A St. Louis startup focused on developing vaccines to prevent bacterial infections has expanded its C-suite with two key appointments.
The leadership additions come as the startup has also rebranded, switching its name from VaxNewMo to Omniose. The startup said Tuesday it has hired Timothy Cooke as its CEO and appointed Roman Fleck as chairman. The two new executives are both based in Boston.
Cooke joins Omniose after having most recently been senior vice president of commercial business at Alachua, Florida-based Ology Bioservices, according to his LinkedIn profile. He previously held executive roles at several vaccine-focused companies, including NovaDigm Therapeutics Inc., AVANT Immunotherapeutics Inc. and Mojave Therapeutics. Additionally, he is the biotechnology industry representative to the U.S. National Vaccine Advisory Committee and observer to the World Health Organization Technical Advisory Group on Vaccines and Antimicrobial Resistance. Omniose’s new chairman, Fleck, has worked in venture capital and at drug development companies.
Founded in 2017, Omniose has developed a technology platform it is using to develop vaccines for Group B Streptococcus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Its research operations are based at the BioGenerator Labs in the BioSTL Building in the Cortex innovation district. Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Christian Harding, who had been the company’s CEO prior to Cooke’s appointment, leads Omniose’s research efforts.
Cooke said he was introduced to Harding about three-and-half years ago and has helped mentor Omniose over the years before deciding to join it as an employee.
“I was helping (Christian) figure out where he should focus the efforts in the vaccine field,” Cooke said.
Since its founding, Omniose has secured $4.6 million in federal grants to advance its vaccine development initiatives. It has received assistance from BioGenerator’s Grants-2-Business program, which helps St. Louis entrepreneurs and startups through the application process of federal grants. BioGenerator, the investment arm of local innovation hub BioSTL, has also provided direct investment and non-dilutive grants to Omniose.
In his new role as CEO, Cooke said he wants to help Omniose move toward launching a human clinical trial for one of its vaccine targets. He said the company hopes to soon raise Series A funding to help it reach that goal.
Omniose has a research team of four employees based in St. Louis, Cooke said.
