Consultant to helm pharmaceutical firm. (People).

RIK Deitsch is turning poisons into cures. Deitsch, a trained chemist and venom expert, has been appointed president and chief executive of Nutra Pharma Corp., a Beverly Hills pharmaceutical concern fashioning drugs out of Cobra venom.

"Bio-prospecting venomous animals is a very hot topic right now," said Deitsch, who is based in Beverly Hills but spends a quarter of his time at the company's research facility in Sunrise, Fla.

Nutra Pharma is seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture for two of its drugs, dubbed "Immunokines."

One of the drugs aims to help with treatment of canine melanoma the other will be a therapeutic for people suffering from multiple sclerosis.

"We feel warm and fuzzy that these products work but we need sanctioned trials to actually market them," Deitsch said. "Our primary focus for the next 18 to 24 months is to streamline the two drugs and to create a revenue stream."

Nutra Pharma, which has about 15 employees, operates on venture capital funds and is in the process of raising $6 million in a private placement.

Besides getting FDA approval for the firm's drugs, Deitsch is using the company's technology for developing more drugs by altering the chemical structure of the cobra venom to explore other possibilities.

"You got to keep the pipeline full," he said.

Instead of going straight to college after high school, Deitsch, 38, took a job as an intern in former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley's office and eventually was hired as a full-time staff member. The Philadelphia native moved to Florida in 1989 to attend Florida Atlantic University, graduating with a degree in chemistry in 1994 and his master's degree the next year. He then went to work for NDA Consulting, a six-person biotech consulting firm in Boca Raton, Fla., most recently as a senior consultant.

Deitsch is married with two children and a new baby on the way. He is currently in search of a home in the Los Angeles area.