About Us
Diabetes is a disease characterized by abnormally high levels of blood glucose and inadequate levels of insulin. Glucose is a simple sugar used by all the cells of the body to produce energy and support life.
Humans need a minimum level of glucose in their blood at all times to function and stay alive. Insulin is a peptide hormone naturally secreted by the pancreas to regulate the body's management of glucose.
When a healthy individual begins a meal, the pancreas releases a natural spike of insulin, called the first-phase insulin release, which is critical to the body's overall control of glucose.
Many patients with diabetes lack the first-phase insulin release and must treat themselves with daily meal-time insulin injections to avoid the negative effects of hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia.
Senior Management Team
Errol De Souza, PhD
President & CEO, Director
Dr. De Souza joined our management and board of directors in March of 2010. Dr. De Souza has nearly two decades of experience in the field of drug discovery and development. Since January 2009, Dr. De Souza has been a pharmaceutical and biotechnology consultant. From April 2003 to January 2009, Dr. De Souza was president and chief executive officer of Archemix Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company focused on aptamer therapeutics. From September 2002 to March 2003, he was president and chief executive officer and a director of Synaptic Pharmaceuticals. As a result of a merger effective March 2003, Synaptic Pharmaceuticals became a wholly-owned subsidiary of H. Lundbeck A/S, an international pharmaceutical company. Prior to that, Dr. De Souza held senior management positions with Aventis, and its predecessor company Hoechst Marion Roussel Pharmaceuticals, and was co-founder of Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. He is currently a director of several biopharmaceutical companies including Bionomics Limited, Palatin Technologies, Inc. and Targacept, Inc. Dr. De Souza received his B.A. (Honors) in physiology and his Ph.D. in neuroendocrinology from the University of Toronto and he received his postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Dr. Solomon S. Steiner
Chief Scientific Officer, Director
Dr. Solomon S. Steiner co-founded our company and served as our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer since our inception in December 2003 through March of 2010. In 1991, Dr. Steiner founded Pharmaceutical Discovery Corporation, or PDC, a biopharmaceutical corporation. Dr. Steiner served as PDC’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the board of directors from its inception until December 2001, when PDC was merged with two other companies to form MannKind Corporation. From December 2001 to February 2003, Dr. Steiner served on MannKind’s board of directors and as a Corporate Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. In 1985, Dr. Steiner founded and was the Chairman of the board of directors and President of Clinical Technologies Associates, Inc., or CTAI, now known as Emisphere Technologies, Inc. Under his leadership CTAI went public in February of 1989. Dr. Steiner is an inventor of Emisphere’s oral delivery system for peptides and mucopolysaccharides. Dr. Steiner is currently an adjunct full professor at New York Medical College and research full professor of psychiatry and neurology at New York University School of Medicine. Dr. Steiner received a Ph.D. from New York University.
Mr. Gerard J. Michel
Chief Financial Officer, Vice President of Corporate Development and Treasurer
Mr. Gerard J. Michel has served as our Chief Financial Officer, Vice President of Corporate Development and Treasurer, since November 2007. Prior to joining Biodel, Mr. Michel served in various roles at NPS Pharmaceuticals, most recently as its Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Corporate Strategy. Previously, Mr. Michel was a principal with the consulting firm of Booz-Allen & Hamilton where he evaluated and solved strategic and operational issues for healthcare clients. Mr. Michel also served in marketing, sales, and corporate development positions, both domestic and international with Lederle Labs. Mr. Michel received an M.S. in microbiology and an M.B.A., both from the University of Rochester.
Dr. Alan S. Krasner
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Alan S. Krasner serves as our Chief Medical Officer. Prior to joining Biodel, Dr. Krasner served as Director in the Department of Clinical Research, Metabolic Diseases at Pfizer Global Research and Development, where he was responsible for the design, execution, clinical analysis, and reporting of multiple, global clinical trials supporting registration of late stage drug candidates. Dr. Krasner is also a consulting physician at the Joslin Diabetes and Endocrinology Center of the Lawrence and Memorial Hospital in New London, Connecticut. Dr. Krasner received a B.S. from Northwestern University where he was in an Honors Program in medical education and an M.D. from Northwestern University Medical School. Dr. Krasner completed his residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital in internal medicine and subsequently received a fellowship from Johns Hopkins Hospital in endocrinology and metabolism.
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