New appointment at Topica Pharmaceuticals
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
The privately held US biotechnology company Topica Pharmaceuticals has appointed Mark Davis vice-president of clinical development. He will lead the company's clinical development activities for its lead product candidate, luliconazole, for the treatment of onychomycosis (nail and nail bed fungal infections) and tinea pedis (athlete's foot). Topica expects to initiate a Phase I/IIa trial of luliconazole in the US for onychomycosis during the first quarter and to advance luliconazole into a Phase III clinical development programme for tinea pedis this year. Mr Davis has more than 27 years' experience in the biotech, pharmaceutical and medical device industries, having previously served in project leadership roles and as head of Clinical Operations at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, developing oncology products. Before that, he was senior director of clinical operations at Connetics, where he led clinical programmes for three dermatologic product approvals in the US.