Russell Rother

Dr. Rother is President and COO of Tetherex Pharmaceuticals. He is responsible for the drug development programs at Tetherex. Dr. Rother was previously Executive Vice President and COO of Selexys Pharmaceuticals from 2010 to 2016 where he was instrumental in the scientific, clinical and regulatory operations that led to the successful conduct of a Phase 2 international sickle cell disease trial and the subsequent acquisition of Selexys by Novartis. Prior to working at Selexys, Dr. Rother was Chief Scientific Officer at Alexion Pharmaceuticals where he managed the Departments of Research, Scientific Communications, Medical Information, Bioanalytical Development and Biometrics. Dr. Rother was one of the original scientists at Alexion where he played a critical role in the engineering and development of Alexion's antibody therapeutics and led discovery efforts in the identification of new indications and novel drug targets. He was instrumental in strategic decisions to initiate the paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) program, playing a major role in the bench to bedside development of Soliris (eculizumab), the first therapy approved for the treatment of PNH. Soliris was the recipient of the 2008 Prix Galien USA award for best biotechnology product. Dr. Rother received a doctorate degree in microbiology and immunology from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in conjunction with the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Immunobiology at Yale University School of Medicine. His work has led to more than 90 scientific papers and patent/patent applications in the fields of hematology, complement biology, transplantation, autoimmunity and gene therapy.