Inspired Drug Delivery

Mr. Fuisz serves as our Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Fuisz has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for eighteen years. He named inventor on over forty-five issues US patents, including the largest patent estate related to wet-cast films. Mr. Fuisz co-founded the world’s largest wet-cast thin film company and served as its Senior Vice President for Business Development. Subsequently, Mr. Fuisz co-founded a company acquired by a leading global consumer products company based on Fuisz-patented extruded sheet technology. Mr. Fuisz also served as CEO of a vaginal drug delivery company acquired by a global pharmaceutical company. Joseph Fuisz has a BA from Yale University and a JD from the Columbia University School of Law. He is a member of the bar in the State of New York and the District of Columbia, and a Slovene American.

Dr. Hariharan serves as both our Chief Operating Officer and Chief Scientific Officer. He is a pharmaceutical industry executive with diverse work experience in product development, regulatory filing, technical operations and commercial launch of Rx, generic and OTC pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. He has worked in the area of complex drug delivery systems for the majority of his 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry, serving in a variety of technical leadership positions at specialty pharma companies as well as ethical and generic pharma companies. His expertise is in the area of pre-formulation, formulation, technical operations, regulatory filings and strategy for soluble films, implants and other complex dosage forms. He is the author of several scientific publications and is an inventor on a number of patents in the area of drug delivery. Madhu Hariharan has a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics.

Kurt Lauenstein is our Chief Medical Officer. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the Vermont Medical School and completed his residency at Cone Hospital in Greensboro. Dr. Lauenstein is an expert in the area of neurotransmitters and receptors in the brain and the intersection of statistical analysis and clinical practice. As a clinician, Dr. Lauenstein experience on the front lines of the opiate epidemic in his clinical practice has made him a keen proponent of mental health and community needs for emotional well-being as an adjunct to pharmacological intervention. Dr. Lauenstein also serves on the oversight committee of the Better Evidence Project, based at George Mason University, which is developing a library cataloguing peacebuilding efforts of organizations around the world.

Dr. Sayed was a longtime faculty member in the chemistry and biochemistry department, a student mentor and the former director of the General College, now known as University College of the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Dr. Yousry Sayed is the founder and CEO of Quality Chemical Laboratories (QCL), one of the leading pharmaceutical CDMOs in the US. QCL is a partner and lead investor in NTFP.

Richard Fuisz M.D. has been a principal architect of two novel dosage forms: orally disintegrating tablets, and orally soluble films. He founded and served as CEO of two public healthcare companies, both acquired. He is an inventor on over 130+ issued United States patents, principally relating to drug delivery but also to diverse fields including electronic mail, computer databases, cipher systems, and others. Dr. Fuisz’s inventions include the largest patent estate relating to wet-cast films. Dr. Fuisz is a graduate of Georgetown College and Georgetown Medical School, and a Slovene American.

Dr Pauletti is currently the Gustavus and Henry Pfeiffer Endowed Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Administrative Sciences at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy. Dr Pauletti has dedicated his academic research career to improve safety and therapeutic efficacy of drug interventions in patients by applying innovative drug delivery technologies.

Dr. Bilbault has 35+ years of experience in pharmaceutical development and technical operations including manufacturing and global supply chain. He has held numerous senior level CMC positions at Novartis, Pfizer, Galderma, Cynapsus and Sunovion. He is a recognized expert in the area of soluble thin film having been involved in the development of numerous consumer and prescription oral and sublingual film products at Pfizer, Novartis and Cynapsus /Sunovion. He advises NTFP on technical development matters as well as corporate and regulatory strategy. Dr. Bilbault is a native of France and resides in Florida.

Dr Finn has 35 years of experience in pharmaceutical and clinical development experience. He has served in a variety of senior scientific roles at Glaxo, Solvay, Pozen, BDSI and AviorBio. He has numerous publications and patents in the area of clinical research and drug delivery.

Dr Kodgule is a pharmacist and medicinal chemist by training. He has over 25 years of experience with leading pharmaceutical companies such as Wockhardt, Glenmark, Ranbaxy in leadership roles in the areas of Chemical research, Formulation development, Intellectual Property, Corporate Strategy, Alliance Management, Merger & Acquisition, Business Development and Budget planning. He also founded IQGenX, a pharmaceutical CRO in Mumbai, India. Dr. Kodgule advises NTFP on API matters, generics development strategy as well as IP and litigation matters.

Dr. Gardner has spent more than 35 years in academia, medicine and industry. She has served on the board of directors of several public and private companies, including Revance Therapeutics, Inc. since 2006, Corium International, Inc. from November 2007 to December 2018, and CohBar, Inc. from February 2019 to present. Dr. Gardner has also served as an advisor to Change Health Care, Inc. from April 2019 to present. From June 1999 to July 2014, she served in various capacities including as an Adjunct Partner at Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, a growth equity firm that focuses on the healthcare industry (and a predecessor firm to EW Healthcare Partners, a holder of MiMedx Series B Preferred Stock). Additionally, Dr. Gardner has been a member of the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows since April 2013 and is a scientific reviewer for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.
She began her academic medical career at Stanford University, where she has held several positions including Senior Associate Dean for Education and Student Affairs and remains today as Professor of Medicine. From 1994 to 1998, she took a leave of absence from Stanford University to serve as Principal Scientist, Vice President of Research and Head of ALZA Technology Institute, a major drug delivery company. Dr. Gardner earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Illinois and a Doctor of Medicine degree from Harvard Medical School. She trained in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by Chief Residency at Stanford University Hospital and post-doctoral fellowships at Columbia University and University College London.

Rick has over three decades of medical-industry experience in general management, venture capital investing and technology and business development in both public and private companies. He has served in a variety of C-Level capacities, including President & CEO, Chairman and Director of several private life-science companies. Previously, he spent five years as a group director at Senmed Medical Ventures, a private medical venture capital and business development firm. D’Augustine spent 16 years with Johnson & Johnson and was a founding board member of Cincinnati-based Ethicon Endo-Surgery, initially serving as vice president of administration and CFO, and subsequently as vice president of business development. He was a founding board member of Enable Medical Corp., a private, high-technology medical device company, as well as Atricure Inc., an Enable spinoff focused on surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation, which is now a public company. Currently, Rick is an independent consultant focused on early stage companies and technologies, and serves as a director for Enable Injections, Inc. and Ischemia Care Diagnostics, LLC. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA in finance from Seton Hall University.