About IpiNovyx Bio

Laura Crawford is a pharmacologist, board-certified toxicologist, and regulatory affairs professional, bringing 10 years of drug development experience to Orange Grove Bio. She has expertise in identifying novel drug candidates and moving them strategically into development programs. As Senior Director of Drug Development at Orange Grove Bio she oversees programs from discovery and IND candidate selection through IND submission and early clinical development. Prior to joining Orange Grove Bio, Laura worked at Athenex, where she led the nonclinical development efforts for 5 clinical products, primarily in oncology. More recently, Laura worked as an Associate Principal Consultant at SciLucent, providing advisement on nonclinical development strategy and study execution, and as Senior Director of Drug Development at Nirogy Therapeutics.
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Laura has contributed to numerous investigational new drug applications (INDs) and new drug applications (NDAs) and was a key contributor to the development of Klisyri® (tirbanibulin) from early preclinical development through FDA/EMA approval.
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Laura holds a B.S. in Biology from Canisius College and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Therapeutics from SUNY Buffalo. She is a certified Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology (DABT) and maintains Regulatory Affairs Certification (RAC).

Hua Liao, Ph.D. oversees preclinical biology and biochemistry as well as biologics drug discovery at Orange Grove Bio. He has over 20 years of experience in drug discovery research in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry with strong expertise and broad knowledge in the areas of preclinical biology, biochemistry and biophysics, biomarker discovery, DMPK, and biotherapeutics. He has worked on numerous drug discovery projects in the areas of oncology and immunology, including both small molecule and protein therapeutics projects, and has contributed to the discovery and development of serval marketed therapeutics. Dr. Liao earned his Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from The Ohio State University and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School.

William H. Miller, Ph.D. is VP & Head of Medicinal Chemistry at Orange Grove Bio. He is an accomplished “drug hunter” with over 30 years of experience in preclinical drug discovery research in the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Miller has a strong background in medicinal and synthetic organic chemistry, with an established track record for successfully advancing initial hits to viable development candidates, and for identifying creative solutions to complex drug discovery challenges. His experience spans multiple therapeutic areas, including antibacterials, cardiovascular, dermatology, inflammation, neuroscience, oncology, ophthalmology, osteoporosis, and supportive care, as well as multiple target classes, including enzymes (such as bacterial enzymes, epigenetic enzymes, kinases, prolyl hydroxylase, sirtuins, thrombin), receptors, and ion channels. He has contributed to the identification of 18 development candidates, is an inventor on over 70 issued US patents, and is an author on over 40 journal publications. At OGB, Dr. Miller leads our medicinal chemistry efforts, participates in technical diligence reviews of new licensing opportunities, engages directly in management decision-making, and serves as an executive and advisor for OGB portfolio companies. Dr. Miller earned a BS in chemistry at the University of Connecticut, a Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry at Yale University, and worked as an NIH postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University.

Chris Ryan is the Vice President of CMC at Orange Grove Bio. He has over a decade of experience managing internal and external teams developing, testing, and manufacturing cosmetics, drugs, and medical devices. He has worked on developing, manufacturing, and testing drug substances and products for parenteral, respiratory, mucosal, ocular, and oral administration. Dr. Ryan’s experience includes manufacturing cosmetics, small molecule drugs, biologics, and medical devices for indications in wound healing, oral care, transfusion medicine, respiratory disease, immunology, infectious disease, oncology, and gastrointestinal disease. His experience in medical device manufacturing includes product development, commercial manufacturing, and distribution. While his primary responsibilities have been leading manufacturing and quality control, Dr. Ryan has also served as project manager, head of quality assurance, regulatory lead, head of operations, and other supporting roles. He has authored CMC sections for pre-INDs, INDs, and IMPDs. In addition, he has written, submitted, and led correspondence with the FDA of multiple 510ks for medical device clearance. Dr. Ryan has a background in host-pathogen interaction, molecular biology, and biochemistry, focusing on polysaccharide chemistry and RNA biology. He obtained a BS in Biochemistry from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Buffalo.

Greg Licholai is a Senior Clinical Advisor for Orange Grove Bio. He teaches at Yale School of Management and is Co-Director of the Center for Digital Health. Greg is Chief Medical and Information Officer at PRA Health Sciences, a leading pharmaceutical service, healthcare data and contract research provider. Previously, he was President of rare disease at Moderna Therapeutics; President and Chief Medical Officer at Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals and was partner at McKinsey & Co. where he ran the healthcare data service line. He was also a senior executive at Proteostasis, Amicus Therapeutics and Medtronic Neurological as well as venture investor for Domain Associates. He was co-founder of Immunome Therapeutics. Greg has degrees from Harvard Business School, Yale School of Medicine, Columbia University and Boston College. He trained at the Brigham and Women’s, Children’s, and Massachusetts General Hospitals. He serves on multiple company and non-profit boards including advisor to the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI), a public private partnership co-founded by Duke University and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He writes about innovation in healthcare for Forbes.