About Us

OUR STORY

Acasti is a diversified specialty pharma company with unique drug delivery capabilities and technologies to address rare and orphan diseases where there are currently significant unmet medical needs.  The Company’s proprietary formulations and drug delivery technologies are designed to improve clinical outcomes, enhance efficacy, provide faster onset of action, reduce side effects, provide more convenient delivery, and increase patient compliance. 

Acasti is initially targeting three underserved orphan diseases - Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (SAH), Ataxia Telangiectasia (A-T), and Postherpetic Neuralgia (PHN) – all with sizable patient populations and significant market opportunity. 

Acasti’s lead assets have been granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) status, with potential for 7-year US and 10-year EU market exclusivity.  The Company’s development strategy focuses on reformulating and repurposing already approved and marketed compounds for which the safety and clinical efficacy is already well understood. This strategy allows the Company to pursue the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway for its three lead drug candidates, and could eliminate the need to conduct certain preclinical and clinical studies, resulting in the potential for a lower-risk, lower-cost and faster pathway to drug development and commercialization.

 

The Company has a strong and growing IP portfolio with more than 40 granted and pending patents worldwide provide exclusivity beyond 2036.

Management

Prashant Kohli

Prashant Kohli
Chief Executive Officer

Prashant Kohli has over 20 years of commercialization experience leading strategy, sales, marketing, and product management. Most recently, Mr. Kohli was VP, Commercial Operations of Grace Therapeutics, prior to its acquisition by Acasti in August 2021. He has expertise crafting go-to-market plans for products with unique value proposition that address critical unmet needs. He has built, deployed, and led sales and marketing from the ground-up with significant experience in organization design, recruiting, performance management, incentive compensation, and P&L accountability. He has successfully implemented evidence-based, consultative-selling model that is rooted in deep understanding of the health ecosystem including patients, providers, health systems, government, and payers. He has also designed strategic marketing plans that generate leads and increase share-of-voice, augmenting the salesforce with digital tactics that increase reach and frequency. He has extensive commercial experience with specialty and small molecule drugs including in rare and orphan diseases. Prashant has worked at Archi-Tech Systems, Cardinal Health, IMS Health, Rosenbluth, and Dun & Bradstreet. He has a BA in Computer Science and Math, and an MBA from The Wharton School.

Brian D. Ford, CPA-CA

Brian D. Ford, CPA-CA
Interim Chief Financial Officer

Brian D. Ford brings over three decades of financial, project management and M&A experience within the healthcare and financial industries. Mr. Ford is an accomplished CPA-CA having served both publicly traded as well as privately owned organizations. Mr. Ford has been responsible for developing business recovery strategies, negotiating M&A transactions, as well as managing quarterly and yearly accounting reports. Most recently, Mr. Ford served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Business Advisor at  a private group of Ontario based medical clinics, including the largest chronic pain management practice in Canada. During his position as CFO and Senior Business Advisor, Mr. Ford significantly improved the Company’s performance and was instrumental in preparing the Company for its Initial Public Offering. Prior to that, Mr. Ford served as Chief Financial Officer at Telesta Therapeutics. At Telesta Therapeutics, Mr. Ford helped develop a new business plan and was heavily involved in all capital transactions. Previously, Mr. Ford started his own consulting firm, Petersford Consulting, where he provided clients with finance and business risk services. Mr. Ford began his career at Ernst & Young, working his way to Principal, Business Risk Services, developing essential business plans that evaluated revenue and cost profiles supporting budget planning and understanding drivers of growth, specifically with healthcare companies. Additionally, at Ernst & Young, Mr. Ford participated in and often led teams in due diligence assignments in relation to mergers and acquisitions or the sale of a business, having extensive experience in developing financial forecasts, product and market valuation, and audits of critical accounting and processes. Mr. Ford holds a B.A. in Economics, History, and English from the University of Guelph and has a Graduate Diploma in Accounting from the University of McGill. Mr. Ford is a member of the Ontario Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Dr. R. Loch Macdonald, MD, PhD

Dr. R. Loch Macdonald, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer

Dr. R. Loch Macdonald is a scientist, researcher and neurosurgeon and a recognized expert on brain hemorrhage, including subarachnoid hemorrhage and delayed cerebral ischemia. For the past 25 years, his research interest has focused on improving patient outcome after brain hemorrhage, with a specific focus on developing a cure for cerebral vasospasm and DCI. Dr. Macdonald was the former Head, Division of Neurosurgery, St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto and Chief Scientific Officer of Edge Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Macdonald has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles and authored multiple textbooks, including one of the definitive textbooks on cerebral vasospasm. His publications have been cited thousands of times and he has spoken at many national and international conferences on the topic of subarachnoid hemorrhage, cerebral vasospasm and delayed cerebral ischemia. Prior to St. Michael’s Hospital, he was Professor of Surgery and Radiation & Cellular Oncology at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Dr. Macdonald completed medical school at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and completed his Ph.D. in Experimental Surgery at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He completed his Neurosurgery residency at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is currently a neurosurgeon, medical director of neurovascular surgery and of research at Community Neurosciences Institute, Community Health Partners in Fresno, California.

Carrie D'Andrea

Carrie D'Andrea
VP Clinical Operations

Carrie D'Andrea is a clinical operations executive with over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. Carrie began her career as a Clinical Research Associate and was the Vice President of Clinical Operations for several small companies, including Edge Therapeutics and Erydel. Carrie is a hands-on leader with extensive experience in clinical strategic planning, global clinical trial management and quality oversight. She received her master's degree in Pharmaceutical Quality and Regulatory Affairs from Temple University and was also named a Healthcare Businesswomen's Associate Rising Star in 2009. Carrie also teaches Clinical Trial Design and Operations at Rutgers University in the Master of Business and Science program.

Amresh Kumar, PhD

Amresh Kumar, PhD
VP Program Management

Amresh has over 20 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience leading drug development, CMC, and program management activities supporting the investigational and marketed products for rare diseases and neurology. Prior to joining Acasti, he held the position of Senior director of program management with Foresee Pharma, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company. He previously served as program leader at Grace Therapeutics, Senior Manager R&D at Sun Pharmaceuticals and various product development positions at Revogenex Inc, Colorcon and Alembic Limited. Amresh received a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Science from Sunrise University, India, focusing on complex injectable drug delivery systems of highly insoluble oncology drugs. He has published many research articles and has more than 10 granted patents and many patent applications worldwide to his credit.

Board of Directors

Vimal Kavuru, RPh

Chair of the Board

Mr. Kavuru has created and led several pharmaceutical companies. Mr. Kavuru brings, in his vision and management, a broad-based understanding of the global pharmaceutical industry with expertise in strategic planning, product and business development, and operations. In addition to serving as the Chairman of the Grace board of directors, Mr. Kavuru is the founder, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rising Pharma Holdings, Inc., a U.S. generic pharmaceutical company, and Acetris Pharma Holdings, LLC, a generic pharmaceutical company serving U.S. government agencies. Previously, Mr. Kavuru founded Citron Pharma & Lucid Pharma, which were sold to Aceto Corporation in 2016, Casper Pharma LLC, an emerging specialty brand pharmaceutical company, and Gen-Source RX, a national distributor of generic pharmaceuticals that was acquired by Cardinal in 2014. In 2007, Mr. Kavuru also co-founded Celon Labs, a specialty oncology and critical care pharmaceutical company acquired by Zanzibar Pharma, a portfolio company of CDC Group. He is a registered pharmacist in the state of New York, holds a B.S. in Pharmacy from HKE College of Pharmacy, Bulgarga, India, and attended Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York with specialization in industrial pharmacy.

Donald Olds

Director

Mr. Olds is President and Chief Executive Officer of the NEOMED Institute, an R&D organization dedicated to advancing Canadian research discoveries to commercial success. Prior to NEOMED, he was the Chief Operating Officer of Telesta Therapeutics Inc., a TSX-listed biotechnology company. In 2016, he led the successful sale of Telesta to a larger public biotechnology company. Prior to Telesta, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Presagia Corp., and Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Aegera Therapeutics. At both Telesta and Aegera, Mr. Olds was responsible for raising more than $100 million in equity financing and leading regional and global licensing transactions with life sciences companies.

Mr. Olds is currently Lead Director of Goodfood Market Corp (TSX:FOOD), Chairman of Oxfam Quebec and Director of Presagia Corp. He has extensive past corporate governance experience serving on the boards of private and public for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. He holds an MBA (Finance & Strategy) and M.Sc. (Renewable Resources) from McGill University.

Michael L. Derby

Director

Mr. Derby brings more than two decades of experience and a proven track record within the biopharmaceutical industry, with particular expertise in strategic drug repurposing. Having founded or co-founded seven biopharmaceutical companies, he most recently launched TardiMed Sciences LLC, a company creation and investment firm in the life sciences. TardiMed has formed, capitalized and advanced multiple biopharmaceutical companies through development, including Timber Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: TMBR), PaxMedica, Inc. and Visiox Pharma LLC. Mr. Derby has served as Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors for all of these companies. Prior to TardiMed, Mr. Derby co-founded Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals, which he built into a multi-product, late clinical stage company focused on treating rare and debilitating dermatologic conditions. He also founded Norphan Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of drugs for orphan neurologic disease, which he led through its early stages prior to selling the company to Marathon Pharmaceuticals in 2013. Prior to founding and managing life sciences companies, Mr. Derby was a private equity investor and venture capitalist, and also worked in management roles at Merck & Co. and Forest Laboratories. Mr. Derby holds an M.B.A. from New York University’s Stern School of Business, an M.S. from the University of Rochester, and a B.S. from Johns Hopkins University.

Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Andrew Ducruet, MD

Barrow Neuroscience

Andrew Ducruet, MD, is an endovascular neurosurgeon at Barrow Neurological Institute at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. He is board certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery.

Dr. Ducruet’s practice is focused on the use of minimally invasive endovascular techniques to treat patients with vascular disease of the brain and spinal cord. He is an active member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, and the Society of Neurointerventional Surgery.

Dr. Ducruet attended Princeton University and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in chemistry. He received his medical degree from Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons in New York City and also completed his residency in neurosurgery at Columbia University Medical Center. He then completed a two-year postgraduate fellowship in endovascular neurosurgery at Barrow. Dr. Ducruet practiced for three years as an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh before returning to Barrow in 2016, where he has continued his highly-specialized practice of neuroendovascular surgery.  He currently serves as the surgical director of the BNI Intensive Care Unit, and the Associate Program Director for the Neuroendovascular Surgery fellowship at the BNI.

Dr. Ducruet’s research focuses on ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. His laboratory performs basic and translational research using experimental models of cerebral ischemia, with the ultimate goal of developing novel therapeutic strategies for patients with stroke. Dr. Ducruet also performs clinical research and has served as a principal investigator of multiple clinical trials investigating new strategies for stroke treatment.

Dr. R. Loch Macdonald, MD, PhD

Community Health Partners

Dr. R. Loch Macdonald is a scientist, researcher and neurosurgeon and a recognized expert on brain hemorrhage, including subarachnoid hemorrhage and delayed cerebral ischemia. For the past 25 years, his research interest has focused on improving patient outcome after brain hemorrhage, with a specific focus on developing a cure for cerebral vasospasm and DCI. Dr. Macdonald was the former Head, Division of Neurosurgery, St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto and Chief Scientific Officer of Edge Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Macdonald has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles and authored multiple textbooks, including one of the definitive textbooks on cerebral vasospasm. His publications have been cited thousands of times and he has spoken at many national and international conferences on the topic of subarachnoid hemorrhage, cerebral vasospasm and delayed cerebral ischemia. Prior to St. Michael’s Hospital, he was Professor of Surgery and Radiation & Cellular Oncology at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Dr. Macdonald completed medical school at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and completed his Ph.D. in Experimental Surgery at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He completed his Neurosurgery residency at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is currently a neurosurgeon, medical director of neurovascular surgery and of research at Community Neurosciences Institute, Community Health Partners in Fresno, California.

Dr. Alex Choi, MD

Memorial Hermann Hospital

Dr. Alex Choi is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery at UTHealth Houston/ McGovern Medical School. He is Director of Neurocritical Care at Memorial Hermann Hospital. The neurocritical care program at Memorial Hermann is one of largest and busiest in the country with 77 dedicated neurocritical care beds across 3 hospitals in the city of Houston.

Dr. Choi attended Cornell University, Ithaca, NY and graduated with a degree in Neurobiology. He received his medical degree from Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons in New York City and completed his residency in neurology at Columbia University Medical Center at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He then completed a three-year neurocritical care fellowship in Columbia University Medical Center where he was on a T32 training grant to study cardiopulmonary consequences of SAH.

Dr. Choi’s primary research focus has been the study of pathophysiological processes after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and the development of interventional treatments to improve patient lives after this devastating disease. To that end, he has conducted several clinical trials to examine the potential for therapeutic interventions after SAH. Most of his research is in the realm of clinical translational research. He focuses on using translational and bioinformatics tools to study the clinical pathophysiologic processes seen at the bedside.

W. Taylor Kimberly, MD PhD is Chief of the Division of Neurocritical Care, and a stroke and critical care neurologist in the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Clinically, he primarily cares for patients in the Neuroscience ICU as part of an integrated and multi-disciplinary team, coordinating care with Neurosurgery and Neuroendovascular specialists. He sees Neuro ICU patients in follow-up in outpatient clinic as part of the NeuroRecovery clinical team. He serves on several hospital-based and national committees that focus on clinical guideline development and care improvement.

Dr. Kimberly's research group is located in the Center for Genomic Medicine (Kimberly Lab), and studies metabolomic and neuroimaging biomarkers of subarachnoid hemorrhage, stroke and cerebral edema. The goal of his research is to identify novel pathways and candidate therapeutic targets for the treatment of acute brain injury. Dr. Kimberly has co-led multi-site, randomized, placebo-controlled trials in the prevention of brain edema, and currently co-leads an international phase 3 trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of intravenous glibenclamide for the prevention of brain edema after large hemispheric stroke.

Dr. Alejandro A. Rabinstein is Professor of Neurology at Mayo Clinic and a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN). Hs is also boarded in Vascular Neurology and Neurocritical Care. He currently serves as Chair of the Division of Neurocritical Care and Hospital Neurology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology (FAAN), the American Neurological Association (FANA), the American Heart Association (FAHA) and the Neurocritical Care Society (FNCS). He has authored over 700 papers, 12 books and multiple chapters on various topics related to Neurocritical Care and Stroke. He is currently Associate Editor of the journals JAMA Open and Neurocritical Care, Assistant Editor of Stroke, and section editor for UpToDate.

Dr. Sherry H-Y Chou, MD MSc. is Chief of Neurocritical Care Division in the Department of Neurology and Associate Professor of Neurology (Neurocritical Care) at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and Medical Director of the Neuro/Spine ICU at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Dr. Chou is a fellow of the Neurocritical Care Society (FNCS) and a fellow of critical care medicine (FCCM), and serves on the board of directors for the Neurocritical Care Society (NCS).

Dr. Chou is a physician-scientist with expertise in clinical neurology, neurocritical care and vascular neurology. Dr. Chou's research program focuses on the role of inflammation and immune response in vascular brain injuries and biomarker discovery, particularly in subarachnoid hemorrhage. Dr. Chou is an expert in clinical biomarker discovery and multicenter clinical trials in critically ill patient with SAH. Dr. Chou has led the biomarker section in large international collaboratives such as the National Institute of Neurological Disorders SAH common data element (CDE) in biospecimens and biomarkers.