Immune Pharmaceuticals appoints two new executive VPs

Immune Pharmaceutical, Inc. expanded its leadership team last week with the addition of two new hires.

Headquartered in both Israel and New York, the company develops targeted therapeutics for the treatment of inflammatory diseases and cancer.

Dr. Miri Ben-Ami has been named the president of Immune Pharmaceuticals Limited, a privately held Israel-based subsidiary of the company, and executive vice president of oncology. She will oversee operations in Israel, such as its clinical trials, and be responsible for the global development and partnering of Immune's oncology products.

Dr. Monica Luchi has been named executive vice president of global drug development and the company's chief medical officer. She will be in charge of global research and development strategy and operations.

Ben-Ami has over a decade of experience in drug development and was previously the CEO of Aposense, Ltd, an Israeli biotechnology company featuring cancer-fighting products. Luchi is a certified rheumatologist who has served in immunology and inflammation roles at numerous companies including Mesoblast and Novartis.

"I am very pleased that two senior industry executives, Miri Ben-Ami M.D. and Monica E. Luchi M.D., will be joining the leadership team of Immune as we accelerate the global clinical development of bertilimumab," Immune CEO Daniel Teper said. "We recently announced the U.S. FDA acceptance of our IND for a Phase 2 clinical trial in bullous pemphigoid and the first patient enrolled in Israel in our Phase 2 clinical trial in ulcerative colitis. Both Miri and Monica have a proven track record in clinical development and executive management at large pharma and public bio-tech companies."