Adaptive Phage Therapeutics Appoints Michele Wales, Ph.D., J.D., as Chief Legal Officer

GAITHERSBURG, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Adaptive Phage Therapeutics, Inc. (“APT”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to providing therapies to treat infectious diseases, today announced that it has appointed Michele Wales, Ph.D., J.D., as Chief Legal Officer. Dr. Wales joins APT with extensive experience in litigation and intellectual property law, specifically within the life sciences industry.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Michele to the Adaptive Phage Therapeutics team. Michele’s experience in intellectual property and patent law will be invaluable to APT as we continue to progress the development of our PhageBank™ therapies for the treatment of infectious diseases where standard-of-care antibiotics have failed,” said Greg Merril, APT’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Dr. Wales joins Adaptive Phage Therapeutics after serving as the Principal and Founder of InHouse Patent Counsel, LLC where she provided patent and intellectual property counsel for biotechnology companies. Prior to InHouse Patent Counsel, Dr. Wales spent 14 years at Human Genome Sciences where she served as the head of Litigation and Intellectual Property, managing all aspects of the company’s IP portfolio, litigations, and investigations. Dr. Wales received her BS in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Connecticut, her Ph.D. in Human Genetics and Molecular Biology from The Johns Hopkins Medical School, and her J.D. from the George Washington National Law Center.

“I am honored to join Adaptive Phage Therapeutics at such an exciting time for the company and have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of patients treated with PhageBank™ therapies,” said Michele Wales, Ph.D., J.D. “I look forward to working alongside the world-class executive team at APT as we continue to disrupt the infectious disease treatment paradigm.”

Adaptive Phage Therapeutics, Inc.

Adaptive Phage Therapeutics (APT) is a clinical-stage company advancing therapies to treat multi-drug resistant infections. Prior antimicrobial therapeutic approaches have been "fixed,” while pathogens continue to evolve resistance to each of those therapeutics, causing those drug products to become rapidly less effective in commercial use as antimicrobial resistance (AMR) increases over time.

APT’s PhageBank™ approach leverages an ever-expanding library of bacteriophage (phage) that collectively provide evergreen broad spectrum and polymicrobial coverage. PhageBank™ phages are matched through a proprietary phage susceptibility assay that APT has teamed with Mayo Clinic Laboratories to commercialize on a global scale.

APT’s technology was originally developed by the biodefense program of U.S. Department of Defense. APT acquired the world-wide exclusive commercial rights in 2017. Under FDA emergency Investigational New Drug allowance, APT has provided investigational PhageBank™ therapy to treat more than 40 critically ill patients in which standard-of-care antibiotics had failed.

For more information, visit http://www.aphage.com.