Melior Pharmaceuticals management team

Andrew G. Reaume, PhD, MBA
President and CEO, Co-Founder

Dr. Reaume was previously a Senior Business Analyst at Pfizer, Inc. in the department of Genomics and Proteomic Sciences. There he spearheaded an initiative to create a platform for comprehensively characterizing (phenotyping) genetically modified mice and ran the collaboration involving a third party partnership to build it. This effort involved working closely with scientists throughout the global Pfizer organization, business development professionals, information technology specialists as well as the scientists and business development professionals at the partner company.

From 1993 to 1999, Dr. Reaume worked as a research scientist at Cephalon where he was principally involved in creating animal models of neurodegenerative disease. During this time Dr. Reaume worked closely on a number of projects with Dr. Saporito, co-founder of Melior. In addition to Dr. Reaume's research activities at Cephalon, he identified and helped coordinate three in-licensing opportunities.

In 2003, he received his MBA from the Wharton School where he graduated with honors in Entrepreneurial Management. He received his PhD in genetics from the University of Connecticut in 1990.



Michael S. Saporito, PhD
Chief Science Officer, Co-Founder

Dr. Saporito has spent the last 15 years in positions of increasing responsibility in the pharmaceutical industry. From 1991 to 2002, Dr. Saporito was Scientist at Cephalon Inc. in the Departments of Neurobiology and Pharmacology. At Cephalon, Dr. Saporito was the lead pharmacologist in the discovery of CEP-1347, a neuroprotective kinase inhibitor that reached Phase III clinical trials for Parkinson's disease. While at Cephalon, Dr. Saporito and Dr. Reaume collaborated on a number of projects involving molecular and cellular mechanisms of neurodegeneration.

From 2002 to 2004, Dr. Saporito was Group Leader in Biology at Locus Pharmaceuticals, a computational drug design company. In this role he led various preclinical programs targeting oncological, inflammatory and neurological therapeutic endpoints. Dr. Saporito has extensive experience with a wide variety of animal models of diseases encompassing inflammation, metabolic disease, neurological disorders and cancer.

Dr. Saporito received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science (currently The University of Sciences of Philadelphia) and continued his postdoctoral studies at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School under the direction of Dr. Richard Heikkila.

Perry B. Molinoff, MD
Vice President of Research & Development

Dr. Molinoff is a Professor of Pharmacology and the AN Richards Professor of Pharmacology Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania.  He returned to a faculty position in the School of Medicine in July, 2007 after serving for three years as the Vice Provost for Research of the University of Pennsylvania.  

As the Vice Provost for Research, Dr. Molinoff had oversight responsibility for the University’s policies and procedures that promote research excellence across the University and for management of key elements of the research infrastructure including infrastructure relating to grants, human and animal research compliance, animal care, environmental health and radiation safety, and conflict of interest and research misconduct. Dr. Molinoff developed linkages between the University and industry and was responsible for the transfer of technologies from university laboratories to the public sector for commercial application. Additionally, Dr. Molinoff provided leadership and coordination of multidisciplinary research programs and represented Penn to local and regional constituencies as well as to federal and other funding agencies. The University of Pennsylvania’s research enterprise had over $700 million in research awards during his term.

Dr. Molinoff's background includes more than thirty years of experience in both the academic and industrial sectors. From 1981 through 1994, he was the A.N. Richards Professor of Pharmacology and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania. Research in his laboratory focused on the molecular pharmacology of receptors and signal recognition. Prior to returning to Penn in 2003, he was the Executive Vice President of Research and Development at Palatin Technologies. Reporting to the CEO, he oversaw Palatin's research and clinical operations and helped to steer the company's products through preclinical and clinical stages toward commercialization. From 1995 through 2000, Dr. Molinoff was Vice President of Neuroscience and Genitourinary Drug Discovery for the Bristol-Meyers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute. In this position, he directed and implemented the Institute's research efforts in these areas. Clinical candidates were identified for treatment of sleep disorders, schizophrenia, stroke, Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, incontinence and sexual dysfunction. 

Dr. Molinoff serves or has served on the Board of Directors of both public and private companies including Cypress Bioscience and Palatin Technologies. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Advinus Therapeutics, an Indian pharmaceutical company and is a part time consultant for Galleon Pharmaceuticals. He has served on multiple editorial advisory boards for scientific and educational journals. He authored or edited six books including 2 editions of Basic Neurochemistry, and the 9th edition of Goodman and Gilman’s The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, as well as over 230 manuscripts. Dr. Molinoff earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University and completed house officer’s training at the University of Chicago’s Hospitals and Clinics.

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