SiteOne Therapeutics Appoints Debra Odink, Ph.D., As Chief Development Officer as the Company Advances Novel Pain Drug Candidates

Bozeman, Montana – SiteOne Therapeutics announced today the appointment of Debra Odink, Ph.D. as Chief Development Officer, leading the effort to advance the company’s innovative small-molecule Naᵥ1.7-based therapeutic candidates for acute and chronic pain. 

“Dr. Odink has a demonstrated track record of successfully leading the development of multiple drug candidates in a variety of therapeutic areas.” said Stan Abel, President and Chief Executive Officer, SiteOne Therapeutics.  “Her experience will significantly strengthen our team of exceptional scientists to accelerate the development of our novel Nav1.7 product candidates.”

Prior to joining SiteOne, Dr. Odink most recently served as Senior Vice President of Technical Operations at Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc., where she was responsible for the manufacturing operations for multiple programs.  Prior to this she served as Chief Technical Officer and Senior Vice President at Anthera Pharmaceuticals responsible for non-clinical, clinical and manufacturing operations.  Earlier in her career Dr. Odink was Vice President of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Product Development at Peninsula Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2005) and served in the development organization for several years at Roche.

“Having worked with some of the world’s largest biopharmaceutical developers and with innovative start-up companies, it is clear to me that SiteOne Therapeutics has the talent, scientific acumen and commitment to improve the lives of patients,” said Dr. Odink.  “Given the opioid crisis in the United States and the lack of safe and effective alternatives for managing pain, I am excited to join the SiteOne team and to rapidly advance our drug candidates through preclinical and clinical evaluation.” 

In January of 2017, SiteOne Therapeutics announced its research and development agreement with Amgen, combining SiteOne’s experienced drug discovery team and portfolio of novel Naᵥ1.7 inhibitors with Amgen’s neuroscience capabilities.  As part of its partnership with Amgen, SiteOne closed its $15 million series B round of financing, led by Amgen and joined by founding investors Next Frontier Capital, 2M Companies Inc., Mission Bay Capital, Sears Capital Management, Biobrit LLC, and Z Investments.

SiteOne was founded with technology licensed from Stanford University. The company has advanced this science with support from its founding investors as well as from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) which contributed more than $3 million in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant funding.

About SiteOne Therapeutics

SiteOne Therapeutics is headquartered in Bozeman, Montana with a research team based in South San Francisco, California.  Since its inception, SiteOne has been dedicated to developing novel pain therapeutics and diagnostics to safely, effectively and efficiently treat acute and chronic pain without the limitations of existing pain therapies, such as NSAIDs or opioids. The company’s therapeutic candidates are highly selective sodium ion channel 1.7 (Naᵥ1.7) inhibitors based on naturally occurring small molecules. Given the critical role Naᵥ1.7 plays in the generation and conduction of pain signals, combined with the urgent need for new, non-opioid pain therapies, SiteOne is focused on advancing its lead products for the treatment of moderate to severe pain.

For more information, visit SiteOne’s Web site at www.site1therapeutics.com. 

#  #  #