Interview with the CEO and the President and Chairman: NanoViricides, Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN:NNVC)

Healthcare >> CEO Interviews >> October 23, 2018

Irach B. Taraporewala is Chief Executive Officer of NanoViricides, Inc. Dr. Irach B. Taraporewala is a seasoned pharmaceutical executive with over 25 years' experience in drug development and regulatory strategy. He is a hands-on CEO with strong scientific background combined with significant management, leadership, business development and financing experience. Dr. Taraporewala is the Founder and Managing Member of Sitara Pharmaceutical Consulting, LLC, providing consulting services to biotechnology companies on business strategy, regulatory strategic planning for small molecule and biological pharmaceuticals, nanotechnology drugs and drug-device combination products. Dr. Taraporewala was previously the founding CEO and President of Ohr Pharmaceutical, Inc. — “Ohr” — from April 2010 until December 2015. During his five years of leadership at Ohr, he played a critical role in taking the company from preclinical stage through successful Phase II clinical trials. His achievements included technology assessment and opportunity identification, followed by due diligence for potential acquisitions. He led the acquisition of the lead compound Squalamine by Ohr. He was personally involved in successfully formulating the drug as an eye drop, completing FDA IND-enabling preclinical studies, and advancing the drug product through multiple Phase II clinical trials in retinal diseases. Results of human clinical trials in macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and retinal vein occlusions showed positive visual acuity benefits in patients. Additionally, while at Ohr, he managed external contracts and manufacturing relationships, with particular attention to regulatory CMC and QA/QC aspects. Further, he managed the successful acquisition by Ohr of an ophthalmic research company, SKS Ocular, LLC. In addition, he established a joint venture spinoff between Ohr and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, called DepYmed, for further clinical development of certain oncology assets. Throughout his tenure as CEO of Ohr, Dr. Taraporewala ensured that the company was well-capitalized, oversaw the uplisting of the company's common stock to the Nasdaq exchange and completed several successful rounds of financing. Prior to Ohr, Dr. Taraporewala was Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Clinical Research at Mystic Pharmaceuticals Inc., Austin, Texas, from April 2008 to March 2010. At Mystic, he led the regulatory strategy for the company's ophthalmic and intranasal drug products, as well as drug delivery systems. He played a key role in advancing the company's technology from lab bench research into clinical trials stage. Earlier, Dr. Taraporewala served at a well-known pharmaceutical consulting and clinical research organization, PAREXEL International Corp., as Senior Consultant in the Drug Development Consulting Division. In this position, he provided technical expertise and regulatory advice to small and large biotechnology and pharmaceutical company clients worldwide. Dr. Taraporewala also has a track record of being awarded multiple Small Business Innovation Research — SBIR — grants from the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, in the areas of development of antiviral drugs, DNA-based cancer diagnostics and from the United States Department of Defense, or DoD, for antimalarial drug development, all as the Principal Investigator. Dr. Taraporewala holds a Ph.D. degree in medicinal chemistry from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia — 1984. He holds a Master of Science degree in organic chemistry and a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and microbiology, both from the University of Bombay, India. Profile

Dr. Anil Diwan, Ph.D., is President and Executive Chairman of NanoViricides, Inc. He co-invented a bio-mimetic drug delivery platform, nanoviricides polymeric micelles, enabling site-specific targeting, multi-point attack, and encapsulation. Orally available, host-mimetic, direct-acting, nanoviricide drug NV-387 has successfully completed Phase I in healthy subjects and is being developed into Phase II. NV-387 has shown strong pre-clinical efficacy in RSV, influenza, COVID as well as Orthopoxvirus in lethal virus challenge animal models, attesting to its broad spectrum, reminiscent of antibiotics. Nanoviricides define a new paradigm “Re-Infection Inhibition,” going beyond antibodies and small chemicals. The platform further enables cures of viral infections by encapsulating orthogonal APIs ex: Remdesivir, Ribavirin, Cidofovir, etc. Dr. Diwan was instrumental in designing and establishing the NanoViricides campus in Shelton that comprises R&D to Clinical Trial Drug Product Manufacturing facility of its nanomedicines. Dr. Diwan holds a Ph.D., (Bio)Chemical Engineering, Rice University and a BTech, Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB). Profile

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TWST: Dr. Taraporewala, you just came to NanoViricides to be CEO. Could you tell us what brought you to the company?

Dr. Taraporewala: I had

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Interview with the CEO and the President and Chairman: NanoViricides, Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN:NNVC)

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Interview with the CEO and the President and Chairman: NanoViricides, Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN:NNVC)

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