Engineering better medicines. Conquering drug limitations.

About Valitor

Valitor is conquering limitations of established drug targets by leveraging its multi-valent biopolymer
technology to maximize benefits for patients.

The company is engineering disruptive medicines that optimize how and where disease mechanisms are targeted to produce the most significant clinical
impact.

Valitor is initially focused on improving patient outcomes in ophthalmology and vision-threatening diseases.

Steven Lo,
Chief Executive Officer &
Member of the Board

Steven Lo is Chief Executive Officer of Valitor. He has over 25 years of experience in health care, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, including over 12 years of C-level experience in publicly traded biotech companies. Prior to Valitor, Mr. Lo was the president, Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of directors of Zosano Pharma. From 2015 to 2019, he was the Chief Commercial Officer at Puma Biotechnology where he led the worldwide commercialization and business development of the company’s first product. Previously, he was Chief Commercial Officer of Corcept Therapeutics, where he formed the commercial organization to launch the company’s first product, an endocrine specialty medication for a rare orphan disease. Earlier in his career, he spent 13 years at Genentech, the US subsidiary of Roche, in a variety of leadership roles of increasing responsibility in market access, marketing and sales, and drug development, working in numerous therapeutic areas, including oncology, endocrinology and other specialty therapeutics. Mr. Lo started his career in the pharmaceutical industry at AstraZeneca after holding positions in finance and operations at Kaiser Permanente. Mr. Lo obtained a Masters in Health Administration from the University of Southern California and a B.S. in Microbiology from U.C. Davis.

Executive Managment

Wesley Jackson, Ph.D., President,Chief Scientific Officer & Member of the Board

Wesley Jackson, Ph.D., has been actively involved in biotechnology entrepreneurship for over 12 years and served as a scientist and researcher since 2000. Dr. Jackson was part of Valitor's founding team and helped to in-license the novel protein-bioploymer conjugation technology, which now forms the basis of Valitor’s MVP platform, from U.C. Berkeley. Since launching Valitor, he has been the principal investigator on nine NIH projects to optimize the manufacturing, characterization, and formulation of multivalent protein conjugate drugs and to evaluate their performance in relevant disease models. Prior to Valitor, Dr. Jackson was a consultant for biotech startups providing expertise in establishing and implementing preclinical and clinical development plans, including feasibility studies. Prior to his industry tenure, he was a scientist and researcher affiliated with several universities, including U.C. Berkeley, and governmental agencies, such as National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. Dr. Jackson has a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the U.C. San Francisco and U.C. Berkeley, an M.S. in Bioengineering from U.C. San Francisco, and a B.S. in Bioengineering from U.C. Berkeley.

William S. (Sandy) White, R.Ph., M.B.A., Chief Development Officer

Sandy White, R.Ph., M.B.A., has over 35 years of broad pharmaceutical industry experience including general management, business development, research and development, and sales and marketing. Mr. White previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of iDrop, Inc., a company focused on the development and commercialization of novel ophthalmic pharmaceuticals. He developed the company’s two initial portfolio product candidates. Prior to that, as CEO of Icon Bioscience, Mr. White established a pipeline of eight ophthalmology products, including the FDA-approved product, Dexycu®, and executed multiple collaboration and partnership agreements. Mr. White was also the CEO of the Research Foundation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and president of Integrated Protein Technologies, a unit of Monsanto. He has held additional technical management positions, including vice president of business development and licensing, Pharmaceutical R&D for Storz Ophthalmics. Mr. White has an M.B.A. from the Virginia Commonwealth University, a B.S. in Pharmacy from the Medical College of Virginia (VCU), and a B.A. in Biology from the University of Virginia.

Board of Directors

Anthony Aiudi, Pharm.D.

Anthony Aiudi, Pharm.D., MBA, has been part of the investment team at Morningside Technology Advisory since 2020. He has experience providing operational and managerial oversight to early-stage biotechnology companies. Dr. Aiudi serves on the boards of several biotechnology companies across a broad spectrum of therapeutic areas. He has also facilitated company creation, completed multiple financings for private companies, and provided operational support for portfolio companies. In 2014, Dr. Aiudi completed a Fellowship in Clinical Research at Cubist Pharmaceuticals and Northeastern University, where he was also adjunct faculty. He later was a senior clinical research scientist at Merck & Co. From late 2015-2020, he was a Director at Stealth BioTherapeutics, where he led the clinical development for numerous rare disease programs through their global Phase 3 program and supported the company through its IPO. Dr. Aiudi received his Pharm.D. and MBA from the University of Rhode Island and an MS in Finance from Northeastern University, all with highest distinctions.

Gail Maderis

Gail Maderis is President & CEO of Antiva Biosciences, Inc., a venture-backed biopharmaceutical company pioneering topical therapies to treat cervical pre-cancers. Previously, Ms. Maderis led BayBio, Northern California’s life science industry organization. From 2003-2009, she served as President and CEO of Five Prime Therapeutics, a protein discovery company focused on immuno-oncology. Ms. Maderis held senior executive positions at Genzyme Corporation, including founder and president of Genzyme Molecular Oncology (GZMO). Ms. Maderis also practiced management and strategy consulting with Bain & Co. She serves on the corporate boards of DURECT (DRRX), Allarity Therapeutics (ALLR) and Antiva Biosciences, as well as on the non-profit boards of BIO (Emerging Company and Health Sections), CLS, The Termeer Foundation, and the University of California Berkeley Foundation Board of Trustees. She received a B.S. in business from U.C. Berkeley, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Walter Moos, Ph.D.

Walter Moos, Ph.D. is Managing Director of Pandect Bioventures, with more than three decades of experience in executive roles in pharmaceutical and biotechnology organizations. Dr. Moos has served as CEO of ShangPharma Innovation. He has also previously served as president of SRI Biosciences (Stanford Research Institute), where he worked closely with academic, industry and government partners to bring new medicines and devices closer to market. Previously, he was chairman and CEO of MitoKor (Migenix) and a vice president at Chiron (Novartis) and Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis (Pfizer). Dr. Moos has served on numerous boards and as an advisor to government, nonprofit and for-profit organizations, and he has held faculty positions at several major universities, including serving as an adjunct professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco since 1992. He has served as a consultant to industry in North America, Europe, and Asia, and has worked as an advisor or committee member for organizations including the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and Red Abbey Venture Partners. Dr. Moos has co-founded several scientific journals, co-authored and edited a number of books, and has published and patented widely. He holds an A.B. in chemistry from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in chemistry from U.C. Berkeley.

Haitao Zhu, Ph.D.

Haitao Zhu, Ph.D., is a partner at First Spark Ventures. Prior to joining First Spark, Haitao was a Partner at SVE Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm specializing in investments in early-stage biotech and med-tech companies. Before joining the venture capital world, Haitao was a group leader at Genentech, the US subsidiary of Roche, where she led drug discovery programs from inception to clinical development and evaluated many new technologies as acquisition targets. She is currently an advisor to the Spark Program in Translational Research at Stanford School of Medicine and serves on the boards of a number of startups. Throughout her career, Haitao authored numerous research papers in high profile journals, such as Nature, Cell, and Science Translational Medicine. Haitao trained as a postdoctoral fellow in Neuroscience at Stanford University and holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Stony Brook University.

Wesley Jackson, Ph.D. Steve Lo

Kevin E. Healy, Ph.D.

Kevin E. Healy, Ph.D., is the Jan Fandrianto and Selfia Halim Distinguished Professor in Engineering at the U.C. Berkeley in the Departments of Bioengineering, and Materials Science and Engineering. He received a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rochester and a M.Eng and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a thought leader and innovator working at the interface between biology and materials science to develop dynamic engineered systems to generate new technologies in translational medicine. His group currently conducts research in the areas of: bioinspired stem cell microenvironments to control stem cell lineage specification/self-organization into microtissues or organoids, bioinspired systems for regenerative medicine, biological interface, and microphysiological systems for drug development. Professor Healy is an elected fellow of AIMBE, AAAS, FBSE, BMES, and a recipient of an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Award. He is an inventor of numerous issued United States and international patents relating to biomaterials, therapeutics, stem cells, and medical devices, and has founded several companies to develop these systems for applications in biotechnology and regenerative medicine.

David Schaffer, Ph.D.

David Schaffer, Ph.D., is the Hubbard Howe Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Bioengineering, and Molecular and Cell Biology at the U.C. Berkeley, and he also serves as the executive director of QB3 and the director of the Bakar Bioenginuity Hub and Bakar Labs. He received a B.S. from Stanford University and a Ph.D. from MIT, both in chemical engineering. He then conducted a postdoctoral fellowship at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies before joining Berkeley in 1999. His group applies engineering principles to optimize gene and biologic therapies, which has led to the development of technologies that are being used in 8 human clinical trials. In addition to Valitor, he has co-founded seven other companies, including 4D Molecular Therapeutics (NASDAQ FDMT), Ignite Immunotherapies (acquired by Pfizer) and Rewrite (acquired by Intellia). Finally, Dr. Schaffer has received recognitions including the National Academy of Inventors, Andreas Acrivos Professional Progress Award, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Award, the American Chemical Society Marvin Johnson Award, and the Biomedical Engineering Society Rita Shaffer Young Investigator Award.

Founders

Our technology

Valitor’s groundbreaking technology platform is based on proprietary multivalent biopolymers that can be loaded with multiple copies of bioactive molecules. The biopolymers and bioactive molecules are interchangeable, which enables Valitor to assemble novel macromolecular entities that are engineered to overcome a multitude of specific drug design challenges for their target indications. This approach allows for independent control of multiple drug attributes, including pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic properties, improved target engagement/tissue localization, therapeutic durability, and improved safety.