Pharmaceutical entrepreneur Quang X. Pham, who made his name at Orange County-based startups in the 2000s, is back on the scene with a new company, Espero Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Jacksonville, Fla.-based Espero makes nitroglycerine-based drugs for treating chest pain. Its products include GoNitro and Nitrolingual.
Espero’s newest product is GoNitro, a powdered form of the drug that received Food and Drug Administration approval this month and will be introduced in the second half of the year. Espero acquired marketing and promotion rights for Nitrolingual and what became GoNitro in April from German drugmaker G. Pohl-Boskamp GmbH& Co. KG, whose name appears on the product’s packaging.
GoNitro “is the first new dose of nitroglycerine [approved] for acute angina in almost 20 years,” Pham said in an interview last week.
Nitrolingual, the company’s other drug, was approved in 1997.
“Our mission is to maximize the value of proven treatments,” Pham said.
Pham and Espero President and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Cole founded the company in March 2015. Cole is a former executive with Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., a Canadian company that evolved from Costa Mesa-based ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Pham is also the founder of MyDrugRep Inc., a Newport Beach company that provides drug information to hospitals, doctors and pharmacists. MyDrugRep later became Lathian Systems.
Pham, who served in the First Gulf War as a U.S. Marine aviator, sold Lathian in 2012 to Shrewsbury, N.J.-based D&R Communications, a specialty direct marketing agency. He remained as a partner until he left to start Espero.
The company anticipates having about 100 workers, including a 60-member sales force, before year-end, according to Pham. Ten to 12 of those jobs will be in Orange County, Pham said.
“I’m glad to have a presence in Orange County.”
Espero’s OC operation is now in Ladera Ranch, “but we’ve got a search for more space in Aliso Viejo, Laguna Hills south to San Juan Capistrano to attract the [north] San Diego County life sciences talent pool,” he said.
Pham said its headquarters will remain in Jacksonville, at least for now, although he indicated he travels frequently to Orange County.
He noted, however, that areas such as New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Northern California are centers of drug commercialization.
“We remain open [to a potential move], but right now, it’s in Florida,” he said.
The company projects it will have $10 million in revenue in its first operating year, Pham said. The drug will be targeted to cardiologists and emergency physicians, with a later addition of primary care physicians once patients move to maintenance status on their angina drugs.
Espero, which means “hope” in Spanish, is raising a round of $25 million in funding to launch its products.
Avanir Releases Data
Aliso Viejo-based Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. said a study confirmed its Nuedexta drug is effective for treating pseudobulbar affect in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, other forms of dementia, stroke and traumatic brain injuries.
Pseudobulbar affect is a condition characterized by sudden, uncontrollable outbursts of crying or laughing that’s triggered by various types of brain injuries.
Avanir’s study included 367 patients who received Nuedexta for a 90-day period.
“We now have safety and efficacy data for Nuedexta in five of the most common neurologic illnesses where [pseudobulbar affect] symptoms are present—ALS, MS, AD and other dementias, stroke and TBI,” said Dr. Sanjay Dubé, Avanir’s vice president of clinical development R&D.
Avanir is a subsidiary of Otsuka America Inc., a holding company that’s part of Japan-based Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., which bought it in 2014.
Study results were published online in the BMC Neurology journal.
Bits & Pieces
Mission Viejo-based Aeolus Pharmaceuticals Inc. presented this month at the LD Micro Invitational in Los Angeles. David Cavalier, the drug developer’s chairman and chief financial officer, gave a pipeline update and met with investors. … United Kingdom-based Tunstall Healthcare Group acquired Irvine-based Lifeline Emergency Response Systems Inc. for an undisclosed price. Lifeline provides medical alert monitoring for patients who wish to stay in their own homes. … Placentia-Linda Hospital received an award from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology for implementing quality improvement measures for heart failure care.
