REDWOOD CITY, CALIF, Jan. 17, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pearl Therapeutics Inc. today announced that Michael Riebe, Ph.D. has joined Pearl Therapeutics as vice president, pharmaceutical development and research, effective immediately.
Chuck Bramlage, Pearl's president and CEO commented on the appointment, "Mike's extensive experience in developing respiratory products through approval and commercialization will be extremely valuable as we move our lead combination bronchodilator for COPD, PT003, and its components, PT005 and PT001 through the final stages of clinical development. In addition, our plans for expanding our pipeline, including the development of a triple drug combination, PT010, will benefit from his broad product development skills. Speaking for the management and board of directors, we welcome Mike to the Pearl team."
Prior to joining Pearl Therapeutics, Dr. Riebe was vice president of research and development at iCeutica where he led development of the Company's pipeline of pain, oncology and respiratory products. Prior to iCeutica, Dr. Riebe held various roles at Merck, most recently senior scientific director in respiratory product development; and at RTI, an independent, nonprofit research and development organization. From 1990 through 2003, Dr. Riebe held several positions in respiratory product development at GlaxoSmithKline and its predecessor, Glaxo Wellcome, where he led project teams responsible for pharmaceutical development of Serevent®, Ventolin® HFA, and Seretide®/Advair® HFA. Dr. Riebe received his B.A. degree in chemistry from Kalamazoo College and his Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He has served in numerous leadership positions within the American Chemical Society and the American Association for Pharmaceutical Scientists, including as chairman of the AAPS Inhalation and Nasal Technology Focus Group.
About Pearl Therapeutics
Pearl Therapeutics is a privately held company developing combination therapies for the treatment of highly prevalent respiratory diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. Pearl is rapidly advancing a pipeline of products including PT003, an inhaled, fixed-dose combination bronchodilator product comprised of a long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA) and a long-acting beta‑2 agonist (LABA) delivered via a metered dose inhaler (HFA MDI); and PT010, a triple-combination product that combines the LAMA and LABA components of PT003 with an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) for twice-daily administration from an HFA MDI for the treatment of severe COPD. Both PT003 and PT010 are developed with Pearl's proprietary porous particle co‑suspension technology, which allows the formulation of multiple products in the MDI format, with highly stable, robust and aerodynamically efficient drug delivery. Founded in 2006, Pearl Therapeutics is privately held and backed by 5AM Ventures, Clarus Ventures, New Leaf Ventures and Vatera Healthcare. For more information, please visit www.pearltherapeutics.com.