Biotech entrepreneur Roger Newton is back in the game-and working on a vaccine for Covid-19.
by Ken Garber
In April’s article “The Vindication of Roger Newton,” we quoted a colleague as saying that Newton, whose credits include the blockbuster drug Lipitor, had retired to northern Michigan. After the article came out, Newton got in touch to report that he is bankrolling two startups: Esperovax and Espervita. Both take their names from the same Latin root for “to hope” as Esperion Therapeutics, the Newton-founded company that won FDA approval in February for two new cholesterol-lowering drugs, Nexletol and Nexlizet.
Like Esperion, the new companies are based in Ann Arbor. Southeast Michigan “has a tremendous amount of talent to create a very vibrant biotech and pharma industry,” Newton says. Espervita is pursuing an innovative approach to treating liver cancer, targeting the same enzyme that Nexletol blocks to stop fat and cholesterol production in the liver. Esperovax is developing oral vaccines, including one against Covid-19.
