Our Business
We are building the first company solely focused on medicine’s earliest therapeutic targets — the TAS2R system — to create first-in-class therapies for metabolic, immunologic, and aging-related diseases.
Our strategy harnesses the body’s evolved nutrient-sensing network, designed to detect and respond to bioactive compounds, to restore homeostasis in disease. TAS2R activation can produce systemic and tissue-specific responses that correct immune–metabolic imbalances.
We believe TAS2R modulation can address both niche, high-unmet-need indications and large, heterogeneous diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and MASH. Our discovery engine is designed to deliver multiple high-value clinical opportunities grounded in robust biology and protected by strong IP.
Our Team
J. Michael French
Business
Michael has held numerous positions within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry including President and CEO of Marina Biotech; Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Sirna Therapeutics; Chief Business Officer, Entelos Inc.; and Senior Product Manager, International Strategic Marketing, Bayer, Ag. Michael led the financing efforts for a publicly traded company as well as having sourced, negotiated, and closed of over fifty collaboration and licensing transactions. Michael is a former U.S. Army officer who served in Operation Desert Shield/Storm. Among his military decorations are the Bronze Star Medal and Defense Meritorious Service Medal. He holds a B.S. in aerospace engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a M.S. in physiology and biophysics from Georgetown University.
Richard T. Ho, M.D., Ph.D.
Technology
Richard advises Amaro in the areas of systems biology, in silico modeling and artificial intelligence. Richard is currently the Chief Scientific Officer at Cotinga Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Previously, Richard was the Executive Vice President of Research and Development at Marina Biotech, Inc. and Senior Medical Director at Entelos, Inc. Dr. Ho founded the Disease Simulation Group at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development; where he built and led a team which championed systems biology and personalized medicine approaches to understanding and treating human disease. While at J&J, he helped develop the first FDA-approved SGLT2 inhibitor. Richard received his undergraduate degree at Harvard University and completed his M.D./Ph.D. at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Pat Charmley, Ph.D.
Alliances
Pat Charmley has a Ph.D. from UCLA in human immunology with an emphasis in genetics, which has resulted in his authorship on over 50 scientific publications. Pat has worked in biotech project/program/alliance management for nearly than 30 years, including with Darwin Molecular/Celltech, Ionian Technologies, Marina Biotech/Nastech, Omeros, PhaseRx, Alder Biopharmaceuticals, Bolt Biotherapeutics, and Implicit Bioscience. The majority of Pat’s work experience has been in cross-functional project management of drug development, from basic research and lead discovery, through IND-enabling studies, and also Phase 1 and 2 clinical studies. Pat continues to use the breadth of his experiences to execute on the quickest possible achievement of milestones and value inflection points, through an emphasis on strategic planning and aggressive execution of those plans.