Developing A New Class of Immunotherapies

Cytocom, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel small molecule immunotherapies targeting autoimmune, inflammatory, infectious diseases and cancers based on patented technology and our proprietary AIMS™ platform designed to restore immune homeostasis.  Therapies developed under our AIMS™ platform programs are considered a new class of immunomodulatory drugs that  adjust immune responses to halt or slow disease progression. Through AIMS™, we are expanding our understanding of the relationship between noroxymorphone and proenkephalin analogs to determine how multiple factors impact pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic relationships, potency, and selectivity.  With the acquisition of Cleveland Biolabs, Cytocom has enhanced its AIMS™ platform with the inclusion of additional TLR agonists to an already robust suite of programs.

Team Cytocom

Chief Executive Officer

Michael K. Handley

Chief Operations Officer

Taunia Markvicka, PharmD, MBA

Chief Financial Officer

Peter Aronstam

Chief Legal Officer

Cozette McAvoy, Esq.

Global Head of Innovation

Stephen Wilson, Ph.D.

Global Head of R&D

Andrei Gudkov, Ph.D., D.Sc.

Executive Vice President of Regulatory Affairs

Ann Hards

Chief Medical Officer

Clifford Selsky, M.D., Ph.D.

Chief Technology Officer

Robert W. Buckheit, Jr., Ph.D.

Chief Executive Officer

Michael K. Handley

Mike is successful life science business professional with over 23 years of cross-functional experience in drug/device commercialization, operations, mergers/acquisitions, regulatory/clinical affairs, venture formation/financing, market development and partnering/licensing. Mike has successfully assisted or led in the global commercialization of seventeen devices or drugs that account for over three billion dollars of sales annually. He has experience successfully leading management teams in a variety of capacities in high growth organizations and has secured millions of dollars in venture capital.

Currently, Mike is serving as Chief Executive Officer & Director of Cytocom, Inc. Cytocom has a pipeline of drugs that target immune disfunction, inflammation, cancer and viruses. Cytocom uses immune modulation as a cornerstone for mitigating and correcting disease. This new approach is focused on a systems biology approach in which multiple biological pathways are targeted simultaneously with the immune system thus increasing the efficacy and decreasing toxicity.

Prior to Cytocom, Mike was the CEO and Director of Armis Biopharma (aka CHD Biosciences). Armis is a multi-product development-stage healthcare company that has created a technology platform for the prevention and treatment of topical infectious disease. In his role, Mike was responsible for day-to-day operations, executing a profitable growth strategy, obtaining global product approvals, overseeing intellectual property strategy, product commercialization, business development and financing.

Prior to his work at Armis, Mike served in senior management roles at multiple life science companies. Specifically, Mike was one of the founders and on the management team of Vessix Vascular, Inc. in Laguna Hills California from 2011 to 2012. As a result of his work at Vessix Vascular the Company was acquired for $435M by Boston Scientific. Before his time at Vessix Vascular, Mike was Global Head of Regulatory at Acclarent that was acquired by Johnson & Johnson from 2010 – 2011 and assisted in the integration of the $785M acquisition of Acclarent and their five product lines and driving the global revenue growth of the Ethicon franchise for ENT products. Prior to working with Acclarent/J&J, Mike was the Global Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Chief Compliance Officer at Spectranetics Corporation, a NASDAQ listed (SPNC) medical device company specializing in laser treatments of blocked arteries and removal of pacemaker leads from 2007 to 2010. Before his time at Spectranetics, Mike was the CEO and Vice President of Business development, Quality and Regulatory at a privately funded biosciences technology company, Accelapure Corporation, from 2005 – 2007. Mike expanded his executive skill set as a Senior Management Consultant in the healthcare field at Pittiglio Rabin Todd & McGrath (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) from 2004-2005. As a Senior Principal at PRTM, Mike assisted Genentech in the successful launch of Avastin (a multi-billion dollar bio-oncology drug) and Tarceva (a multi-million dollar cancer small molecule drug) and assisted in the successful commercial launch for these drug franchises.

Prior to his business career, Mike was a successful and active research scientist having developed multiple patents and written multiple peer reviewed publications. During part of his research career Mike worked at Amgen in their oncology group from 1999 – 2001 and was involved in the discovery and advancement of Motesanib or AMG706 (an oral, small molecule multi-kinase inhibitor that is currently in Phase III trials for lung cancer). Mike also worked at Gliatech (2006-2009), a public biotech company, in which he was instrumental the development of Cipralisant Maleate/Perceptin® (selective histamine H3 drug that is in development at Merck) that went from discovery to IND/Clinic in an industry record of 12 months.

Mike graduated cum laude from Colorado State University with Bachelor of Science degrees in Molecular Biology, Exercise Physiology and minors in Chemistry, and Neurobiology in 1995. Mike transferred to Colorado State University from University of Southern California (1989 – 1992) where he was a Presidential Scholar and Aerospace Engineering Major. Mike complemented his formal education by attending The Graziadio Business School at Pepperdine University Executive Management MBA Program 2000-2001. In Mike’s free time he is an avid triathlete, mountain biking enthusiast and burgeoning private pilot. He has been married to his wife Lisa for 23 years and has two children, Regan and Mason.

Chief Operations Officer

Taunia Markvicka, PharmD, MBA

Taunia has over 25 years of pharmaceutical experience from regulatory/clinical to new product planning and commercialization. Taunia was previously Chief Operating Officer (US) for PolyPid (PYPD) where she was integral in the successful company IPO.  Prior, she was Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Symbiomix Therapeutics, a venture funded company, sold to Lupin Pharmaceuticals. She was also CCO at Pacira Bioscience (PCRX), taking the company public and successfully launching EXPAREL®. Prior to Pacira, Taunia held commercial leadership positions with Advantage Healthcare, The Medicines Company, and Allergan (formerly Watson). She started her career as a hospital pharmacist and joined the pharmaceutical industry following the completion of a post-doctorate fellowship with Novartis (former Sandoz Pharmaceuticals). Taunia has over 25 years of pharmaceutical experience successfully acquiring companies, technologies, and commercializing products. Taunia earned her doctorate in pharmacy from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and post-doctoral fellowship with Rutgers University/Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, after completing her Bachelors, Pharmacy at Creighton and becoming a registered pharmacist. She went on to complete her master’s in business administration at St. Joseph’s University.

Chief Financial Officer

Peter Aronstam

Mr. Aronstam brings more than 30 years of experience in accounting, finance, banking, international trade, and law to Cytocom, Inc.. He has held senior finance roles with growth and performance-driven enterprises—from startup technology and Internet companies to small service providers ($50 million) to very large international manufacturers ($25 billion) to global banks. Mr. Aronstam has advised and/or served as CFO in both publicly held and privately owned businesses since 1978. These include startup venture-capital-backed entrepreneurial companies; manufacturing, technology, and service companies; and corporate and international banking. Other roles have included human resources and information technology functions along with raising more than $500 million in debt and equity for his companies and their customers.

Chief Legal Officer

Cozette McAvoy, Esq.

Cozette McAvoy, Esq., has been serving as Chief Legal Officer for Cytocom Inc.  since May 2020.

Prior to holding this position, Ms. McAvoy served as Senior Vice President, Transactions and Head  of Intellectual Property at Amyris, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMRS), a synthetic biotechnology company from February 2017 to  April 2020. Ms. McAvoy served as Vice President, Deputy General Counsel at G&W Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,  responsible for leading the company’s contracting and intellectual property functions and the integration and support  of products and manufacturing facilities from Nov. 2015 to Oct. 2016.  

Global Head of Innovation

Stephen Wilson, Ph.D.

Dr. Wilson earned a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Arizona’s College of Medicine and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at LJII. During his nearly 25 years at LJII, Dr. Wilson held roles of increasing responsibility, most recently serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. In that position, he oversaw facility operations, worked to establish research collaborations between LJII and the biomedical industry and played a central role in the institute’s evolution into a world-renowned biomedical research facility. During his tenure, LJII grew from roughly $14 million in annual operations to more than $80 million in annual research and development. Established in 1988, LJII’s research activities have totaled more than $1 billion to date. Dr. Wilson also serves as a founding board member of Invivoscribe Technologies, Inc., a molecular diagnostics and oncology therapeutics company.

Global Head of R&D

Andrei Gudkov, Ph.D., D.Sc.

Dr. Gudkov is a world-renowned cancer and longevity researcher. He is one of the pioneers in the field of cell senescence, elucidating the role of p53 and interferon in cancer, as well as the importance of the immune system in the clearance of genome-compromised cells. In the past decade, Dr. Gudkov has also focused on studying LINE-1 and other retroelements, and had suggested important insights about the role of retrobiome in genome instability that accompanies cancer and aging.

Additionally, Dr. Gudkov has been developing various aging biomarkers, such as multifactorial frailty indexes for humans and animals. In conjunction with being the CSO of GPI, Dr. Gudkov holds various positions at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center where he serves as a Senior Vice President for Basic Research, a Chair of the Department of Cell Stress Biology, and a member of the senior leadership team for National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Center Support Grant. At Roswell Park, Dr. Gudkov is leading the Cell Stress Biology program in DNA damage and repair, photodynamic therapy, thermal and hypoxic stress and immune modulation.

Previously Dr. Gudkov worked at the Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation where he served as a chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics and as a professor of biochemistry at Case Western University. He has authored or co-authored over 250 scientific articles and over 50 issued US patents. Dr. Gudkov holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Oncology from the Cancer Research Center and a Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) degree in Molecular Biology from the Moscow State University.

Executive Vice President of Regulatory Affairs

Ann Hards

Dr. Hards joined Cytocom in 2021. Prior to this, she was the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for Cleveland Biolabs Dr. Hards, was the President of Pharmaceutical Development at Bridging Health-Matters, a consulting firm serving both small and large biopharmaceutical clients. Before founding the consulting firm, she was Executive Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at ARCA Biopharma with responsibility for all aspects of health authority interactions and regulatory strategy as well as management of the entire regulatory preparation process and staff. From 1996 to 2006, Dr. Hards held several regulatory and clinical development positions at Sanofi-Aventis including Vice President of Clinical Investigation Realization and Vice President of Worldwide Cardiovascular and Thrombosis Regulatory Affairs. Prior to this, she served as Associate Director of Regulatory Affairs at Somatix Therapy Corporation and as Manager of Regulatory Affairs, including US Agent for the Establishment License Application, at Pharmacia Inc. From 1990 to 1994, Dr. Hards was with the Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research Division of Warner-Lambert where she held several positions in Regulatory Affairs and Clinical Communications. Dr. Hards holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in Biophysics and Genetics from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

Chief Medical Officer

Clifford Selsky, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Selsky has been a practicing pediatrician in Central Florida for the past twenty years. He is the founder of the Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disease at Florida Hospital cancer institute, which he established after training in pediatrics at Yale New Haven hospital and completing a pediatric hematology and oncology fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Selsky is board certified in Pediatrics, Pediatric hematology and oncology and Palliative medicine. Currently, he is a pediatrician at Family First Pediatrics which he established in 2013.

Also an accomplished scientist, Dr. Selsky obtained his PH.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Miami School of Medicine. He then did DNA repair research studies at the radiobiology laboratory at Harvard School of Public Health and the biophysics laboratory at Stanford University. Dr. Selsky has numerous publications in peer reviewed journals relating to DNA repair and clinical conditions such as angiocentric lymphoma and chemotherapy related neurological disorders. As a toxicologist for Stauffer Chemical Company, he designed and implemented research on molecular dosimetry and genetic risk estimation, including DNA adduct separation and quantitation.

Over the course of his career, he has served as principal investigator for both the Pediatric Oncology Group at Florida Hospital Cancer Institute and the Children’s Oncology group at Florida Hospital overseeing more than 140 cooperative group protocols. He was department chair for Pediatrics at Florida Hospital for Children for seven years. Additionally, he has served on numerous committees including Florida Hospital Cancer Center Medical Advisory committee, Florida Hospital Ethics committee, Florida Hospital Quality Assurance committee and Florida Hospital Pharmacy and Therapeutics committee. Dr. Selsky was elected president of the Orange County Medical Society in 2016 and has received numerous awards including the Florida Hospital Medical Staff recognition Award for Excellence 2008 and being named Top Doctor, Orlando Magazine in 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2015.

Chief Technology Officer

Robert W. Buckheit, Jr., Ph.D.

Dr. Buckheit received a B.S. in Biology from Lehigh University in 1982, a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from Duke University in 1986, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1989. Since 1989, Dr. Buckheit has been intimately involved in the preclinical development of anti-infective agents with a focus on agents for use against HIV. During this period of time Dr. Buckheit has developed and managed infectious disease research programs for commercial, academic and government clients at both Southern Research Institute and TherImmune Research Corporation/Gene Logic Inc. Over the past 20 years, Dr. Buckheit has managed a variety of multi-million dollar and technically complex federal contracts, hundreds of programs with virtual and small biotechnology companies, research programs with pharmaceutical industry companies, and collaborative programs with academic investigators. Dr. Buckheit’s experience with anti-infective evaluations includes the evaluation of well over 500,000 anti-infective molecules that has resulted in over 175 publications in the peer reviewed literature.

Dr. Buckheit founded ImQuest BioSciences in 2004 and has been the scientific and executive leader of the company since it’s inception, with hand-on involvement in its day to day operations and growth. At ImQuest, Dr. Buckheit has expanded the service and research based capabilities of the company to include the development of small molecules, vaccines, and biologics as treatment and prevention agents for infectious disease (HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, herpes viruses, respiratory viruses, enteric viruses, emerging and potential bioterrorism agents, and pathogenic and drug-resistant bacteria and fungi) and cancer. Under Dr. Buckheit’s leadership, ImQuest BioSciences was named Small Company of the Year by the Maryland Biotechnology Council and the Frederick County Entrepreneur Council honored Dr. Buckheit as Entrepreneur of the Year for 2010.

Founder; Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy

Noreen M. Griffin

Senior Vice President of Strategy & Alliance

Yakov Kogan, Ph.D., MBA

Vice President of Human Resources

Julie M. Clifford, SPHR, SHRM-SCP

Vice President of Business Intelligence and Strategy

Robert Wilson

Vice President of Corporate Development

Alex Mond

Global Director of Program and Project Management

Kelly Wilson

Senior Director of Clinical Operations

Allie Lopez

Director of Business Development

Curt Dewitz

Director of Information Technology

James Mendolera

Scientific Advisor

Fengping Shan, M.D.

Founder; Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy

Noreen M. Griffin

Noreen Griffin is the founder of Immune Therapeutics, Inc., Cytocom, Inc. and a research scientist; her career has spanned multiple disciplines over the last thirty years. Ms. Griffin was a vital part of the acquisition of the patents and licenses involving Cytocom’s multiple compounds using (Metenkephalin) and the ever expanding uses of Lodonal™ (low dose naltrexone). Ms. Griffin has founded and led a number of startup companies and has been responsible for raising multiple rounds of private and venture capital funds on behalf of clients. Ms. Griffin has owned and operated a small consulting firm located in Washington, D.C. and Florida. She has also served as CEO and vice president of a number of small public companies over the last 20 years. Ms. Griffin has published significant medical research in multiple fields including autoimmune disease, immune modulation, influenza A and a number of cancers (gastric, melanoma, rectal cancer, colon cancer, stomach cancer, hepatocellular, lung, ovarian, pancreatic, breast, urinary bladder). In addition to the research, Ms. Griffin has filed and obtained patents in the fields of autoimmune, infectious diseases, cancer, viruses and inflammatory diseases. 

Senior Vice President of Strategy & Alliance

Yakov Kogan, Ph.D., MBA

Dr. Kogan is a seasoned executive with an exemplary track record of business development and fundraising. Prior to joining Cytocom, Inc. in 2021, Dr. Yakov led operations at GPI, Dr. Kogan served as a CEO and director of Cleveland BioLabs (NASDAQ: CBLI) where he had built the company up from its inception to an operation with over 50 full-time employees, while securing upward of $150 million in equity financing at highly attractive valuations. He was also responsible for securing federal and state grants totaling more than $65 million. In his tenure with CBLI, Dr. Kogan played a significant role in establishing operations, hiring senior operations staff and executing the Company’s initial public offering on NASDAQ.

Prior to CBLI, Dr. Kogan served as Director for Business Development at Integrated Genomics in Chicago, IL, where he was responsible for commercial sales and expansion of the company’s capital base. Dr. Kogan closed several complex international deals and expanded contracts with governmental research laboratories, representing more than one-third of total sales. Prior to his tenure in business development, Dr. Kogan worked as a Group Leader/Senior Scientist at Integrated Genomics and at ThermoGen, Inc. and as Research Associate at the University of Chicago, where he led the execution of several sophisticated genome sequencing projects.

Dr. Kogan holds a Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biology from VNII Genetica, as well as an M.S. degree in Biology from Moscow State University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Vice President of Human Resources

Julie M. Clifford, SPHR, SHRM-SCP

Julie has over 25 years of Human Resources experience within the pharmaceutical industry.  She spent 10 years in a Fortune 300 company and moved into the pharmaceutical industry at a small startup, Pharmavene (Shire Laboratories) in 1994. In 2000, she joined a former colleague in founding another pharmaceutical company, Advancis (MiddleBrook) Pharmaceuticals. She spent 9 1/2 years in her role as Senior Director of Corporate Administration where she oversaw Human Resources, Contract Management and IT. Julie returned to Supernus Pharmaceuticals (formerly Shire Laboratories and Pharmavene) in 2010 where she served as Executive Director of Human Resources and Corporate Administration, growing the HR and administrative functions to effectively support over 500 employees. Julie joined Cytocom, Inc. in 2021 as Vice President of Human Resources.  Julie has continued her education and certifications within the Human Resources arena, obtaining SPHR and SHRM-SCP designations. She also is a member of the Steering Committee and acts as membership coordinator for the HR BioScience Alliance (HRBA) whose members include HR professionals from over 50 Maryland area biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

Vice President of Business Intelligence and Strategy

Robert Wilson

Mr. Wilson has spent more than 25 years building and launching companies. As a business strategist, retail marketer and content developer, Robert is experienced is assessing business situations, conducting research, creating strategic plans, recommending solutions to management, monitoring competitors, and measuring the results of marketing strategies. Robert has been involved in securing more than $100 million in early round and angel funding, developing launch and pivot strategies and identifying growth opportunities for more than two dozen public companies ranging from the energy sector and electric vehicles to healthcare and life style brands.

Vice President of Corporate Development

Alex Mond

Alex is an established Investment Banker who has more than 30 years of international experience raising capital for public as well as private companies for series A and B.
Alex served as the Managing Director of Mandiri Bank in the Singapore office at Malibu Capital, Middle Eastern Fund Advisor for UOB Singapore, was a member of several nonprofit boards, including the National Health Institute of Singapore, Expat Radio, the International Hospital, The Singapore American Dance Theater, the Harvard University Medical Fund.

He has syndicated four loan structures for more than $12 billion for the chain pharmacy and Sports city in UAE. Alex served the King of Spain, Juan Carlos I for his real estate company, White Lake, which was an arm of Ryat Corporation.

Global Director of Program and Project Management

Kelly Wilson

As Cytocom’s Global Director of Program and Project Management, Kelly Wilson brings more than twenty-five years of experience in project management, systems design, data management, and information technology to the Cytocom team. She is a self-professed nerd who enjoys diving into new technologies, and then teaching others how to use them. She has held senior management and development roles with both start-ups and large corporations in the private, public, and government sectors across multiple industries including biotechnology, manufacturing, and computer software. Ms. Wilson has experience managing a number of different business departments including information technology, human resources, and training. Over the years she has successfully planned and implemented data migration projects, designed and implemented technology infrastructure systems for both data management and communication, and successfully trained users of all levels to effectively use these new systems.

Ms. Wilson graduated with honors from the University of Central Florida with an Master of Arts degree in Instructional Systems Design and prior to that received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.

Senior Director of Clinical Operations

Allie Lopez

Ms. Lopez is a Certified Clinical Research Coordinator, she started at the site level then moved into pharmaceutical, she brings more than twenty years experience in clinical research and management to the Cytocom team. She has coordinated over 100 phase I-IV studies in several different therapeutic areas including cardiovascular, endocrinology, gastroenterology, gynecology, immunology, infectious diseases & vaccines, neurology, ophthalmology, and urology.

Ms. Lopez attended the University of Washington and is a member of both the Association of Clinical Research Professionals and the ACRP Northwest Chapter.  She has been a guest speaker representing the perspective of the clinical site on multiple platforms and is currently an active task force member for ACRP. 

Director of Business Development

Curt Dewitz

Mr. Dewitz is an accomplished Business Development Executive with 25 years experience in High Level Public/Private companies, mergers and reverse mergers, B2B and B2C Sales, Venture Capital, Product Placement, Biotech, Medical Device launch. Mr. Dewitz has raised and facilitated more than $300 million in Capital, over $500 million in acquisitions and has taken and helped facilitate taking 7 companies public in the past 15 years. Mr. Dewitz has also Executive Produced, Produced, distributed and worked with several Motion Pictures and Television Shows with end distribution to Netflix, Paramount, Mission Pictures and Sony.

Director of Information Technology

James Mendolera

James has over 15 years as Director of Information Technology experience within the biotech industry and 8 years in manufacturing and logistics. He founded Web Express in 1998 and I.T.Business Management Services in 2006. James contracted and then was employed as I.T. Director for Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. in 2007. He built the I.T. Infrastructure for the public company with key focus on SOX compliance and DFARS Cybersecurity for DoD contractors. James continued working over the last 10 years in the Buffalo Medical Corridor as a contracted I.T. Director of six other biotech start-up companies. He joined Cytocom, Inc. in 2020 as I.T. Director. Directing the merging of three biotech company’s systems and bringing experienced compliance and cybersecurity to this growing company. James has continued his education and certifications within the Information Technologies, currently enrolled at Harvard University, Cybersecurity graduate program. He also is a board member of the I.T.B.M. and attends IT Conferences for CIO and I.T. Directors. 

Scientific Advisor

Fengping Shan, M.D.

Dr. Fengping Shan has a Ph.D. in microbiology/immunology. He is the professor of immunology and vice director of the Institute of Immunology, China Medical University, and Shenyang, China. Dr. Shan was the senior scientist for Penta Biotech and chief scientist for the Institute of Microbiological Science and Studies at the National Cancer Research Center in Paris, France. Dr. Shan is the author of 50 publications, 11 patents, and unique inventor for a thrombolytic enzyme from the earthworm. From 2000, he has worked with Dr. Nicholas Plotnikoff involving new therapy with MENK for the treatment of cancer. Patents were filed in 2010 and were approved in 2011.

Chief Executive Officer

Michael K. Handley

Chief Operations Officer

Taunia Markvicka, PharmD, MBA

Director

Steve Barbarick

Director

Lea Verny

Director

Randy Saluck, Esq.

Chief Executive Officer

Michael K. Handley

Mike is successful life science business professional with over 23 years of cross-functional experience in drug/device commercialization, operations, mergers/acquisitions, regulatory/clinical affairs, venture formation/financing, market development and partnering/licensing. Mike has successfully assisted or led in the global commercialization of seventeen devices or drugs that account for over three billion dollars of sales annually. He has experience successfully leading management teams in a variety of capacities in high growth organizations and has secured millions of dollars in venture capital.

Currently, Mike is serving as Chief Executive Officer & Director of Cytocom, Inc. Cytocom has a pipeline of drugs that target immune disfunction, inflammation, cancer and viruses. Cytocom uses immune modulation as a cornerstone for mitigating and correcting disease. This new approach is focused on a systems biology approach in which multiple biological pathways are targeted simultaneously with the immune system thus increasing the efficacy and decreasing toxicity.

Prior to Cytocom, Mike was the CEO and Director of Armis Biopharma (aka CHD Biosciences). Armis is a multi-product development-stage healthcare company that has created a technology platform for the prevention and treatment of topical infectious disease. In his role, Mike was responsible for day-to-day operations, executing a profitable growth strategy, obtaining global product approvals, overseeing intellectual property strategy, product commercialization, business development and financing.

Prior to his work at Armis, Mike served in senior management roles at multiple life science companies. Specifically, Mike was one of the founders and on the management team of Vessix Vascular, Inc. in Laguna Hills California from 2011 to 2012. As a result of his work at Vessix Vascular the Company was acquired for $435M by Boston Scientific. Before his time at Vessix Vascular, Mike was Global Head of Regulatory at Acclarent that was acquired by Johnson & Johnson from 2010 – 2011 and assisted in the integration of the $785M acquisition of Acclarent and their five product lines and driving the global revenue growth of the Ethicon franchise for ENT products. Prior to working with Acclarent/J&J, Mike was the Global Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Chief Compliance Officer at Spectranetics Corporation, a NASDAQ listed (SPNC) medical device company specializing in laser treatments of blocked arteries and removal of pacemaker leads from 2007 to 2010. Before his time at Spectranetics, Mike was the CEO and Vice President of Business development, Quality and Regulatory at a privately funded biosciences technology company, Accelapure Corporation, from 2005 – 2007. Mike expanded his executive skill set as a Senior Management Consultant in the healthcare field at Pittiglio Rabin Todd & McGrath (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) from 2004-2005. As a Senior Principal at PRTM, Mike assisted Genentech in the successful launch of Avastin (a multi-billion dollar bio-oncology drug) and Tarceva (a multi-million dollar cancer small molecule drug) and assisted in the successful commercial launch for these drug franchises.

Prior to his business career, Mike was a successful and active research scientist having developed multiple patents and written multiple peer reviewed publications. During part of his research career Mike worked at Amgen in their oncology group from 1999 – 2001 and was involved in the discovery and advancement of Motesanib or AMG706 (an oral, small molecule multi-kinase inhibitor that is currently in Phase III trials for lung cancer). Mike also worked at Gliatech (2006-2009), a public biotech company, in which he was instrumental the development of Cipralisant Maleate/Perceptin® (selective histamine H3 drug that is in development at Merck) that went from discovery to IND/Clinic in an industry record of 12 months.

Mike graduated cum laude from Colorado State University with Bachelor of Science degrees in Molecular Biology, Exercise Physiology and minors in Chemistry, and Neurobiology in 1995. Mike transferred to Colorado State University from University of Southern California (1989 – 1992) where he was a Presidential Scholar and Aerospace Engineering Major. Mike complemented his formal education by attending The Graziadio Business School at Pepperdine University Executive Management MBA Program 2000-2001. In Mike’s free time he is an avid triathlete, mountain biking enthusiast and burgeoning private pilot. He has been married to his wife Lisa for 23 years and has two children, Regan and Mason.

Chief Operations Officer

Taunia Markvicka, PharmD, MBA

Taunia has over 25 years of pharmaceutical experience from regulatory/clinical to new product planning and commercialization. Taunia was previously Chief Operating Officer (US) for PolyPid (PYPD) where she was integral in the successful company IPO.  Prior, she was Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Symbiomix Therapeutics, a venture funded company, sold to Lupin Pharmaceuticals. She was also CCO at Pacira Bioscience (PCRX), taking the company public and successfully launching EXPAREL®. Prior to Pacira, Taunia held commercial leadership positions with Advantage Healthcare, The Medicines Company, and Allergan (formerly Watson). She started her career as a hospital pharmacist and joined the pharmaceutical industry following the completion of a post-doctorate fellowship with Novartis (former Sandoz Pharmaceuticals). Taunia has over 25 years of pharmaceutical experience successfully acquiring companies, technologies, and commercializing products. Taunia earned her doctorate in pharmacy from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and post-doctoral fellowship with Rutgers University/Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, after completing her Bachelors, Pharmacy at Creighton and becoming a registered pharmacist. She went on to complete her master’s in business administration at St. Joseph’s University.

Director

Steve Barbarick

A seasoned retail executive he has spent the past thirty years managing all facets of business. For three years he served as President CMO/COO at Tractor Supply Company. Tractor Supply is a Fortune 400 Company and is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TSCO. During his time at Tractor Supply the business has grown from $500M to $8.3B and from just over 200 stores to nearly 1,800. While there he had direct responsibility for Store Operations, Merchandising, Marketing, E-Commerce, Transportation and Distribution.

He is currently serving as a board member and independent consultant. He sits on the board of At HOME which is a publicly traded company and serves on the audit committee. In addition, he is on the board of Manna Pro Products, LLC which is a Carlyle Group owned entity.

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Director

Lea Verny

Lea Verny has collaborated with London-based SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP on a variety of projects including private equity, corporate finance and advisory, project finance, since 2008. Prior to that, Ms. Verny served as a private banker with Banque Pictet, Switzerland. From 2001 to 2007, Ms. Verny was a Director in Corporate Finance and Advisory of HSBC Bank plc in London and served as a Head of Investment Banking with HSBC Bank in Russia. From 1997 to 2001, Ms. Verny was a representative of the HSBC Investment Bank plc in Russia. From 1995 to 1997, Ms. Verny had established and served as a Director of the Russian European Center for Economic Policy, European Commission’s TACIS Program’s funded organization that provided Economic Policy Advice to the Russian authorities by the teams of Western experts. Ms. Since December 2016, Ms. Verny has served as a director for Zoltav Resources, Inc., a Russian-focused oil and gas exploration and production company. Ms. Verny holds a Bachelor’s degree in Statistics and International Relations from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem as well as a Master in Business Administration Degree from INSEAD in France. Ms. Verny has been selected as a director nominee under the terms of a securities purchase agreement with the David Davidovich, our majority stockholder, which granted to him the right to designate a majority of the nominees standing for election to our Board of Directors, subject to the terms and conditions of the securities purchase agreement. Ms. Verny’s international banking experience makes her an important asset to our Board and audit committee.

Director

Randy Saluck, Esq.

Experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry. Skilled in Management, Financial Modeling, Portfolio Management, Due Diligence, and Investments. Strong business development professional with a Master of Business Administration – MBA focused in Accounting and Finance from The Wharton School.

Coming Soon