Ritter has recruited and assembled an outstanding team of talented and experienced individuals with extensive big pharma & biotech experience. In addition, Ritter has engaged Velesco Pharmaceutical Services for formulation and manufacturing development and Quantic Regulatory Services for regulatory expertise.

• Andrew J. Ritter - President & CEO
• Howard Foyt, M.D., Ph.D., FACP - Executive Vice President, Development & Chief Medical Officer
• David Barnes, Ph.D. - Product Development & Manufacturing
• Marilyn Carlson, D.M.D., M.D., RAC - Senior Regulatory Specialist
• Matthew O’Brien, Ph.D. - Chemistry Manufacturing and Controls
• Governor Gray Davis (RET.) - Business & Strategic Development

Andrew J. Ritter - President & CEO

Mr. Ritter has been studying the field of lactose intolerance for over 15 years and is considered a worldwide leading expert on the topic. Mr. Ritter has been at the forefront of lactose intolerance research, working and collaborating with other leading experts in lactose intolerance. In 1997, he invented a prototype program called Lactagen® to help reduce symptoms of lactose intolerance. He subsequently founded Ritter Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 2004 and engaged other leading lactose intolerance researchers to join his team in developing the first treatment for lactose intolerance.

Mr. Ritter received his bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a minor in Business from the University of Southern California. Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan appointed Mr. Ritter to serve as a City Commissioner from 2000-2002. He is the youngest Commissioner to be appointed in the history of Los Angeles. In 2007, The Los Angeles Business Journal recognized Mr. Ritter as one of the "Top Twenty Entrepreneurs in their 20s" in Los Angeles.

Howard Foyt, M.D., Ph.D., FACP - Executive Vice President, Development & Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Foyt will oversee Ritter’s clinical development efforts as well as assist in building the company’s overall infrastructure and management team. Dr. Foyt has over thirteen years of strong clinical background and drug development experience with big pharma and biotech companies. For the past three years, he served as VP, Clinical Development and Chief Medical Officer at Metabasis Therapeutics, where he was responsible for five drugs in clinical development over multiple therapeutic areas. Dr. Foyt had previously worked at Pfizer, where he served as Senior Director and Site Head – Diabetes & Obesity, and earlier at Parke-Davis for over ten years participating in the clinical development of multiple drugs mainly in the metabolic disease field. Prior to joining Parke-Davis, he was on the faculty at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX. 

Dr. Foyt earned his medical degree and Ph.D. in Cell Biology from Baylor College of Medicine. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Baylor and an endocrinology fellowship at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health.

David Barnes, Ph.D. - Product Development & Manufacturing

Dr. Barnes co-founded Velesco Pharmaceutical Services in 2008. Velesco Pharmaceutical Services is a contract research organization which supports early stage drug development projects. Dr. Barnes worked for Pfizer for 19 years in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division of R&D. He is an accomplished scientist with broad expertise in product development, clinical supply provision and facility management.  He has extensive experience in managing complex scientific and technical projects many of them outsourced to contract research organizations.  

Dr. Barnes most recently led the group responsible for coordinating Pfizer’s global supply of materials for clinical trials.  He has a Ph.D. from The School of Pharmacy, University of London and is a licensed pharmacist and a registered chemical engineer.

Marilyn Carlson, D.M.D., M.D., RAC - Senior Regulatory Specialist

Over 18 years pharmaceutical industry experience at Synteract, Prometheus Labs, ISTA Pharma, Procter & Gamble and others.

Matthew O’Brien, Ph.D. - Chemistry Manufacturing and Controls

Dr. O’Brien, a member of Quantic Regulatory Services, has 40 years of experience in pharmaceutical product development within the Merck Research Laboratories, the Smith, Kline, French Laboratories and Otsuka Pharmaceutical America. In his capacity at Merck, he participated in the development of a continuous stream of over 100 INDs/CSAs and the registration of over 20 NDAs/MMAs within and outside the U.S. Dr. O’Brien is familiar with the business and regulatory thinking which surrounds the development of new processes that include specifications, test methods, container stability studies and quality systems necessary for the release of clinical study materials and market product. Dr. O’Brien received a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Villanova University.

Governor Gray Davis (RET.) Business & Strategic Development

Governor Davis offers a combination of experience, insight and perspective following a long and distinguished career in California government. He is a trusted adviser at the prestigious law firm of Loeb & Loeb where he assists companies and provides a strategic approach to solving complex issues through the network of relationships he has developed and the extensive knowledge he has gained over his 30 years of public service.

As governor of California, Mr. Davis enacted education reforms that contributed to rising student test scores five years in a row, provided healthcare coverage for 1 million uninsured children, and acquired 10,000 acres of urban parkland.

Mr. Davis served as Governor (1998–2003), Lieutenant Governor (1995–1999), State Controller (1987–1995), and State Assembly Representative for Los Angeles County (1983–1987), and as chief of staff to Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. (1975–1981).