Latest news with #Veli
Entrepreneur
13-05-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
He Was a Refugee as a Child. Now, He Runs 11 Businesses.
This story appears in the May 2025 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe » When Orhan Veli's family arrived in the United States in 1995, failure was not an option. They were forced to flee ethnic conflict in Azerbaijan as the Soviet Union collapsed — and as refugees in the U.S., they had no choice but to rebuild their lives from scratch. Veli, who was 11 at the time, watched his engineer father become a pizza delivery driver. His mother, a trained artist, found work in a screen-printing factory. Their grit and resilience left an impression on Veli, who eventually graduated from college and began a career in finance. The corporate world didn't satisfy him. So in 2006, Veli and his father leveraged all the equity in their home for Veli to buy his first franchise, a cheesesteak venture. With everything on the line, once again, failure was not an option. In 2012, Veli and his dad opened their first Saladworks location. After expanding to his second location, he cashed out of cheesesteaks to go all in on salads. Related: 10 Simple Steps to Build an Exceptional and Efficient Team Today, he operates 11 Saladworks locations in the Philadelphia area, and he's the top franchisee in the system. He believes much of his success comes down to his belief that people are resilient and resourceful, just the way his parents were. As such, his top three success strategies are all about supporting his employees. 1. Adapt to your team, not the other way around. When Veli took over his first restaurant, most of his team spoke only Spanish. Instead of replacing these hard-working employees, he learned Spanish. "It's about finding the most efficient way that you can make things work," he says. "If that means learning a new skill, you have to do it." 2. Don't just identify ambition. Cultivate it. Veli believes success comes from giving opportunities to diligent employees. He remembers one of his strongest hires: "She couldn't speak English," he says. "I said, 'Don't worry, you'll figure this out. As long as you're hardworking, you'll be fine.' Today, she's a general manager." 3. Create a team of distinctive individuals. "You need a mix," Veli says. "You need a leader. You need the team cheerleader. You need the critical thinker who says, 'This isn't good enough.' You need the person who thinks outside the box, and the person who can organize it all and ensure we stay within our operational policies." Related: 8 Reasons You Should Give Your Employees More Control Advice from the franchisor How did Orhan Veli become so successful? Kelly Roddy, CEO of Saladworks' parent company, WOWorks, says that Veli has a distinct vision for his businesses — which is unique, but also fits within the overall system. "Orhan is more strategic than other top performers," Roddy says. "We have an overall culture that's based on a set of values — but Orhan has taken that and developed his own set of values and his own culture within his own [stores]. He spends a lot of time with his team members and really focuses on how to motivate them."
Business Wire
07-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Viridian Therapeutics Receives FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Veligrotug for the Treatment of Thyroid Eye Disease (TED)
WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRDN), a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing potential best-in-class medicines for serious and rare diseases, today announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to veligrotug ('veli'), the company's lead anti-insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) drug candidate for the treatment of TED. Breakthrough Therapy Designation is reserved for drug candidates intended to treat serious or life-threatening conditions that address an unmet need where clinical evidence has indicated they may demonstrate substantial improvement on a clinically significant endpoint over existing therapies. 'The FDA's decision to grant veli Breakthrough Therapy Designation underscores that veli may offer substantial improvement over existing therapies, and we believe it reinforces veli's potential to be a differentiated, treatment-of-choice for patients living with TED,' said Steve Mahoney, Viridian's President and CEO. 'Veli is the only therapy that has demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement and resolution of diplopia in both active and chronic TED. Veli also showed a rapid onset of treatment effect, including an improvement in proptosis response in as few as three weeks after just one infusion. We believe veli will be an important potential new treatment option for patients living with TED, including whose disease is unaddressed by existing therapies. We continue to execute on our planned BLA submission in the second half of 2025 and are excited that this designation supports eligibility for Priority Review as we prepare for our planned U.S. commercial launch in 2026.' THRIVE and THRIVE-2, phase 3 clinical trials in active and chronic TED respectively, comprise the largest pivotal program to date in TED. In both clinical trials, veligrotug met all of its primary and secondary endpoints and was generally well-tolerated. THRIVE-2 was the first global phase 3 clinical trial to demonstrate a statistically significant diplopia response and resolution in chronic TED patients. About Veligrotug Veligrotug is an intravenously (IV) delivered, anti-insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) antibody in phase 3 development for thyroid eye disease, with the potential to be the IV treatment-of-choice for active and chronic TED patients. IGF-1R is a clinically and commercially validated target for thyroid eye disease (TED) with U.S. revenues of approximately $2 billion in 2024. Veligrotug has the potential to improve patient experience with a differentiated dosing regimen that features a shorter infusion time and fewer infusions compared to the currently approved and marketed IGF-1R inhibitor. In its pivotal phase 3 clinical trials, THRIVE and THRIVE-2, veligrotug met all of its primary and secondary endpoints. Veligrotug demonstrated a rapid onset of treatment effect and statistically significant and clinically meaningful reduction and resolution of diplopia in both clinical trials. THRIVE-2 was the first demonstration in a global phase 3 clinical trial of a statistically significant diplopia response and resolution in chronic TED patients. Veligrotug was generally well tolerated. Viridian believes that the differentiated Veligrotug has the potential to establish a strong position in the TED commercial market, if approved, and may help facilitate the introduction of VRDN-003, its potential best-in-class subcutaneous IGF-1R antibody for TED. About Viridian Therapeutics Viridian is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing potential best-in-class medicines for patients with serious and rare diseases. Viridian's expertise in antibody discovery and protein engineering enables the development of differentiated therapeutic candidates for previously validated drug targets in commercially established disease areas. Viridian is advancing multiple candidates in the clinic for the treatment of patients with thyroid eye disease (TED). The company is conducting a pivotal program for veligrotug (VRDN-001), including two global phase 3 clinical trials (THRIVE and THRIVE-2), to evaluate its efficacy and safety in patients with active and chronic TED. Both THRIVE and THRIVE-2 reported positive topline data, meeting all the primary and secondary endpoints of each study. Viridian is also advancing VRDN-003 as a potential best-in-class subcutaneous therapy for the treatment of TED, including two ongoing global phase 3 pivotal clinical trials, REVEAL-1 and REVEAL-2, to evaluate the efficacy and safety of VRDN-003 in patients with active and chronic TED. In addition to its TED portfolio, Viridian is advancing a novel portfolio of neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) inhibitors, including VRDN-006 and VRDN-008, which has the potential to be developed in multiple autoimmune diseases. Viridian is based in Waltham, Massachusetts. For more information, please visit Follow Viridian on LinkedIn and X. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by the use of words such as, but not limited to, 'anticipate,' 'believe,' 'become,' 'continue,' 'could,' 'design,' 'estimate,' 'expect,' 'intend,' 'may,' 'might,' 'on track,' 'plan,' 'potential,' 'predict,' 'project,' 'should,' 'target,' 'will,' or 'would' or other similar terms or expressions that concern our expectations, plans and intentions. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based on our current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding: clinical development and anticipated commercialization of Viridian's product candidates, including veligrotug (formerly VRDN-001) and VRDN-003; the impact of Breakthrough Therapy Designation, including eligibility for Priority Review, or any other FDA designations; regulatory interactions and anticipated timing of regulatory submissions, including the anticipated BLA submission for veligrotug in the second half of 2025; the potential utility, efficacy, potency, safety, clinical benefits, clinical response, convenience, and number of indications of veligrotug and VRDN-003; veligrotug's potential to be a differentiated, IV treatment-of-choice for active and chronic TED or an important potential new treatment option; potential market sizes and market opportunities, including for Viridian's product candidates; Viridian's product candidates potentially being best-in-class; whether veligrotug will serve an unmet need; whether veligrotug may offer substantial improvement over existing therapies; and Viridian's expectations regarding the potential commercialization of veligrotug and VRDN-003, if approved, including the potential U.S. launch of veligrotug in 2026. New risks and uncertainties may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible to predict all risks and uncertainties. No representations or warranties (expressed or implied) are made about the accuracy of any such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of material risks and uncertainties including but not limited to: potential utility, efficacy, potency, safety, clinical benefits, clinical response, and convenience of Viridian's product candidates; that results or data from completed or ongoing clinical trials may not be representative of the results of ongoing or future clinical trials; that preliminary data may not be representative of final data; expectations and changes regarding the timing for regulatory filings; regulatory interactions; uncertainty and potential delays related to clinical drug development; the timing of and our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approvals for our therapeutic candidates; competition from other therapies or products; estimates of market size; our future operating results and financial performance; Viridian's intellectual property position; that our product candidates may not be commercially successful, if approved; and other risks described from time to time in the 'Risk Factors' section of our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including those described in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K or Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as applicable, and supplemented from time to time by our Current Reports on Form 8-K. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it was made. Neither the company, nor its affiliates, advisors, or representatives, undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the company's views as of any date subsequent to the date hereof. Source: Viridian Therapeutics, Inc.
