Aerami Therapeutics, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the treatment of serious and rare cardiopulmonary conditions, appointed Joshua Ziel, chief operating officer and CEO as the company advances AER-901 into Phase 2.

In addition, the company appointed Gary Burgess, chief medical officer, and Sarah Fritchley, senior vice president, clinical development, and operations.

Ziel spent the past five years focused on strategic planning for potential reverse remodeling agents in pulmonary hypertension, including PAH, PH-ILD, and pulmonary hypertension due to left heart disease. He joined Aerami in 2022 as vice president for program development with oversight on strategy and execution for the AER-901 pulmonary hypertension program. Prior to joining Aerami, he held senior executive positions at Syneos Health and the WPP agency network.

Burgess brings more than 20 years of experience leading clinical development in the pharmaceutical industry with a focus on pulmonary hypertension, beginning his career as clinical lead for the development of sildenafil in PAH at Pfizer. He was instrumental in conceptualizing the AER-901 development program and oversaw the clinical aspects of the completed Phase 1 study as a consultant to Aerami. Prior to joining Aerami, Gary led clinical development for multiple companies, including as chief medical officer for Conatus.

Fritchley also brings more than 20 years of experience from both pharmaceutical and contract research organizations (CROs), most recently as chief development officer for Exvastat, a company focused on developing imatinib as a potential treatment for acute respiratory distress syndrome. Sarah Fritchley has directed clinical trials for various clinical development programs in a variety of therapeutic areas, including oncology, acute respiratory distress syndrome, allergy, pain, various inflammatory disorders, and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. She has worked in small start-up biotechnology companies through mid-sized global biopharmaceutical organizations and directed several programs within the CRO sector.

“The board and I are proud of the world-class management team we have assembled to lead Aerami and oversee initiation of Phase 2 development for AER-901, with the ultimate goal of bringing new therapeutic options to the patients with pulmonary hypertension that we serve,” said Anne Whitaker, executive chairwoman of the board of directors at Aerami. “Josh brings an impressive background and familiarity with the pulmonary hypertension space, having worked closely with Lisa Yañez, Aerami’s late CEO, and he has been a driving force behind Aerami’s clinical strategy and execution in PH-ILD and PAH.”

Whitaker added: “We are also pleased to appoint Gary and Sarah to our leadership team. Gary has been instrumental to the development of AER-901 since conceptualization, and Sarah is a seasoned executive who brings the depth of clinical development and operations experience Aerami needs to execute on our global program in these two serious and rare forms of pulmonary hypertension.”