ENA Respiratory Strengthens INNA-051 Development With The Appointment Of International Pharma Experts As Strategic Advisors

ENA Respiratory, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing antiviral host defense enhancers for viral respiratory infections, has appointed Kenny Simmen, PhD, and Alison Humbles, PhD, as Strategic Advisors. Both bring decades of expertise in infectious and respiratory diseases across R&D, business development, and commercial strategy. They join the company as it prepares to advance its lead candidate, INNA-051, into a Phase II trial in the US during the 2025/2026 fall/winter season.

Dr. Humbles, based in Ireland, has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. She has supported projects from early target identification to clinical drug candidates across respiratory, autoimmunity, inflammatory, and infectious diseases. Currently an independent R\&D consultant, Dr. Humbles was previously Disease Area Lead for Respiratory at Roche and held senior roles at MedImmune LLC (now part of AstraZeneca) and the Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. She has over 70 peer-reviewed publications and holds a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of London.

Christophe Demaison, PhD CEO of ENA Respiratory stated, “Kenny and Alison have exceptional track records in R&D within big pharma and specifically in the infectious and respiratory diseases field. Their knowledge and experience will benefit ENA Respiratory as we continue to drive the clinical development of INNA-051 which we believe could offer a highly significant new approach to reducing the enormous burden of respiratory viral diseases.”

Dr. Simmen, based in the UK, has 30 years of global experience in drug discovery, early clinical development, and innovation collaboration. He served as a leader at Johnson & Johnson, where he oversaw external innovation efforts in therapeutics and vaccine development for infectious diseases. Dr. Simmen was instrumental in advancing multiple candidates into clinical development, including the HCV antiviral Simeprevir. He also played a key role in forming collaborations with companies and academics globally. Dr. Simmen earned his PhD in molecular biology and gene transcriptional regulation from the EMBL in Heidelberg. ENA Respiratory's advisory team also includes Arnold S. Monto, MD, Bruce Miller, PhD, Jacob Harker, and Tim Hammond, PhD.