Soligenix, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing products to treat serious inflammatory diseases where there remains an unmet medical need, as well as developing several biodefense vaccines and therapeutics, has appointed Richard Straube, M.D., as its senior vice president and chief medical officer.

Straube is a board-certified pediatrician with clinical research experience in host-response modulation. He has worked for 35 years in both academia and industry, most notably with Centocor, Ohmeda Pharmaceuticals, INO Therapeutics and Stealth Peptides. Straube will lead Soligenix's clinical research with primary responsibility for the execution and completion of its multiple clinical programs, including its phase II study in oral mucositis and its phase II/III study in pediatric Crohn's disease.

While with Centocor, Straube was responsible for the initial anti-cytokine and anti-endotoxin programs targeted at ameliorating inappropriate host responses to infectious and immunologic challenges. Programs that he has managed include assessments of immunomodulation using monoclonal removal of inciting molecular triggers, removal of internal immune-messengers, augmentation of normal host defenses and maintenance of normal sub-cellular function in the face of injury. He also was the founding chief medical officer for INO Therapeutics and was responsible for the clinical trials and subsequent approval of inhaled nitric oxide for the treatment of persistent pulmonary hypertension in the newborn.