Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com August 1, 2016 • Hartford Business Journal 13 Duffy's roots stretch to Melinta's founding By John Stearns jstearns@HartfordBusiness.com E rin Duffy joined Melinta Therapeu- tics Inc. shortly after its founding, evolving into her current role as chief scientific officer as the company itself evolved from aspiring startup to the cusp of its first antibiotic approval and a pipeline that includes a new class of anti- biotics targeting bacterial superbugs. "We were very fortunate to recruit her very, very early on," said Susan Froshauer, president and CEO of CURE, a nonprofit that works to support and build Connecti- cut's bioscience sector, who was founding CEO of Melinta's predecessor company, Rib-X Pharmaceuticals Inc., until 2010. "She's gone on to become quite a leader and quite an advocate for all of the great science we do in our company." Duffy, 47, oversees the research team at Melinta's New Haven office, where she's worked since Jan. 2002. The office has about 35 people. She has led Melinta's ESKAPE Patho- gen Program from its infancy — each let- ter in ESKAPE representing a drug-resis- tant superbug — working to develop one antibiotic that can kill all. Melinta's web- site calls the program its most advanced preclinical initiative. She also contributes to other medication development. Melinta hopes to begin human trials for ESKAPE antibiotics next year. "When we are successful — not if, but when — that's going to be a big deal," Duffy said. To have a hand in developing such important drugs is exciting, said Duffy, but one of the things she's most proud of, to be part of and have a hand in creating it, is her research team. "The team that we assembled here to do the research is just this unbelievably talented and dedicated group of people," Duffy said. " … It's really the heart of this group that is just to me probably the reason I get out of bed and come here every day." Duffy was recruited by Froshauer after first meeting her at Pfizer in Groton, where each worked in the 1990s. Duffy began her career there as a senior research scientist Then, in 2000, a Yale grad school friend told her about a new company starting up, Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc., which need- ed somebody with her skills in computa- tional chemistry and drug design. She joined Achillion in Dec. 2000 as associate director of innovative discovery technologies, work- ing in the same 300 George St. building where Melinta is located, and remembers the building as a shell of what it is today. "I remember thinking, 'Oh, what am I doing?' " Duffy said, recalling the scientifi- cally rich character of Groton that she left. But the work proved exciting and fun. About three months into it, Froshauer called to recruit her and also tap the chemistry expertise of Duffy's husband, William Jorgensen, a Yale professor and one of three scientific co-founders, along with Yale professors Peter Moore and Thomas Steitz, who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. Duffy, though, remained at Achillion for about nine more months to build a team before joining Rib-X. "That was sort of how it all hap- pened," she said. She became chief scientific offi- cer in 2011. She received her Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry from Yale in 1994 and was a How- ard Hughes postdoctoral fellow. She received a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1990 from Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, W. Va., where she grew up. Her mother was a nurse and father worked for the gas company. "I think I always liked math and sci- ence," Duffy said, adding that her mother wanted her to consider medical school, but that wasn't the direction Duffy desired. With a small graduating class of about 120 at Wheeling and few science majors, Duffy received a lot of instructional atten- tion. Her chemistry professor saw her talent and encouraged her to consider graduate school and apply for a summer fellowship, which she landed at North- western University, in chemistry. "It was a lot of fun to work in the lab and that's what I decided that's what I wanted to do," said Duffy, who went on to Yale for graduate school and where she met her future husband, Jorgensen. Sean Murphy, who retired as vice presi- dent of business development for pharma- ceutical company Abbott Laboratories in 2010 and went on to cofound Malin Corp. PLC, a Dublin-based company with offices in New Haven and the U.K. that invests in life sciences companies and has $45 million invested in Melinta, called Duffy a "brilliant scientist … a true pioneer in the field." Murphy, a non-executive director on Melinta's board, said Duffy is a team-build- er and excellent communicator, able to sim- plify complex science as she recently did for a group of Malin lawyers, and business and financial people in a half-day presentation. "They came back totally energized … and the thing that shocked most of them was that Erin was able to communicate in such down- to-earth, very easy to understand (ways) some very, very sophisticated science," he said. "So it's rare. I've been around scientists for a number of years at Abbott and after Abbott and it's hard to get that combination of a person that's deep in the science that has a very warm and enchanting personality, but able to communicate." n Erin Duffy, chief scientific officer, Melinta Therapeutics Inc. P H O T O | J O H N S T E A R N S risky enough. When you only get one shot on goal, you have to be awful lucky to do well." Melinta and it's predecessor, Rib-X, have been working in the field for so long that they have extraordinary insight into this new class of antibiotics that will hopefully produce a stream of products going forward, he said. Melinta's window of opportunity is more rel- evant today than when it started, Murphy added. "No one anticipated that there will be patients out there that are resistant to all anti- biotics — a pretty scary proposition," he said. "So I think their timing is most appropriate. And it's not often that you can find a company that has near-term assets and longer-term assets and platforms all in one company — so that's what intrigued us with Melinta." Melinta was the brainchild of Susan Fro- shauer, now president and CEO of CURE, a nonprofit that works to support and build Con- necticut's bioscience sector. Froshauer said the idea for the company incubated in her head while she was at Pfizer, where Duffy also worked, because some of her work there involved using computational tools to help design new small molecules. She also has a background in antibiotic drug discovery and did her postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University. She convinced Yale professors, colleagues and friends, William Jorgensen (Duffy's hus- band), Peter Moore and Thomas Steitz, who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2009 for his studies of the structure and function of the ribosome, to become scientific co- founders. While none works at the company, they all remain in touch with its science, said Duffy, whom Fro- shauer recruited. The small group raised money through friends and family to help found the compa- ny, after which there have been various suc- cessful money raises. Two more recent fundings included a $70 million equity investment in 2014, led by Vatera Health- care Partners, and a $67 million equity financing announced last year and led by Malin, according to Melinta's website. Melinta has the team and quality of sci- ence to succeed, Froshauer said. "I think what is amazing … is the depth of their portfolio, that they have several waves of molecules coming down the pike and they are carefully guiding them to particular markets where they will be differentiated," she said. Stan Choy, former CFO of Kolltan Phar- maceuticals Inc. in New Haven, which started in the same building as Melinta and where Choy got to know its principals, credits Melinta's team for its perseverance over the last 16 years and is confident in its potential. "I always say the product is not in the mar- ket until it's selling in the market," Choy said, refusing to take anything for granted with clin- ical trials, the FDA, etc. "But in terms of the direction of Melinta, it looks like they're going to make it, which is a very, very good thing for them and for the state of Connecticut." CURE hopes to see companies like Melin- ta, once they launch their drugs in the mar- ketplace, stay in-state and grow, said Choy, a cancer researcher and now co-chairman and treasurer of CURE and self-described serial bioscience entrepreneur. "It's where your roots are and hopefully it pays off because at the end of the day you want companies to launch and become big- ger, greater companies to sustain and main- tain jobs in the state," Choy said. "That's our objective, to get these companies up and run- ning and funded well. Obviously the science has to be compelling, it's got to make sense, but we want these companies to stay" and create critical mass in the life sciences. n Visitors to Melinta's New Haven office can peek inside its labs (above), but only from outside the glass. A poster (left) inside Melinta's office shares the purpose for its main drug. H B J P H O T O S | J O H N S T E A R N S

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