We are focused on making a difference for patients with Eosinophilic Esophagitis

Our Company

Ellodi Pharmaceuticals is a gastroenterology-focused specialty pharmaceutical company aiming to advance treatments for Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE), a rare and chronic allergic inflammatory condition. The company was established in 2020 to accelerate clinical development of EoE therapies and build on the work initiated by Adare Pharmaceuticals, particularly APT-1011, which is currently in a Phase 3 clinical trial. Despite growing awareness of EoE and its underserved patient population, no Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved oral treatment exists for the disease today.

Ellodi Pharmaceuticals has assembled a seasoned team with deep expertise in developing and commercializing innovative therapies for gastrointestinal disorders and rare diseases. With patients and caregivers at the center of every decision we make, we are focused on developing and delivering innovative therapies that can meaningfully improve and transform the lives of patients with EoE.

Troy Hamilton

CEO

Troy Hamilton has more than 26 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and healthcare industries. Previously, he held several executive and global commercial leadership roles at Adare Pharmaceuticals, Synergy Pharmaceuticals, Shire Pharmaceuticals, and Johnson & Johnson. Troy has significant Gastroenterology-related experience in functional gastrointestinal disorders, inflammatory bowel disease, eosinophilic esophagitis, short bowel syndrome, rare pediatric cholestasis, and acid-peptic disorders. He also serves as a board member at Lazarus Pharmaceuticals, metaMe Health, and Bethanamist and board advisor at New Perspectives. Troy received his Bachelor of Science, Doctorate, and MBA degrees from Saint Joseph’s University (Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Haub School of Business).

Dr. Gina Eagle

Vice President, Research and Development

Dr. Gina Eagle is a Specialist Pediatrician with 16 years of hospital-based clinical experience followed by 15 years of pharmaceutical industry experience. She has focused on clinical development for orphan diseases with high unmet medical needs. Her demonstrated successes in clinical trial strategy and execution span from rare pediatric conditions to orphan respiratory and gastrointestinal conditions. She has advised multiple programs in the rare disease space and early clinical development strategy, and has served as an independent member on data safety monitoring boards. She brings an in-depth knowledge of human disease and a passion for bringing new medicines to patients with few or no treatment options.

Prior to joining Ellodi, Dr. Eagle successfully led the clinical development program at Insmed Inc. to bring the first and only approved drug to patients with NTM lung disease. She has multiple clinical development patents in her name and has authored or co-authored multiple publications in clinical microbiology. Having received her medical degree with Honors from the University of New South Wales, Australia, she later entered as a Fellow of the Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP), specializing in pediatric medicine. Her career in pharmaceuticals started in Clinical Development/Medical Affairs at Novartis and subsequently she joined multiple biotech companies, including Aptalis, Insmed and Adare Pharmaceuticals focusing on clinical drug development, particularly for orphan diseases. Dr. Eagle was involved in the initial clinical development of what is now Ellodi’s flagship product, APT-1011, and currently leads the late stage development program.

Vered Katz Ben-Yair

Head of Program Management

Vered is a seasoned professional with over 12 years of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. She has expertise in overseeing and managing global clinical research and development, clinical trial design and execution, medical writing and overseeing data safety monitoring boards.

Prior to Ellodi, Vered worked as a Director of Project Management for RedHill Biopharma, where she oversaw the development of investigational drugs, including the management of global clinical studies and pre-clinical programs. Before joining RedHill, Vered worked as a Scientific Consultant for Thomson Reuters and as a Scientist Project Lead at Selventa Inc. Vered studied towards a Ph.D in Molecular Genetics at the Weizmann Institute Rehovot, Israel and holds a M.Sc in Medical Sciences from the Hebrew University, Hadassah School of Medicine.

Karol Knoop, RN, BS, CCRA

Senior Director, Clinical and Medical Affairs Operations

Karol Knoop, RN, BS, CCRA has led the operational aspects in the clinical development of Ellodi’s flagship product, APT-1011, over the last few years. She has over 30 years’ experience in clinical research, focusing on talent development, resource management, and strategic project oversight. Karol’s capabilities include the integration of resources during times of corporate evolution and change, particularly during mergers and acquisition.

Prior to entering the world of clinical research, Karol was the COO of a 501c3 Home Health Agency in Utah and key in the development of several entrepreneurial projects that included clinical research. Karol then spent over 10 years at Sanofi Pharmaceuticals leading workgroups to develop feasibility methodology for Phase I to IV clinical studies and identifying Key Opinion Leaders and Centers of Excellence for successful study execution. Her multi-therapeutic and entrepreneurial background bring a strong solution-oriented approach and knowhow to Ellodi Pharmaceuticals, for the integration of all to bridge clinical study activities with Medical Affairs and medical education, which are key for the preparation that underscores the launch of new drugs.

Karol has been an industry speaker for topics in quality cultures, project execution, patient recruitment/retention and project/performance metrics. She has been a co-author on industry publications and abstracts. Karol is an RN with a degree majoring in Health Care Administration, greenbelt in Lean Six Sigma and trained with the Project Management Institute. As the Executive Director of the Utah Nurses Association, Karol was an ad hoc member of the Advisory Boards for the nursing programs at the University of Utah and Weber State University.

Sarah Murchison

Chief of Staff and Head of Commercial Operations

Sarah Murchison has more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and healthcare industries. Previously she held executive and commercial leadership roles at New Perspectives, Inc., Eurand Pharmaceuticals, Novo Nordisk and Merck Human Health. For the last 15 years, she has focused solely in establishing emerging biotech organizations with leadership responsibility for developing global commercialization strategies, market assessments, strategic and tactical launch plans, lifecycle management strategies and operational requirements. Sarah received her Bachelor of Arts from The College of Wooster and her MHA from Washington University School of Medicine.

James Nezamis

Executive Director, Biometrics

James Nezamis is a biostatistician with more than 25 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and CRO industries. He has broad experience in numerous therapeutic areas, including infectious diseases, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, pain management, depression and imaging contrast agents. In the last few years James work has focused on orphan diseases. He has extensive knowledge of Phase I through Phase IV clinical trial design, analysis, data management, data monitoring committees, and regulatory submissions. He brings an in-depth knowledge of statistics, strategy and regulatory requirements, along with extensive experience in regulatory interactions.

Prior to joining Ellodi, James successfully led the biostatistics and data management teams at Insmed Inc. to bring the first approved drug to patients with NTM lung disease and at Mannkind to bring Afrezza® to market. James obtained a Master of Science degree in Statistics from Western Michigan University and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in both Applied Mathematics and Statistics. His educational background also includes extensive engineering and computer science studies.

Martin Waga

Director, Quality Assurance and Pharmacovigilance

Martin Waga has 19 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. Previously, he was the Senior Manager of Clinical Quality at Adare Pharmaceuticals from May 2017 until the spin-out of Ellodi Pharmaceuticals in September of 2020. He has extensive experience leading quality assurance teams, managing regulatory and pharmacovigilance operations, creating comprehensive quality management systems, hosting third party audits and regulatory inspections, and managing clinical site, supplier, and e-clinical systems audits.

Prior to Adare Pharmaceuticals, Martin led clinical quality assurance and was responsible for pharmacovigilance and quality systems at Luitpold Pharmaceuticals (a division of Daiichi Sankyo). Before that, he was responsible for overseeing quality assurance and regulatory operations at Medidata Solutions Worldwide. Earlier in his career, he was part of the leadership team overseeing quality at ePharmaSolutions and held quality roles in organizations such as Palatin Technologies, Transave Inc., and Schering Plough. He has hosted approximately 300 sponsor, partner, and regulatory inspections in his career which included EMA state authorities, MHRA, FDA, Korean FDA, China FDA and Health Canada. He has a Six Sigma Green Belt and is a member of the American Society of Quality (ASQ) and the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP). Martin received his undergraduate biology education from Rutgers University.

Casey Walker

Administration Lead

Casey Walker has 17+ years of administrative and operational experience in managing client-centric office operations. She supports the day-to-day administrative, financial, and operational functions for the company and so much more. She has previously held positions as a contract specialist at Sikorsky Aircraft and Nektar Therapeutics. Casey received her Bachelor of Business Administration from Athens State University.

John Schilling, MD

Chairman, Partner at TPG Capital

John Schilling, MD leads the Operations team for TPG Capital, where he also co-leads the platform’s healthcare team. He has played leadership roles on TPG’s investments in Adare Pharmaceuticals, Aptalis, BVI, EnvisionRx, Immucor, and Par Pharmaceutical. Prior to joining TPG in 2011, Dr. Schilling managed sales and marketing for the U.S. pharmaceutical business at Abbott and was a Partner at McKinsey & Company. He received his undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from Duke, a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins where he was a Bozzelli Scholar, and an MD from the University of Chicago where he received the Joseph A. Capps Award for the most outstanding student in clinical medicine. Thereafter, he conducted his residency training in surgery at Johns Hopkins.

John Fraher

Independant Board Director

John Fraher is the former CEO of Adare Pharma Solutions. He has more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and life science industries. Previously, he was President of Aptalis Pharmaceutical Technologies. Prior to Aptalis, he held a number of executive positions at Eurand, including CEO, President, and Chief Commercial Officer. Mr. Fraher also held positions with a number of multinational pharmaceutical companies in Ireland. He holds a degree in biochemistry from University College Dublin, Ireland.

Troy Hamilton

CEO, Ellodi Pharmaceuticals

Debra Silberg, MD, PhD

Independent Board Director and Scientific Advisor

Dr. Silberg is an accomplished life sciences executive with deep experience across all stages of drug development. She serves as a Scientific Advisor to multiple pharmaceutical companies and has held clinical leadership roles at AstraZeneca, Shire, and most recently, Takeda, where she served as the company’s Global Vice President of Clinical Development and Clinical Science Head for Gastroenterology. In this role, she was responsible for the Gastrointestinal (GI) program team, which included approximately 30 physicians and clinical scientists across the US, Europe, China, and Japan who were focused on several GI diseases, including EoE. Additionally, Dr. Silberg oversaw the clinical aspects and led discussions with regulatory authorities (FDA and EMA) to facilitate the advancement of numerous GI development programs.

Dr. Silberg earned her BS degree at the University of Michigan, her PhD in Immunology from Wayne State University School of Medicine, and her MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She completed her Internal Medicine Residency and Gastroenterology Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. She then became a faculty member in the Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology at the University of Pennsylvania where she treated patients and was the principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded molecular biology laboratory. Dr. Silberg has been the recipient of seven NIH grants, published over 40 peer-reviewed articles, served on numerous national scientific committees, is a fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology, and a sought-after lecturer.

Todd Sisitsky

President, TPG Capital

Todd Sisitsky is the President of TPG and Co-Managing Partner of TPG Capital. He also co-leads TPG Capital’s healthcare group and its investment activities in the healthcare services, pharmaceutical, and medical device sectors. Todd has played leadership roles in TPG’s investments in Adare Pharmaceuticals, Allogene Therapeutics, Aptalis, Biomet, Ellodi Pharmaceuticals, Exactech, Fenwal, Healthscope, IASIS Healthcare, Immucor, IQVIA (and predecessor companies IMS Health and Quintiles), Monogram Health, Par Pharmaceutical, and Surgical Care Affiliates. Todd is also the Chair of the Dartmouth Medical School Board of Advisors and a board member of Grassroot Soccer. Prior to joining TPG in 2003, Todd worked at Forstmann Little & Company and Oak Hill Capital Partners. He received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and earned his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College.

Katherine Wood

Partner at TPG Capital

Katherine Wood is a Partner with TPG Capital based San Francisco, where she focuses on investments in the healthcare sector. She currently serves on the Boards of LifeStance Health, Convey Health Solutions, Kadiant, Ellodi Pharmaceuticals and Neogene Therapeutics, and was previously on the Boards of Adare Pharmaceuticals and AskBio. She was involved in TPG’s investments in Allogene Therapeutics, Aptalis, EnvisionRx, IASIS and Par Pharmaceutical. Prior to joining TPG in 2009, Katherine worked in healthcare investment banking at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Katherine received a BS with Honors in molecular and cell biology from Stanford University, where she was on the varsity field hockey team, and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School.