COMPANY OVERVIEW
Lumos Pharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to develop new therapies for people with rare diseases, prioritizing its focus where the medical need is high, and the pathophysiology is clear. We are committed to this mission and a strategy that is grounded upon time and cost-efficient drug development to deliver safe and effective therapies to patients.
Lumos Pharma’s clinical development program will initially focus on its lead product candidate LUM-201, an oral growth hormone stimulating therapeutic in clinical development for the treatment of Pediatric Growth Hormone Deficiency (PGHD). If approved by the FDA, LUM-201 would provide an alternative to the injections that current PGHD patients endure for many years of treatment.
As a key component of our mission, Lumos Pharma is actively seeking strategic partnerships to expand its portfolio of rare disease therapeutic candidates. We leverage our experience, knowledge, and stakeholder collaborations to identify and acquire or in-license novel products for development and commercialization. Driven by a sense of commitment to patients, their families, and the broader community impacted by rare diseases, we seek to be a leading provider of innovative medications that address a multitude of rare diseases.
SCIENCE
We are a skilled, management and investor team, with long-standing scientific and drug development experiences ranging from endocrinology to neurology to inborn errors of metabolism.
We are passionately driven to harness innovative science to benefit the patients and caregivers we work with every day. Our science-driven organization searches out the best and most cutting-edge technologies and collaborators to help advance our projects – no matter where in the world they are advancing medical research.
PATIENTS
Patient-focused drug development for rare diseases is the foundational focal point at Lumos Pharma. Rare disease patients and their caretakers inspire Lumos Pharma to learn as much as it can to persevere and continue to advance the development of potential therapies. For this reason, Lumos Pharma is committed to developing these therapies with the utmost urgency and care for these patients. We hold these patients in the highest regard and value their knowledge and experiences and respect our collective partnerships. Each and every day, we remain passionately committed to understanding patient and caregiver needs and how to best address them.
MANAGEMENT
Lumos Pharma is led by an experienced management team with longstanding experience in the development and commercialization of therapies in the rare disease space. Our collective team experience ranges from developing novel therapeutics in-house to successful multi-party collaborations with academia and government scientists to advance innovative therapeutics to rare disease patients.
Rick Hawkins
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman
Rick Hawkins is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Lumos Pharma. Previously, Mr. Hawkins founded Pharmaco and as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, he managed the growth of that organization to over 700 employees.…
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John C. McKew, PHD
President and Chief Scientific Officer
John McKew is President and Chief Scientific Officer of Lumos Pharma. Dr. McKew has twenty-seven years of experience developing novel therapeutics where he successfully advanced therapies through preclinical and into clinical development. Prior to Lumos…
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Pisit “Duke” Pitukcheewanont, MD, FAAP
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Pisit "Duke" Pitukcheewanont is Lumos Pharma's Chief Medical Officer. A seasoned pediatric endocrinologist with over 25 years of combined clinical expertise and research contributions in the field, he currently serves as Adjunct Professor of…
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Lori Lawley, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
Lori Lawley is Chief Financial Officer of Lumos Pharma. She brings over ten years of experience and accounting expertise in overseeing financial operations, including over five years of public company senior management experience in biotechnology.…
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Brad Powers, JD
Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel
Brad Powers is the Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel of Lumos Pharma. Prior to the merger with Lumos Pharma, he served as General Counsel at NewLink Genetics where he was directly responsible for all…
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Aaron Schuchart, MBA
Chief Business Officer
Aaron Schuchart is Chief Business Officer of Lumos Pharma. Mr. Schuchart has over twenty years of experience in key leadership roles for both large multinationals and small biotech companies, including Amgen, Novartis Diagnostics/Grifols, and Coherus…
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Alpa Parikh, MS in Pharmaceutical Sciences
Senior Vice President, CMC & Supply Management
Alpa Parikh is Senior Vice President, CMC & Supply Management at Lumos Pharma. Ms. Parikh has over 30 years of experience in branded drug pharmaceutical development, from preclinical through commercialization of a new molecule. In…
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Chris Bemben, MBA, PMP
Vice President, Business Development
Chris Bemben is Vice President, Business Development of Lumos Pharma. He brings 15 years of business and scientific experience developing novel therapeutics from discovery to late-stage clinical development. As a member of the senior management…
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Michael O. Thorner, MB, BS, DSc, FRCP, MACP
Vice President, Endocrine Sciences
Michael Thorner is Vice President, Endocrine Sciences of Lumos Pharma. Dr. Thorner most recently was Chair of the Department of Medicine and preceding that was Chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism and Director…
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Aleksandra K. Bruchey, PhD
Vice President, Clinical Operations
Dr. Bruchey is an academically trained neuroscientist with over 25 years of expertise in development of biopharmaceuticals and devices in the areas of neurology, metabolic diseases, psychiatry, rare diseases, and endocrinology among others, with leadership…
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Roy Smith, PhD
Scientific Advisor, Endocrine
Dr. Roy Smith is Scientific Advisor, Endocrine Science of Lumos Pharma. He has more than fifty years of academic and industrial research experience focused on drug discovery with over 300 peer-reviewed publications and issued patents.…
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Dave Schrader
Vice President, Quality and Compliance
Dave Schrader is the Vice President, Quality and Compliance of Lumos Pharma. He brings twenty years of experience holding various quality and compliance roles throughout his career in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to the merger…
READ MOREBOARD OF DIRECTORS
Rick Hawkins
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman
Rick Hawkins is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Lumos Pharma. Previously, Mr. Hawkins founded Pharmaco and as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, he managed the growth of that organization to over 700 employees.…
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Thomas A. Raffin
Board Member
Thomas A. Raffin, M.D., has served as a member of the Board since 1999 and has been the Board’s Lead Independent Director since October 2010. Dr. Raffin has spent 30 years on the faculty at…
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Kevin Lalande
Santé Ventures
Kevin Lalande, MBA, is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Santé Ventures, a healthcare and life science venture capital firm founded in 2006 which currently manages over $500 million across three funds with 30+ portfolio…
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Chad A. Johnson
Board Member
Chad A. Johnson, JD, has served as a member of NewLink Genetics’ Board (now Lumos Pharma) since March 2018. Mr. Johnson is currently Senior Counsel at BASF. From May 2017 to October 2022, Mr. Johnson…
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Lota S. Zoth
Board Member
Lota S. Zoth, CPA, has served as a member of NewLink Genetics’ Board (now Lumos Pharma) and Chair of our Audit Committee since November 2012. Ms. Zoth currently also serves on the Board of Directors…
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Joe McCracken
Board Member
Dr. McCracken has more than twenty-five years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. Until his retirement in 2013, he had a successful career in the industry where he held top managerial positions in…
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An van Es-Johansson
Board Member
Dr. An van Es-Johansson, M.D. has served as a member of our Board since February 2021. Dr. van Es-Johansson currently serves as a senior advisor for start up companies. Dr. van Es-Johansson was previously the…
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Mark Bach
Dr. Bach is a pediatric endocrinologist with 30 years of clinical research and pharmaceutical development experience, including extensive global experience building and leading clinical teams that have successfully launched innovative pharmaceutical products into global markets.…
READ MOREPeter Clayton
Dr. Clayton has been a Professor of Child Health and Paediatric Endocrinology at the University of Manchester since 2001. He has authored 200 publications on the clinical and basic science aspects of pediatric endocrinology and…
READ MOREReiko Horikawa
Dr. Horikawa, a pediatric endocrinologist, is the Director of the Endocrinology and Metabolism Division of the Japanese National Center for Child Health and Development (NCCHD) and has been with the NCCHD since 2002. She is…
READ MORERon Rosenfeld
Dr. Rosenfeld serves as Professor and Chair (emeritus) of Pediatrics, Oregon Health & Science University in addition to his role as President of STAT5, LLC. The author of over 600 publications and eight-edited books, Rosenfeld…
READ MOREGeorge Werther
Professor George Werther, a pediatric endocrinologist, is Director of the Centre for Hormone Research at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Director of Endocrinology at the Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) in Melbourne. Werther has been involved…
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