Ophirex Appoints Jeremy Gowler as Chief Executive Officer

— Gowler Brings More than 20 Years of Biopharmaceutical Industry Leadership to Ophirex, Strengthening Its Late-Stage Development and Growth Strategy —


Corte Madera, Calif., July 15, 2024 — Ophirex, Inc., a registered Public Benefit Corporation developing an oral field treatment to address the global unmet medical needs of snakebite victims, today announced the appointment of Jeremy Gowler as chief executive officer. Mr. Gowler also joins the Ophirex Board of Directors.

Mr. Gowler replaces Nancy J. Koch, who is retiring after serving as CEO for nearly six years. Ms. Koch will remain with the company as a non-voting member of the Board of Directors and a member of the Global Access Committee.

“Jeremy is an accomplished industry executive with decades of experience ushering biopharmaceutical companies through significant periods of early- to late-stage growth. We are thrilled to welcome him to the Ophirex team and we are eager to benefit from his strategic vision as we continue to advance our therapeutic candidate, varespladib, as a potentially transformative snakebite treatment for use in the field,” said Tim Garnett, MBBS, FRCOG, FFPM, chairman of Ophirex’s board of directors. “Nancy has served as an exceptional leader at Ophirex over the last several years. In addition to driving the company’s corporate and clinical progress, she led the establishment of Ophirex as a Public Benefit Corporation — reinforcing our mission to deliver a novel oral treatment for snakebite envenoming that is affordable and accessible to people around the world. We thank Nancy for her dedication to this work and wish her all the best in her retirement.”

“I’m very excited to join this passionate and driven team of healthcare innovators working to fundamentally change the way snakebite envenoming is treated. The majority of venomous snakebites that occur disproportionately impact remote and underserved regions of the world where timely access to antivenom — the current standard of care — presents significant challenges to patient outcomes. Varespladib has the potential to address this gap in treatment as a broad-spectrum oral therapy that may be used at the time of bite before a patient reaches a healthcare facility,” said Mr. Gowler. “I look forward to building on Nancy and the team’s strong foundation as we progress varespladib through late-stage clinical development and evaluate strategic opportunities to enable global access, especially among communities that are most in need of novel treatment for snakebites.”

Prior to Ophirex, Mr. Gowler served as chief operating officer and chief commercial officer, as well as interim CEO of Invivyd, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company developing therapies to address evolving viral threats. In addition, he previously served as the global commercial head of the biopharma business unit of Sandoz. Working at companies of all sizes and phases of development over the course of his career, Mr. Gowler has also held senior-level positions at global biopharmaceutical companies Emergent BioSolutions and Novartis. He holds a B.Sc. from the University of Victoria in biology and environmental studies and a diploma from the British Columbia Institute of Technology in marketing.

About Ophirex

Ophirex is a Public Benefit Corporation developing a first-of-its-kind oral treatment to address the global unmet need of venomous snakebites. Worldwide, there are approximately 500,000 cases of snakebite envenoming resulting in death or permanent disability each year. While antivenom has been the standard of care to treat these bites for more than 100 years, it can only be administered in a hospital setting. This poses a significant challenge as 75% of deaths from venomous snakebites occur before the victim can reach appropriately equipped medical care. Ophirex is advancing its investigational treatment, varespladib, as an easily portable, oral, broad-spectrum treatment for snakebite. Ideally taken immediately following a snake’s bite, it is intended to provide a bridge to survival between bite and arrival to the hospital. If successful, this early intervention is anticipated to result in improved overall outcomes for patients at risk of death and long-term disability from snakebite. The company previously completed a Phase 2 clinical study of the varespladib oral formulation and is currently enrolling patients in a Phase 2 study to evaluate IV-to-oral dosing.

For more information, visit www.ophirex.com.

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