Providence Therapeutics announces new Chief Development Officer and Chief Medical Officer

mRNA vaccine maker announces the promotion of Natalia Martin Orozco to Chief Development Officer and the hiring of Piyush Patel as Chief Medical Officer

TORONTO and CALGARY, AB, Jan. 22, 2021 /CNW/ - Providence Therapeutics is pleased to announce that Natalia Martin Orozco has been promoted to Chief Development Officer and the addition of Piyush Patel as Chief Medical Officer. Providence Therapeutics is a mRNA manufacturer that is developing a made-in-Canada COVID-19 vaccine, PTX-COVID19-B.

"Dr. Martin Orozco's, work has been nothing short of amazing over this past year. Coordinating multiple sites, managing collaboration partners, overseeing GMP manufacturing and hiring new team members all the while keeping our employees safe and productive in the middle of a pandemic; I truly can't say enough! I am so pleased to have her join the executive team and look forward to much more success in 2021," says Brad Sorenson, CEO of Providence Therapeutics, of Dr. Martin Orozco's promotion.

Dr. Martin Orozco joined Providence in mid-2018 as VP of Drug development. She setup the research and development laboratory at JLABs Toronto and built up the manufacturing capabilities for mRNA lipid nanoparticles focused on our Personalized Cancer Vaccine program. By the end of 2019, Natalia's team was producing mRNA vaccine lots for pre-clinical safety studies and was ready to move into a GMP manufacturing for Phase I trial. In March of 2020, when Providence shifted to produce a COVID-19 vaccine, Dr. Martin Orozco played a major role in driving the program to submission of a CTA and Phase I by the end of 2020.

Previous to joining Providence, Dr. Martin Orozco worked at EMD-Serono, and Iovance as Principal Scientist. She was an instructor at MD Anderson Cancer Center where she published highly cited articles on Immunotherapy and Immune regulation.

Dr. Martin Orozco commented: "I appreciate the board's confidence in me and I am very excited to continue working with our exceptional team of scientists, along with the senior executives and board of directors to progress our COVID-19 vaccine program."

Dr. Patel, a Clinical Immunologist has over two decades of experience in designing and running hundreds of large and small clinical trials in many therapeutic areas including infectious disease and allergy vaccines. He has an entrepreneurial mindset having founded two CRO's, including Allied Research International, which became the largest CRO specializing in allergy and Environmental Exposure Chamber (EEC) studies. He is the author of over 20 patents related to EEC design for clinical research.  As an expert in immunology and allergy, Dr. Patel has assisted many biotech companies in formulating clinical development plans and in interactions with regulatory agencies including the FDA, he has also presented at FDA advisory committee meetings. He was named Entrepreneur of the Year for Canada in 2009.

"I am very excited to join the Providence team and help bring this essential vaccine to the market" says Dr. Patel.

"Designing and running a COVID vaccine clinical trial with the goal of delivering an essential vaccine as soon as possible, without compromising public safety, is no small task. Dr. Patel's decades of experience in managing large international multi-site clinical trials through all clinical stages is exactly what Providence needs at this critical moment," says Sorenson on the hire of Dr. Patel.

About Providence Therapeutics
Providence Therapeutics is Canada's leading mRNA vaccine company. In response to a worldwide need for a COVID-19 vaccine, Providence has expanded its focus beyond oncology and devoted its energy and resources to develop a world-class mRNA vaccine for COVID-19. Providence Therapeutics is focused on serving the needs of Canada, and other countries that may be underserved by large pharmaceutical programs. For more information, please visit ProvidenceTherapeutics.com.

SOURCE Providence Therapeutics