Andrew Salzman, MD

Andrew (Andy) Salzman, MD, is a Senior Partner at The Bracken Group with 40 years of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, having initiated and built a long series of drug development companies. Harvard-trained and board certified in pediatrics, with fellowship training in pediatric infectious disease and critical care, he has overseen the full spectrum of development: discovery chemistry, pharmacology, preclinical work, manufacturing, Phase I–II clinical trials, and U.S. and international regulatory strategy.

Andy founded Inotek Pharmaceuticals with three hundred dollars and grew it into a 140-person multinational company. There he discovered and developed INO-1001, the first PARP inhibitor introduced into humans, which advanced to Phase 2 before licensure in a $600 million deal with Genentech. He also identified the first adenosine A1 receptor agonist for ophthalmic disease, the program that later carried Inotek to a NASDAQ IPO. He went on to co-invent the enzyme therapy OT-58 at Orphan Technologies, later acquired for more than $517 million, and to lead drug development at the Lovelace Biomedical Research Institute.

In academic medicine, he was Founding Director of a Division of Critical Care Medicine and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular and Cellular Physiology at the University of Cincinnati. His recent focus is the clinical use of cannabinoids, including novel synthetic analogs for intractable inflammation and pain. He has authored more than 170 peer-reviewed publications and holds 46 patents.