor Relations, Corporate Affairs, Project Management, Advocacy Relations & Patient Engagement teams and leads corporate strategic projects. Since joining the company in October 2018, she’s held roles of increasing responsibility, including SVP of Global Business Operations, Chief of Staff, and Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. Further, Anne led the Clinical Operations Team for the IMPALA-2 trial (from study start-up through the double-blind period) and was also Interim Head of Quality Assurance. Prior to Savara, she held leadership roles within corporate, consulting, and agency settings at various companies, including Mirati Therapeutics, Halozyme, Pfizer, and Ogilvy.
Mr. Lowrance has served as Savara’s Chief Financial and Administrative Officer since December 2022 and Chief Financial Officer since November 2016. Previously, Mr. Lowrance was the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Edgemont Pharmaceuticals, a fully integrated specialty pharmaceutical company. Prior to that, Mr. Lowrance served as the Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of Acucela Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, where he was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the day-to-day operations, business development and growth endeavors, investor relations, and corporate communications. While there, Mr. Lowrance helped lead a $162 million international IPO, with a listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Earlier in his career, Mr. Lowrance was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, where he oversaw all aspects of finance and accounting, business and growth strategy, and product development. Mr. Lowrance holds a CPA and has a B.B.A. in Accounting from the University of Georgia.
Mr. Lutz has served as Savara’s Chief Operating Officer since February 2023. He has nearly two decades of operational leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry including business development deal execution, capital markets and finance strategy, and commercial analytics in support of rare disease launches. Prior to joining Savara, Mr. Lutz was Chief Financial and Business Officer of iBio, Inc., and prior to that he served as Chief Financial Officer of Strongbridge Biopharma plc. (having previously served as the company’s Chief Business Officer). Prior to that, Mr. Lutz held leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Shire Plc., and Cinergy Corp. Earlier in his career, he worked as an analyst at Alan B. Slifka and Co. and Goldman Sachs. Mr. Lutz holds a B.A. in economics and computer science from Amherst College and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management.
Dr. Pratt has served as Savara’s Chief Medical Officer since November 2022. He was most recently the Chief Medical and Chief Development Officer at Rockwell Medical Inc. Dr. Pratt is an accomplished senior executive and physician with more than 35 years of clinical medicine and drug development experience in global pharmaceutical and device industries. Previously, Dr. Pratt held senior roles at Eisai America, Shire Pharmaceuticals, and Quintiles Transnational. His expertise includes clinical research, regulatory affairs, clinical pharmacology and data analytics. Dr. Pratt has more than 40 peer reviewed publications and has contributed to multiple NDA, MAA and NDS applications in the fields of neurology, psychiatry, hematology, and nephrology. He received a M.D. from University of Illinois College of Medicine and a B.A. in Chemistry from Northwestern University.
Dr. Advant has served as Savara’s Executive Vice President, Global Technical Operations since March 2024. With approximately three decades of experience in the biopharmaceutical sector, he has considerable expertise in drug substance, drug product, and analytical development with early- and late-stage clinical and commercially approved biologics. Dr. Advant also has extensive expertise in technology transfer, scale-up and cGMP manufacturing (both internal and external) in a highly regulated environment. To date, Dr. Advant has helped launch multiple biologic assets across several therapeutic areas. Prior to joining Savara, he was VP, Manufacturing Operations at GSK, where he was responsible for multi-site drug substance and drug product operations. Previously he held roles of increasing responsibility at Celgene Corporation (acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb), Kemwell BioPharma, ImClone/Lilly, and Diosynth Biotechnology (now FujiFilm Diosynth Biotechnolgy), among others. Dr. Advant holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Connecticut.
Mr. LaPree has served as Savara’s Senior Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance since August 2021. He has more than three decades of domestic and international drug development experience encompassing all aspects of global Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance. Prior to joining Savara, Mr. LaPree was SVP, Head of Global Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Annexon Biosciences. Prior to that he was VP, Head of Global Regulatory Affairs and Medical Writing at Astex Pharmaceuticals and previously served as SVP, Head of Global Regulatory Affairs at Jazz Pharmaceuticals. Mr. LaPree has held leadership roles of increasing responsibility at several other companies, including Shire Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, and Johnson & Johnson. He holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Rochester Institute of Technology and a M.S. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Ms. McCabe has served as Savara’s General Counsel since December 2022 and Head of Legal Affairs since March 2018. Prior to joining Savara, Ms. McCabe practiced corporate and securities law at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Professional Corporation, where she represented life sciences and technology companies in a variety of matters, including entity formation and structuring, venture capital financings, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, public company disclosure requirements, and SEC compliance matters. Ms. McCabe holds a B.S. in Accounting from Canisius College and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.
Board of Directors
Mr. Pauls has served as Chair of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Savara since 2020. He is also currently on the Board of Directors of Soleno Therapeutics, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company focused on rare diseases, where he is the Lead Independent Director. Mr. Pauls also serves on the Board of Directors for two private companies; Amplo Biotechnology, a gene therapy company focused on rare neuromuscular disorders, and Pelthos Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on dermatologic infectious diseases. From 2014 to 2019, Mr. Pauls was President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Strongbridge Biopharma plc., a publicly traded rare disease focused biopharmaceutical company that he took public via IPO on the NASDAQ. Prior to 2014, he served as Chief Commercial Officer of Insmed, Inc., where he built the global Commercial organization and led Global Technical Operations. Prior to Insmed, Mr. Pauls worked at Shire Pharmaceuticals, most recently as Senior Vice President, Head of Global Commercial Operations, and earlier in his career held senior U.S. and global commercial leadership positions at Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson. In addition to his other Board positions, Mr. Pauls has also served as Chair of the Board of Directors of Mast Therapeutics and was a member of the Board of Directors of Zyla Life Sciences. Mr. Pauls holds B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from Central Michigan University and a J.D. from Michigan State University College of Law.
Mr. Elam has served as a member of Savara’s Board of Directors since February 2009. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors and the President and Chief Executive Officer of Rezolute, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for metabolic diseases with serious unmet needs. Prior to his tenure at Rezolute, Mr. Elam held senior executive roles within the pharmaceutical industry, including Senior Vice President and Head of the Pulmonary business unit of Nektar Therapeutics and President and Chief Executive Officer of a European medical device company. Earlier in his career, Mr. Elam was Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer of E2open, Inc. and a partner in the corporate practice of the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C. Mr. Elam holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. from Howard University.
Mr. Hawkins has served as a member of Savara’s Board of Directors since October 2010. He is currently the President, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board of Directors of Lumos Pharma, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on bringing novel therapies to patients with severe, rare, and genetic diseases whose medical needs are unmet. Mr. Hawkins also serves on the Board of Directors of Plus Therapeutics Inc. (formerly Cytori Therapeutics, Inc.), as well as several privately held life sciences companies. He previously served on the Board of Directors of SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to his tenure with Lumos Pharma, Inc., Mr. Hawkins founded and advised numerous pharmaceutical companies, including Sensus, where he served as Co-Founder and Chair of the Board of Directors until it was sold to Pfizer. Previously, he was Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Pharmaco, where he guided the company’s growth to more than 2,000 employees. The company later merged with PPD to form PPD Pharmaco, one of the largest clinical contract research organizations in the world. Mr. Hawkins holds a B.S. in Biology from Ohio University.
Dr. McCracken has served as Savara’s lead independent director since December 2019 and as a member of the company’s Board of Directors since October 2013. Dr. McCracken currently advises biopharmaceutical companies on the design and implementation of corporate strategy and business development initiatives. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Lumos Pharma, Inc. and Modalis Therapeutics Corporation, as well as the Board of Directors of the privately held companies Regimmune Inc. and Neuropore Therapies, Inc. Previously, Dr. McCracken was Vice President and Global Head of Business Development and Licensing for Roche Pharma, a research-focused healthcare company, where he was responsible for global in-licensing and out-licensing activities. Prior to that he served as General Manager, Roche Pharma Japan and Asia Regional Head, Roche Partnering. Prior to Roche Pharma, Dr. McCracken held the position of Vice President, Business Development at Genentech, and previously held similar positions at Aventis Pharma and Rhone-Poulenc Rorer. Dr. McCracken holds a B.S. in Microbiology, a M.S. in Pharmacology, and a D.V.M. from The Ohio State University.
Mr. Ramsay has served as a member of Savara’s Board of Directors since April 2017 and served as a member of the Board of Directors of Mast Therapeutics, Inc. (Savara closed a reverse merger with Mast Therapeutics in April 2017). Mr. Ramsay currently provides consulting services to publicly traded and privately held biotechnology companies and serves on the Board of Directors of La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company and the privately held company Exuma Biotech, Inc. Previously, Mr. Ramsay served as Senior Vice Pesident and Chief Financial Officer of Bonti, Inc., a private, clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of neurotoxin products for therapeutic and aesthetic applications. Prior to that, he was Chief Financial Officer of Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company developing and commercializing novel oncology therapies. Mr. Ramsay also served as Halozyme’s Vice President, Corporate Development. Before Halozyme, Mr. Ramsay served as Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of Lathian Systems, Inc., a provider of technology-based sales solutions for the life sciences industry, and as Vice President, Treasurer and Director, Corporate Finance with Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (formerly ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), a multinational specialty pharmaceutical company. Mr. Ramsay began his career at Deloitte & Touche, where he obtained his CPA license. He holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.B.A. with a dual major in finance and strategic management from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. An van Es-Johansson has served on Savara’s Board of Directors since December 2019. Most recently, she was the Chief Medical Officer for AlzeCure Pharma, a Swedish pharmaceutical company with a primary focus on Alzheimer’s disease. She currently serves on the Board of Directors at Plus Therapeutics, Inc., Lumos Pharma, Inc., IRLAB Therapeutics AB and the privately held company Agendia BV. Previously, Dr. van Es-Johansson served in a range of executive roles of increasing responsibility at Sobi, an international rare disease company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, including as Vice President and Head of EMENAR medical affairs for specialty care and partner products. Prior to her time at Sobi, Dr. van Es-Johansson served in leadership positions at large pharmaceutical and smaller biotechnology companies, including Roche, Eli Lilly, Active Biotech, and BioStratum. From 2004 to 2016 she was a member of the scientific advisory board for Uppsala BIO. Dr. van Es-Johansson received a M.D. from Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
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