Brighton-based Enterprise Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapies for respiratory disease, has appointed Dr Renu Gupta as chief medical officer and Dr Janet Hammond as a non-executive director.

Gupta is a physician-scientist with more than 20 years’ experience as a chief medical officer, most recently at Promedior, a member of the Roche Group. During a career spanning over 30 years in the biopharmaceutical industry she has held various roles within research and development, executive management, and as a board member, including at Global Bio-Pharma, Corbus Pharmaceuticals, Breath Therapeutics, Insmed, Novartis, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Hammond has more 20 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry, during which she has overseen the development and approval of several drugs. She is currently chief development officer at Atea Pharmaceuticals, a Boston-based biotech focused on the development of antiviral drugs for life-threatening infectious diseases. Before that, she was vice-president and head of infectious diseases and general medicine at AbbVie, and senior vice-president and global head of infectious diseases at Hoffmann-la Roche.

Enterprise Therapeutics’ chief executive Dr John Ford said: Renu’s successful track record in developing innovative respiratory medicines will be a great asset to the team, while Janet’s extensive experience in driving late-stage clinical development programmes will be an invaluable addition to the board. Both appointments substantially strengthen our team as we work towards delivering clinical proof of concept for our lead asset ETD001, taking us a step closer to providing an effective therapy for people with cystic fibrosis not benefitting from CFTR modulators.”

Gupta said: “Enterprise Therapeutics’ development programme shows impressive dedication and great promise for the treatment of those people with cystic fibrosis not currently served by existing therapies. I am excited to join the company, and look forward to working with John, Janet, and the rest of the team as we progress through Phase 2 trials.”

Hammond commented: “The work that Enterprise Therapeutics is doing has the potential to significantly improve the lives of patients living with respiratory diseases. I look forward to supporting the company in this goal by working alongside the management team to help drive the success of its clinical programmes.”