Oreola Donini, PhD

Oreola Donini has more than 20 years of experience in drug discovery and preclinical development with start-up biotechnology companies and has been instrumental in leading early stage development of several novel therapies into the clinic. Dr. Donini has worked previously with ESSA Pharma Inc., Inimex Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Kinetek Pharmaceuticals Inc., developing novel therapies for infectious disease, cancer and cancer supportive care. Dr. Donini is a co-inventor and leader of the SGX94 innate defense regulator technology, developed by Inimex Pharmaceuticals and subsequently acquired by Soligenix. She was responsible for overseeing the manufacturing and preclinical testing of SGX94, which demonstrated efficacy in combating bacterial infections and mitigating the effects of tissue damage due to trauma, infection, radiation and/or chemotherapy treatment. These preclinical studies culminated in a successful Phase 1 clinical study and clearance of Phase 2 protocols for oral mucositis in head and neck cancer and acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections. While with ESSA Pharma as the Vice President of Research and Development, Dr. Donini led the preclinical testing of a novel N-terminal domain inhibitor of the androgen receptor for the treatment of prostate cancer. Prior to joining Inimex, she worked with Kinetek Pharmaceuticals in the discovery of novel kinase and phosphatase inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. Dr. Donini received her PhD from Queen’s University in Kinston, Ontario, Canada and completed her post-doctoral work at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research has spanned drug discovery, preclinical development, manufacturing and clinical development in infectious disease, cancer and cancer supportive care.