Skip to main content

Who Are We?

Vault Pharma’s multi-IND technology platform uses the human vault particle to deliver peptide payloads for unique immune signaling.  We exploit the natural function of the human vault particle which is an immunological signal alert progenitor.  Natural vault function is most notably characterized by vault particles being rapidly and robustly ingested by antigen present’ing cells, APCs, specifically macrophages and dendritic cells.  APCs demonstrate an extraordinary and unusually high affinity to engulf vaults.  This favorable and natural property of vaults sets in motion an elegant and robust immune response that is non-inflammatory and results in many propitious effects including stimulation of extraordinarily high levels of antigen specific CD4 and CD8 T cells.

Management Team

PRESIDENT

Larry A. Couture, Ph.D.

Dr. Couture’s recognized expertise–established over nearly three decades of work with experimental biologics, heavily focused on cell and gene therapies–includes organizational management, regulatory affairs, business development, process development, GMP manufacturing and clinical development. Dr. Couture was a key participant in numerous first-in-man clinical studies, including the first human gene therapy trials, the first direct administration to humans of a genetically engineered virus, and many other cell and gene therapy firsts. Prior to joining Vault Pharma, Dr. Couture was the Founding Director and Senior Vice President of the Center for Applied Technology (CAT) at City of Hope where he established and oversaw the offices of IND Development and Regulatory Affairs, Quality Systems, Technology Licensing and COH’s two precedent setting GMP biologics manufacturing facilities, the Center for Biomedicine and Genetics and the Cell Therapy Production Center. Dr. Couture directed the successful production of over 300 lots of clinical grade viral vectors, vaccines, plasmid DNA, monoclonal antibodies, bacterial products and hematopoietic cell-based therapeutics and pluripotent stem cell derived cell products including: cardiomyocytes, retinal pigment epithelia, neural stem and progenitor cells and dopaminergic neurons. Lentivirus vectors produced at the CAT have been used by over a half dozen groups in clinical trials across the country, including those resulting in the first reported successful clinical outcomes in leukemia with CAR-T immunotherapeutics. At COH, Dr. Couture oversaw a combined staff of approximately 60 scientists and technical staff. He oversaw nearly 50 active INDs and was a member of the FDA’s Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee, as well as several FDA working groups. In addition to currently leading two biotechnology companies and consulting with or participating on the advisory boards of a number of additional biotechnology companies, he has been an ad hoc analyst for venture capital firms and has mentored many start-up companies in the Southern California area. He previously founded and/or served as Director or CEO of several biotechnology companies including Orbsen Therapeutics, Cell City, Genbasix, Aliva Biopharmaceuticals, and eMTA Commons, Inc., and held senior scientist and management positions at Genzyme Corporation and Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Oliver K. Foellmer, M.B.A.

Mr. Foellmer has over 20 years experience in biotechnology and managing research and development. Most recently Mr. Foellmer served as President & CEO of Capricor Inc., a cardiac regenerative medicine company. Mr. Foellmer successfully moved the company from Johns Hopkins University to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and established operations culminating in a successful initiation of Phase I clinical safety studies. Previously, Mr. Foellmer directed business development at AmCyte Inc. an adult stem cell company focused on regenerated islets for the treatment of diabetes. In 2007 publicly traded ReNeuron Group PLC successfully acquired AmCyte. Mr. Foellmer directed an HIV clinical trial project management group at Consolidated Laboratory Services Inc., and submitted HIV laboratory data pivotal to the approval of two new medications in the HIV field. Prior to this, Mr. Foellmer worked in business development at Genaissance Pharmaceuticals. He joined the founders of Genaissance in development and fundraising efforts that included two rounds of VC financing, preceding a successful IPO in August of 1999. Mr. Foellmer is former founder and chairman of SentiaTech Inc., a California start-up, which was established to develop computer speech-science technology as a joint venture with USC and DARPA. Mr. Foellmer received his BS in Chemistry from Yale University and his MBA from the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business.

CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER

Leonard H. Rome, Ph.D.

Leonard Rome Ph.D. is a cell biologist and biochemist who has been a faculty member of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA since he joined the Department of Biological Chemistry in 1979. He became a full professor in 1988 and has served as the Senior Associate Dean for Research in the School of Medicine from 1997 to 2012. He is the Associate Director of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) since 2004, and was Interim Director from 2007-2009. In addition, he served from 2001 to 2005 as Associate Vice Chancellor for Research for the Life and Health Sciences. While Senior Associate Dean for Research, he organized strategic planning for research in the School and spearheaded campus-wide efforts in genomics, proteomics, and computational biology. He is the past chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Group on Research Advancement and Development (GRAND). He has received a number of honors for his research including a March of Dimes, Basil O’Connor grant, and an American Cancer Society Faculty Research Award. Dr. Rome earned his B.S. in Chemistry and M.S. and Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health, where he worked on lysosome biogenesis. His laboratory research at UCLA centers on a novel cellular organelle called a “vault” which he and a former postdoc, Dr. Nancy Kedersha, discovered in 1986. Professor Rome leads a team of interdisciplinary scientists affiliated with UCLA who are working with the vault technology platform to optimize and deliver on the promise of a variety of applications from cancer immunotherapy and vaccines to drug delivery.

CHIEF RESEARCH OFFICER

Valerie A. Kickhoefer, Ph.D.

Dr. Kickhoefer is a Research Biochemist at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She has been studying vault ribonucleoprotein particles for the past 25 years. She has an intimate knowledge of all the molecular components of the particle (MVP, VPARP, TEP1, and vRNAs), including expression of the major structural component, MVP in insect cells and purification of the particles. For the past 13 years Dr. Kickhoefer has been optimizing the vault particle for use as a nanodelivery vehicle and will continue studies aimed at expanding the vault portfolio for targeting and delivery of immune modulators, vaccines, and drugs. She received her BS in Microbiology from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans.

HEAD OF IMMUNE THERAPEUTICS DEVELOPMENT

Otto O. Yang, M.D., Sc.B.

As a physician-scientist, the focus of Dr. Yang’s research has been translational basic immunology in the pathogenesis of HIV-1 infection.  Specifically, he has studied HIV-1-specific CD8+ T lymphocytes (CTLs) and their interactions with virus-infected cells, being among the first to study this interaction in detail directly.  This approach has provided insights into mechanisms of how CTLs exert antiviral activity, and how HIV-1 evades immune pressure through sequence evolution and Nef.  In parallel, Dr. Yang has explored virus-host interactions in vivo through human studies of antiviral immunity and viral evolution, and examined these interactions in the mucosal immune system of the gut. Yang’s ongoing research goals are applying immunologic and virologic insights to: understanding the bi-directional interactions of HIV-1 and the immune system, and developing vaccine and immunotherapeutic approaches that take CTL failure mechanisms and in vivo pathogenesis into account.  Dr. Yang has extensive experience and  interest in vaccine development, and has ongoing work in his laboratory in the area of vaults as vaccine vectors.

 Scientific Advisory Board

 James J. Mule, Ph.D.

Director for Translational Science, the Michael McGillicuddy Endowed Chair for Melanoma Research and Treatment, and Director of Cell-based Therapies at the Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida

Dr. Mulé is recognized for his research and clinical trial contributions to cancer immunotherapy, particularly in solid tumors. His clinical research group is involved in developing and validating genomic signatures of immunotherapy response, as well as vaccine strategies and other approaches (e.g., with adoptive T cells; chemokines) to recognize and destroy tumors. Dr. Mulé serves on Advisory Boards of numerous biotechnology companies and publicly held companies. He remains a long-standing special government employee to the FDA (CBER), and served as Chair of the Cellular, Tissue, and Gene Therapy Advisory Committee of CBER, FDA. He currently serves on the advisory boards of several NCI- designated Cancer Centers and was a member of the NCI Director’s Board of Scientific Counselors (BSC-A). Dr. Mulé also serves on the Editorial Boards of several peer- reviewed journals, including Scientific Reports (nature.com), Journal of Immunotherapy, and Cancer Immunology Research (AACR). He has published nearly 200 articles in the areas of cancer vaccines and adoptive immunotherapy, and is a continuously funded investigator for nearly 25 years. Dr. Mulé received a special individual Ph.D. (IPh.D.) degree in Tumor Immunology from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. He then received his formal post-graduate training at the Surgery Branch, Division of Cancer Treatment, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, where he became a Senior Investigator with tenure.

Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor, Departments of Medicine, Surgery, Molecular and Medical Pharmacology UCLA.

Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD is a Professor of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology), Professor of Surgery, and Professor of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at UCLA. He is the Director of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Tumor Immunology Program, Vice-President of the Society for Melanoma Research and the Chair of the Melanoma Committee at Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG). Dr. Ribas is a committee member of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant review panels and an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation. In addition to being a physician with expertise in malignant melanoma, Dr. Ribas runs an active research laboratory and has published over 200 manuscripts in prestigious journals such as Nature, New England Journal of Medecine, and PNAS. He is an active researcher in the areas of adoptive cell therapy, immune checkpoint blockade, high resolution tumor imaging, and nanoparticle delivery. Dr. Ribas is recognized as a leader and expert in the field of cancer immunotherapy and has served as principal investigator for the anti-PD1 drug pembrolizumab (Merck). He has advised numerous biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies including Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Pfizer and Roche. Dr. Ribas trained at the University of Barcelona, Spain, with postdoctoral research and clinical fellowship at UCLA.

Paul Wender, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Chemistry, Chemical and Systems Biology, Stanford University

Dr. Paul A. Wender is the Bergstrom professor of Chemistry at Stanford University. Dr. Wender is a world-renowned organic chemist with expertise in chemical synthesis, organometallic chemistry, chemical biology and drug delivery modalities. Dr. Wender is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has authored over 220 articles covering a wide range of research interests, including organic synthesis, catalysis, computer modeling, rational drug design, the mode of action of novel chemotherapeutic agents, and drug delivery. Professor Wender, co-founded Progen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (formerly, Cellgate) in 1998 and serves as its Chief Scientific Advisor. Professor Wender serves as a consultant to various pharmaceutical companies and is a Co-Founder of Quantitative Chemical Biology Program at Stanford University. Professor Wender also serves as a Director of Progen Pharmaceuticals and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board at Cytokinetics, Incorporated. Professor Wender received his B.S. degree from Wilkes College, a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Yale University and completed a NIH postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University.

Leonard H. Rome, Ph.D.

Leonard Rome Ph.D. is a cell biologist and biochemist who has been a faculty member of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA since he joined the Department of Biological Chemistry in 1979. He became a full professor in 1988 and has served as the Senior Associate Dean for Research in the School of Medicine from 1997 to 2012. He is the Associate Director of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) since 2004, and was Interim Director from 2007-2009. In addition, he served from 2001 to 2005 as Associate Vice Chancellor for Research for the Life and Health Sciences. While Senior Associate Dean for Research, he organized strategic planning for research in the School and spearheaded campus-wide efforts in genomics, proteomics, and computational biology. He is the past chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Group on Research Advancement and Development (GRAND). He has received a number of honors for his research including a March of Dimes, Basil O’Connor grant, and an American Cancer Society Faculty Research Award. Dr. Rome earned his B.S. in Chemistry and M.S. and Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health, where he worked on lysosome biogenesis. His laboratory research at UCLA centers on a novel cellular organelle called a “vault” which he and a former postdoc, Dr. Nancy Kedersha, discovered in 1986. Professor Rome leads a team of interdisciplinary scientists affiliated with UCLA who are working with the vault technology platform to optimize and deliver on the promise of a variety of applications from cancer immunotherapy and vaccines to drug delivery.

 Board of Directors

CHAIRMAN

Jack Kavanaugh, M.D., D.D.S., M.B.A.

Dr. Kavanaugh’s background as a physician and a business executive has led to the development of an unusual skill set. That, coupled with a talent for discerning what’s truly innovative and an ability to accurately gauge the commercial potential of a given research project, start-up or company, has resulted in an impressive array of business accomplishments.

He has developed and managed companies at every stage – from inception to successful sale – creating industry-leading products and investor profits. Although his work spans a number of industries, he has focused on the health and science technology sector, capitalizing on his background in medicine and business to lead mergers, acquisitions, turnarounds, and corporate strategic development and initiatives. Dr. Kavanaugh is especially proud that the companies he has led have made a significant positive impact on society and the welfare of people everywhere.

Dr. Kavanaugh holds D.D.S., M.B.A. and B.A. degrees from UCLA, and an M.D. from U.S.C. He completed his residency in ophthalmology at UCLA’s Jules Stein Institute, where he later taught surgery as a part-time visiting professor. Besides his chairmanship at Vault Pharma, Kavanaugh is also Chairman of Orbsen Therapeutics as well as chairman and co-founder of Nanotech Energy – which is moving the world’s leading edge research on graphene supercapacitors from the laboratory to the marketplace: Novonco Therapeutics, a company developing three first-in-class highly targeted platforms with potent anti-cancer properties; and SuperMetalix, Inc., which is developing a cost-efficient product that is more than twice as hard as carbide.

Among Dr. Kavanaugh’s business accomplishments: As CEO and Chairman of ZetaRx Biosciences, Inc, he successfully combined the intellectual property from three globally-recognized health care and research institutions, assembled a highly respected management team, and lead the development of the FDA clinical trial strategy. In late 2013, ZetaRx was sold, becoming the core of Juno Therapeutics, which went on to have the largest biotech IPO of 2014, attaining a market cap of approximately $6 billion. Recently, Juno reported 91% clinical trial complete remission of terminal cancer patients treated with their immunotherapy.

Prior to that, he served as Chairman of Calhoun, a biotech firm that developed the world’s only light adjustable intraocular lens for cataract surgery. Its industry-leading product has already completed FDA Stage III clinical trials. In 1996, Dr. Kavanaugh founded Amerident, a health care service provider, serving as Chairman and CEO. Under his tenure, the company organically grew its employee-ranks to over 600 by 1999, when it was sold to a public company. Amerident received over 30 community service awards and a state congressional medal of honor for its work with infants. As founder, Chairman and CEO of Team Global, Dr. Kavanaugh was responsible for taking the company public, helping guide and create value as the public share price rose from an initial investor cost of 11 cents per share to approximately $27 per share. He was until recently a member of the board of Materia, a company that holds more than 300 patents and is instrumental in the production of over 100 pharmaceutical products.

VICE CHAIRMAN

Larry A. Couture, Ph.D.

Dr. Couture’s recognized expertise–established over nearly three decades of work with experimental biologics, heavily focused on cell and gene therapies–includes organizational management, regulatory affairs, business development, process development, GMP manufacturing and clinical development. Dr. Couture was a key participant in numerous first-in-man clinical studies, including the first human gene therapy trials, the first direct administration to humans of a genetically engineered virus, and many other cell and gene therapy firsts. Prior to joining Vault Pharma, Dr. Couture was the Founding Director and Senior Vice President of the Center for Applied Technology (CAT) at City of Hope where he established and oversaw the offices of IND Development and Regulatory Affairs, Quality Systems, Technology Licensing and COH’s two precedent setting GMP biologics manufacturing facilities, the Center for Biomedicine and Genetics and the Cell Therapy Production Center. Dr. Couture directed the successful production of over 300 lots of clinical grade viral vectors, vaccines, plasmid DNA, monoclonal antibodies, bacterial products and hematopoietic cell-based therapeutics and pluripotent stem cell derived cell products including: cardiomyocytes, retinal pigment epithelia, neural stem and progenitor cells and dopaminergic neurons. Lentivirus vectors produced at the CAT have been used by over a half dozen groups in clinical trials across the country, including those resulting in the first reported successful clinical outcomes in leukemia with CAR-T immunotherapeutics. At COH, Dr. Couture oversaw a combined staff of approximately 60 scientists and technical staff. He oversaw nearly 50 active INDs and was a member of the FDA’s Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee, as well as several FDA working groups. In addition to currently leading two biotechnology companies and consulting with or participating on the advisory boards of a number of additional biotechnology companies, he has been an ad hoc analyst for venture capital firms and has mentored many start-up companies in the Southern California area. He previously founded and/or served as Director or CEO of several biotechnology companies including Orbsen Therapeutics, Cell City, Genbasix, Aliva Biopharmaceuticals, and eMTA Commons, Inc., and held senior scientist and management positions at Genzyme Corporation and Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals.

DIRECTOR

Leonard H. Rome

Leonard Rome Ph.D. is a cell biologist and biochemist who has been a faculty member of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA since he joined the Department of Biological Chemistry in 1979. He became a full professor in 1988 and has served as the Senior Associate Dean for Research in the School of Medicine from 1997 to 2012. He is the Associate Director of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) since 2004, and was Interim Director from 2007-2009. In addition, he served from 2001 to 2005 as Associate Vice Chancellor for Research for the Life and Health Sciences. While Senior Associate Dean for Research, he organized strategic planning for research in the School and spearheaded campus-wide efforts in genomics, proteomics, and computational biology. He is the past chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Group on Research Advancement and Development (GRAND). He has received a number of honors for his research including a March of Dimes, Basil O’Connor grant, and an American Cancer Society Faculty Research Award. Dr. Rome earned his B.S. in Chemistry and M.S. and Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health, where he worked on lysosome biogenesis. His laboratory research at UCLA centers on a novel cellular organelle called a “vault” which he and a former postdoc, Dr. Nancy Kedersha, discovered in 1986. Professor Rome leads a team of interdisciplinary scientists affiliated with UCLA who are working with the vault technology platform to optimize and deliver on the promise of a variety of applications from cancer immunotherapy and vaccines to drug delivery.

DIRECTOR

Oliver K. Foellmer, M.B.A.

Mr. Foellmer has over 20 years experience in biotechnology and managing research and development. Most recently Mr. Foellmer served as President & CEO of Capricor Inc., a cardiac regenerative medicine company. Mr. Foellmer successfully moved the company from Johns Hopkins University to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and established operations culminating in a successful initiation of Phase I clinical safety studies. Previously, Mr. Foellmer directed business development at AmCyte Inc. an adult stem cell company focused on regenerated islets for the treatment of diabetes. In 2007 publicly traded ReNeuron Group PLC successfully acquired AmCyte. Mr. Foellmer directed an HIV clinical trial project management group at Consolidated Laboratory Services Inc., and submitted HIV laboratory data pivotal to the approval of two new medications in the HIV field. Prior to this, Mr. Foellmer worked in business development at Genaissance Pharmaceuticals. He joined the founders of Genaissance in development and fundraising efforts that included two rounds of VC financing, preceding a successful IPO in August of 1999. Mr. Foellmer is former founder and chairman of SentiaTech Inc., a California start-up, which was established to develop computer speech-science technology as a joint venture with USC and DARPA. Mr. Foellmer received his BS in Chemistry from Yale University and his MBA from the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business.

INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR

Todd N. Smith

Todd has 20+ years of pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology general management experience and a long track record of building companies and achieving commercial and business development excellence. He currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of NOVUM Pharma where he’s built a unique business model to increase value for under promoted and/or mature products. Prior to NOVUM, Todd served as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Horizon Pharma where he was instrumental in building and executing the commercial model and Business Development strategy that increased Horizon’s market cap from $200M to $5B. Todd has led and/or participated in 25+ product launches including several billion dollar brands and product portfolios, and has built high-performing commercial teams at top companies including Bayer, Abbott, Horizon Pharma, Agouron and Fenwal Inc.  Todd is a graduate of Norwich University.

INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR

Otakar Rezek

Otakar Rezek is a PepsiCo Beverages General Manager for Eastern Europe including the Russian Federation. He previously was the General Manager, Russia Beverages for PepsiCo, as well as serving as VP Marketing Food & Beverages Eastern Europe. Since joining PepsiCo in 1998, he worked in various commercial roles across several regions. Mr. Rezek served as VP Marketing PBG Russia in 2008 and as VP Marketing & Sales Pepsi Americas Central Europe. Mr. Rezek has extensive experience in marketing having directed Marketing, Colas Latin America, and Food & Beverages Marketing, Germany. He has broad experience in leading the corporate commercial agenda and operational roles in both developing and developed markets with proven a track record of delivering sustainable top-line and profit growth. Mr. Rezek has consistently demonstrated an ability to learn fast and adapt to new cultures and environments and to build high performing multifunctional teams as well as highly motivated organizations. Mr. Rezek is a graduate of Prague University of Economics and graduated from PepsiCo leadership programs in IMD Lausanne and Wharton School in Philadelphia.

INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR

Robert Snukal

Robert Snukal, the chief executive officer of National Quality Care, Inc., has used his expertise to develop prototypes and launch initial products in a number of industries. His work with Dr. Kavanaugh dates back to 2009 when he joined ZetaRx Biosciences, Inc. as Board member. There, he was integrally involved in its sale to create Juno Therapeutics.

In 1985, Mr. Snukal founded Fountain View, Inc., (now Skilled Healthcare) where he served as CEO. Under his management, Fountain View grew to operate 50 skilled nursing facilities, three institutional pharmacies and two therapy companies. In 2001, Mr. Snukal left active management, although he remained a member of the board and major stockholder until 2005, when the company was sold.  Mr. Snukal founded ITASCA Pictures in 1993 where he served as chairman.

SECRETARY

Alan C. Mendelson

Alan Mendelson has been a partner at Lantham and Walkins Silicon Valley office since May 2000 and is the Co-chair of the firm’s Life Sciences Industry Group. He is the former Co-chair of Latham’s Emerging Companies Practice Group. Mr. Mendelson was recently appointed to the California Healthcare Institute (CHI) Board of Directors. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of The Scripps Research Institute, the Board of Trustees of the UC Berkeley Foundation and the Board of Advisors for the UC Berkeley Department of Chemistry. Mr. Mendelson is a member of the Inaugural Steering Committee for the Silicon Valley Project at The Stanford Program on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. From 2005 to 2011, Mr. Mendelson served on the Board of Directors of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and is currently a member of the BayBio Board of Directors. He serves as the corporate secretary for Vault Pharma Inc. and many public and private companies.

Close Menu