Attillaps Pharmaceuticals · Our Team
Leadership
The team behind Attillaps Holdings — combining decades of pharmaceutical, scientific, and entrepreneurial expertise to advance novel therapeutics for Demodex-driven disease.
Frank A. Spallitta
CEO & Founder
Frank began his career in dermatology 10+ years ago working in the surgical laser industry. He spent the first half of his career with Cynosure, acquired by Hologics in 2017 and the second half with Zeltiq Aesthetics, acquired by Allergan in 2017. He founded Attillaps with the goal of developing a new approach to treating dermatological conditions with unknown etiologies with a particular interest in the skin microbiome.
Mr. Spallitta graduated from the University of Iowa with a BBA in Marketing and a Certificate in Entrepreneurial Management from the Tippie College of Business.
Michael E. Wachs, M.D.
CSO & Co-Founder
Michael Wachs was a professor of surgery at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Surgical Director of Liver/Kidney Transplant at The Children’s Hospital Colorado. He co-founded Attillaps Holdings in 2013 using his scientific expertise in immunological sciences to help push a paradigm shifting approach to treating inflammatory conditions.
Dr. Wachs graduated with an AB from Harvard University in Physical Anthropology and attained his MD at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He was Chief Resident at the University Health Center of Pittsburgh and performed his Transplantation Fellowship at University of California San Francisco Medical Center.
Fauad Hasan
Board Chairman
Mr. Hasan comes with 22 years of success as a biopharma drug developer and entrepreneur. He served in various leadership roles at Regeneron (NASDAQ: REGN), Baxter (now Takeda NASDAQ: TAK), Allergan, and Bonti (both now Abbvie NASDAQ: ABBV). He contributed to the development of several multi-billion dollar blockbuster drugs, such as Eylea®, Recombinate™, Botox®, and others.
Most recently, he was the Co-Founder, President and CEO of Bonti, which was acquired by Allergan (NASDAQ: AGN) in October 2018 for an upfront payment of $195 million and significant subsequent milestone payments. His vision and leadership, along with deploying a capital efficient and lean model, was instrumental in driving Bonti’s fast progress in a very short time. Mr. Hasan is currently an executive, board director, and advisor in the biopharmaceutical and hi-tech sectors.
Wajdie Ahmad
Board Director
Wajdie Ahmad is a Biopharmaceutical executive with over 20 years of industry experience. Most recently Mr. Ahmad served as the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Bonti from its inception in 2015 until the company was acquired by Allergen (NASDAQ:AGN) in October 2018 for the upfront payment of $195M (> 6x multiple on invested capital in 3 years) and subsequent milestone payments.
At Bonti, Mr. Ahmad was tasked with building and managing the Finance, HR, Legal, IT, R&D operations along with the company’s clinical programs. In addition, Mr. Ahmad was instrumental in helping to raise over $36M in three structured financing rounds. Prior to Bonti, Mr. Ahmad worked at Allergan for over 13 years in various roles with increasing responsibility within the Biologics manufacturing and development groups, focusing on the development, characterization, manufacturing and commercializing of neurotoxins, which includes Botox and other biologics programs. Mr. Ahmad received his B.S. in Biology from the University of California, Riverside, and his M.B.A. in Management from the University of California, Irvine. Mr. Ahmad currently serves as Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Amplifica.