Perryman most recently was CEO and a founder of Zirus, Inc., a biotech company focused on the host genetics of infectious diseases. Prior to Zirus, he was head of the biotechnology patent group at the intellectual property firm Needle & Rosenberg as it grew to national prominence representing the NIH, CDC, NIAID and a multitude of universities and biotechnology companies.
Perryman has co-managed the strategy of several successful multi-million dollar biotech patent litigations, was a co-founder and an advisor for Georgia Venture Partners, Inc., and was a founder and a board member of Maxia, Inc., a pharmaceutical/biotech company acquired by Incyte Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: INCY).
"I am very excited to join DRIVE. We are uniquely positioned to leverage collaborations with Emory and other universities and governments to bring focus, strategy and industry experience to develop much needed novel antiviral therapeutics," says Perryman.
"Dennis Liotta and the DRIVE management team have made major contributions to the discovery and development of some of the world's most valuable antiviral drugs for HIV, HBV, and HCV. We are taking that experience and combining it with world class infrastructure at Emory to address some of the world's great unmet viral threats," he says.
"David's experience with biotechnology innovation and his legal, patent and entrepreneurial skills will be essential to the success of our innovative new enterprise", says George Painter, CEO of DRIVE.
DRIVE is a new not-for-profit company wholly owned by Emory with the independence to run like a focused biotechnology company. It will expand the capabilities of traditional academic drug research by combining the expertise of Emory and other university scientists, and their success in drug discovery, with a highly experienced development, business and management team of industry leaders.
This partnership will allow DRIVE to effectively move drugs through lead optimization and pre-clinical testing –– a stage of drug development often termed the "Valley of Death" –– and into proof-of-concept clinical trials. Technologies with added value will be out-licensed to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, partnered with foundations or government entities, or spun-out into newly formed companies financed by venture capital firms. For more information visit www.driveinnovations.org.