Mary Beth Dorr

Dr. Dorr is Vice President, Clinical Science at Venatorx Pharmaceuticals, where she is responsible for planning and executing clinical development across Venatorx’s anti-infectives portfolio. Dr. Dorr has devoted her 30+ year career to drug development, designing and implementing Phase 1 to Phase 4 clinical trials primarily for anti-infective products at both big—and small—pharmaceutical companies.

Prior to joining Venatorx, Dr. Dorr was Product Development Team Leader and Clinical Lead, Infectious Diseases at Merck where her primary responsibility was leading the clinical development for ZINPLAVA (bezlotoxumab), a monoclonal antibody that binds to and neutralizes <em>C. difficile</em> toxin B. She additionally led the development teams for DIFICID (fidaxomicin), a macrolide antibiotic for treatment of <em>C. difficile</em>, and CUBICIN (daptomycin), a lipopeptide antibiotic for serious Gram-positive bacterial infections. Prior to Merck, Dr. Dorr was Senior Director, Global Medical Affairs at Wyeth where she was the program leader for Phase 4 trials supporting women’s healthcare and gastrointestinal therapeutic areas, and served as Pandemic Preparedness Advisor.

In addition to her big pharma experience, Dr. Dorr served as the development team project manager at Vicuron Pharmaceuticals for dalbavancin, a novel intravenous antibiotic for the treatment of serious Gram-positive bacterial infections. Prior to Vicuron, she had several roles at Rhône-Poulenc Rorer. As a senior research scientist, Dr. Dorr was responsible for clinical pharmacokinetic development for a quinolone antibiotic, ZAGAM (sparfloxacin), and subsequently joined the clinical research group where she managed Phase 1 and 3 trials for ZAGAM and several Phase 3b trials for SYNERCID (quinupristin/dalfopristin), an antibiotic for serious Gram-positive infections. She also worked at Parke-Davis where she was responsible for the design and implementation of preclinical and clinical pharmacokinetic research for several quinolone antibiotics.D

Dr Dorr received her B.S., Pharmacy from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia; her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics with an emphasis on pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., and completed a clinical pharmacy residency at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Philadelphia.