Michael Tortorici is currently the Vice President of Nonclinical Development and Clinical Pharmacology at Aro Biotherapeutics in Philadephia, Pennsylvania. In his current role, Michael is responsible for taking molecules from Discovery into Development with a focus on Pharmacology, Toxicology, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, Bioanalytical Sciences and Clinical Pharmacology. Aro Biotherapeutics developing a patented platform technology called Centyrins that are uniquely positioned to achieve precise targeting of diverse therapeutic payloads to specific cells of interest. Our initial efforts are focused on discovering and developing Centyrin-oligonucleotide conjugate therapies that are meant to address one of the greatest challenges facing oligonucleotide-based medicines today: targeted delivery of oligonucleotides to extra-hepatic tissues. Reporting to the CEO of Aro, he has the ability to drive strategy and future direction of the companies R&D pipeline.

Michael began his career at Pfizer in 2007, where he was a Clinical Pharmacologist working in Oncology Therapeutic Area. He worked on the New Drug Application for Inlyta®, indicated for 2nd line metastatic renal cell carcinoma. He then switched therapeutic areas and joined a late-stage development group called Specialty Care focused on Immunology, Kidney Disease, and Transplant. In 2014, he joined CSL Behring as Director of Clinical Pharmacology working on biologics in the area of rare disease. At CSL Behring, he had the opportunity to work on 5 successful Biologics License Application’s for Privigen® and Hizentra® indicated for treatment of Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy, HAEGAARDA® indicated for prophylaxis to prevent Hereditary Angioedema attacks, Idelvion® for on-demand treatment and control of bleeding episodes in patients with Hemophilia B, and Afstyla® for on-demand treatment and control of bleeding episodes in patients with Hemophilia A. During his tenure at CSL he was head of the Clinical Pharmacology & Pharmacometrics group for 3 years building an international team across the US and Europe.

Michael received his PharmD in 2002 and his PhD in 2007 from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. He currently serves an Advisory Council Member for the College of Pharmacy at the University of Texas and has been the Chair of the Quantitative Pharmacology Network in the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. He has published over 50 papers and is currently an Associate Editor of the journal Pharmacometrics and Systems Pharmacology.