Destiny Pharma appoints Yuri Martina as chief medical officer

Clinical-stage biotechnology company Destiny Pharma announced the appointment of Dr Yuri Martina as its chief medical officer on Tuesday.

The AIM-traded firm said Dr Martina had more than 20 years of experience in clinical development, and interactions “at the highest levels” with key regulatory, industry and government stakeholders.

That included the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Japanese Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Agency (PMDA).

Most recently, Dr Martina was senior vice-president of development and deputy chief medical officer at Grünenthal Group, where he was a “key member” of the global research and development leadership and the global commercial leadership teams.

He was responsible for advancing the Grünenthal Group research and development pipeline, including two phase 3 assets, two phase 2 assets and several early and pre-clinical assets.

Dr Martina was also a “key member and driver” in several in-licensing and out-licensing activities, and in the completion of the acquisition of Mestex.

From 2014 to 2017, he was vice-president of development and clinical operations at Shionogi Europe, where he was a “key contributor” to the approval of Mulpeo, previously Lusutrombopag, and Cefiderocol.

“Yuri is an important new member of our team, as he brings the right skill sets to drive the strategy, direction and execution of the company's phase 3 clinical development plans as we move towards the next phase of our growth,” said chief executive officer Neil Clark.

Destiny Pharma said that throughout his career, Dr Martina had gained a “deep insight” into global markets, working in Europe, the US, the Middle East and Asia, and contributed to more than 10 marketing authorisation applications to the EMA and new drug applications to the FDA.

He is a medical doctor by background, and also holds a PhD in genetics and molecular biology, an MBA and a Master's in project management.

Dr Martina is also a fellow member of the Royal Society of Medicine.

“I very much look forward to being an integral part of Destiny Pharma's leadership management team at such a pivotal moment in the company's history,” said Dr Martina.

“I feel privileged to be able to contribute to progressing the pipeline of our unique late-stage clinical assets addressing patients' unmet needs and delivering on the company's strategy to build a world-leading infection prevention company.”

At 1141 BST, shares in Destiny Pharma were flat at 48.5p.