Interview with the Co-Founder and President and the CEO: Ritter Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:RTTR)

Healthcare >> CEO Interviews >> July 1, 2016

Andrew J. Ritter, Co-Founder and President, co-founded Ritter Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RTTR) upon his own personal affliction with lactose intolerance, and spearheaded a global team of cross-functional, clinical, manufacturing and regulatory experts to design and develop its first novel therapeutic, called RP-G28. The company was originally launched out of Ritter Naturals Sciences, a direct-to-consumer health care marketing company founded by Mr. Ritter in 2004, which developed and commercialized digestive health care products Lactagen, Health Essentials and Better Digestion. Mr. Ritter holds six patents, and over 15 additional international patents are pending. He has co-published articles in Nutrition Journal, Gastroenterology and Food Technology, and has given presentations at major health care and medical conferences such as Digestive Disease Week, among others. Since 2010, Mr. Ritter has also acted as Managing Partner of Stonehenge Partners, a private investment fund, which provides working capital and executive leadership to a variety of businesses and industries, including real estate, technology, biotechnology, entertainment and service businesses. In addition, he is a guest lecturer of entrepreneurship at various graduate and undergraduate academic institutions throughout Los Angeles, including University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, University of California at Los Angeles Anderson School of Business, and Pepperdine University Graziadio School of Business and Management. Mr. Ritter has been an active leader in his community, including being appointed as a Los Angeles City Commissioner to the Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families from 2000 to 2002 — the youngest appointed Commissioner in Los Angeles history. He holds a B.A. in political science and a minor in business from the University of Southern California, and was a member of the 2002 Pac-10 Champion baseball team. Mr. Ritter received his MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Profile

Michael D. Step is the Chief Executive Officer of Ritter Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to joining Ritter, he was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development for Santarus, Inc., now a wholly owned subsidiary of Salix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Step served in this role for nine years up until the 2014 sale of Santarus to Salix. He was responsible for leading all licensing and M&A activities at Santarus, and was a member of its executive team. Prior to his tenure at Santarus, Mr. Step held various commercial and business development roles at Amylin Pharmaceuticals for five years, culminating in the role of Vice President of Corporate Development, and was responsible for leading Amylin’s license of Byetta to Eli Lilly. Before joining Amylin, Mr. Step was Senior Director of Business Development at Dura Pharmaceuticals, and served in licensing, management and sales roles at Hoffmann-La Roche and Syntex Labs. Mr. Step has an MBA in marketing and finance from the USC Marshall School of Business and an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University. Profile

TWST: Tell us about the focus of Ritter’s clinical research and the platform it is based upon.

Mr. Step: Our clinical research is currently focused on developing

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Interview with the Co-Founder and President and the CEO: Ritter Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:RTTR)

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Interview with the Co-Founder and President and the CEO: Ritter Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:RTTR)

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