CARLSBAD, CA– Gordon Robert Alton, PhD joins BriOri BioTech as COO. BriOri is an emerging pre-clinical stage biotech company focused on developing a pipeline of opiate-free topical pain medications including its March 1, 2022, 20-year patent, for “Topical Compositions Containing Rofecoxib® (Vioxx®) and Methods of Making and Using the Same.” The topical reformulation of the oral medication Vioxx®, a COX-2 specific NSAID, aims to alleviate osteoarthritis related pain of the knee and joints which affects over 32 million people in the U.S. alone without opioids or adverse side effects like GI bleeds, strokes, and cardiovascular events due to the systemic exposure associated with oral NSAID dosing.
“I am pleased that Dr. Alton has joined our team at BriOri BioTech,” says Bruce Register, PhD, Founder and CEO of BriOri BioTech. “His proven experience to successfully drive pre-clinical R&D programs into early development will add to the success of the topical Vioxx® program. With the global market for topical pain relief treatments projected to grow to $12.2 billion by 2027 we look forward to aligning with strong investment partners as we seek to raise $12 million to bring a safer and more effective solution to the market to meet this large unmet need.”
As a pharmacologist and biochemist, Dr. Alton brings over two decades of expertise to BriOri in R&D management, non-clinical research, IND and early development, drug discovery, business development, operations, and corporate executive management. Previously responsible for the early-stage development of Revlimid®, Inlyta® and Xalkori®, and as the former COO / CEO of Agragene, Dr. Alton created the overarching commercialization plan for three product lines while directing Regulatory, R&D, HR, IP, and corporate operations. He led the fund-raising and investor outreach to successfully close Seed and Series A equity rounds and established a state-of-the-art CRISPR genome engineering platform, creation of commercialization plans, marketing, product development, field trials and Regulatory approvals. Dr. Alton was also the former CEO of Visionary Pharmaceuticals, a startup targeting nuclear receptor and kinase drug discovery for topical and oral routes of administration. He developed first-in-class IND candidates for autoimmune and cancer indications and successfully obtained private funding and non-dilutive grant funding. He has extensive experience directing and designing studies to determine oral and topical drug efficacy relationships to drug exposure, mechanism of action, biomarkers, IND enabling and early clinical development.
BriOri BioTech’s Vioxx® product formulation is poised to outperform other available NSAID topicals currently on the market with better human skin penetration and superior pain efficacy to oral dosing at both 8 hours and 24 hours.
“I am thrilled to join Dr. Register and his team,” says Gordon Alton. “They have decades of direct experience with Rofecoxib (Vioxx®), the strongest analgesic ever approved by the FDA and with the longest half-life compared to other NSAIDS. BriOri BioTech’s state-of-the-art formulation capabilities will provide a platform of strong, nonaddictive pain relief to those who need it most.”
