The Seasoned and Steady Hand of Tenured Leadership

ENDECE, LLC headquartered in Mequon, Wisconsin has hired Lee Rauch as Strategic Advisor for Licensing /Partnering effective immediately.

Ms. Rauch will also remain as Managing Director of Cervantes Life Science Partners, LLC, providing business solutions for Life Science companies. Cervantes partners with CEOs, executive teams and boards to help build winning life science companies.

Previously, Lee was the Chief Business Officer of Global Blood Therapeutics, a Third Rock Venture biopharmaceutical start up that completed its IPO in August of 2015. She also held other leadership roles including President & Chief Executive Officer of Nuon Therapeutics a clinical development stage therapeutics company focused on inflammatory and rheumatic diseases.  Lee grew up in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.

Lee’s experience spans over 20 years in building both private and public companies from early stage to commercial launch and has an extensive track record of executing successful business development, financing and M&A transactions.

About ENDECE, LLC

ENDECE, LLC (ENDECE), founded in 2006, is a privately held biopharmaceutical drug discovery and development company (www.endece.com) based in Wisconsin. The company focuses on small molecule compounds that control key genes within specific signaling pathways as a platform for discovering drugs capable of treating diseases for which there are no cures. ENDECE’s scientists have created a proprietary library of compounds having the potential to treat diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and Alzheimer’s disease.

The company’s lead compound for MS, NDC-1308, is in late pre-clinical development and may be the first drug capable of inducing remyelination of damaged axons in patients with MS.  Currently no drugs induce remyelination. NDC-1308 activates key genes within signaling pathways that are critical for causing progenitor cells within the CNS to differentiate into mature oligodendrocytes, the cells that synthesize and maintain the myelin sheath. The intellectual property surrounding the portfolio of compounds discovered and developed by ENDECE is protected by 20 issued composition-of-matter and use patents.

ENDECE’s business strategy is to discover and develop drug candidates and then secure a licensing partner with late stage clinical development and commercialization expertise. ENDECE is led by an experienced management team with a proven ability to take drug candidates from laboratory bench discovery, through clinical studies, and through the FDA approval process to commercial launch.

The Domann Organization, Life Science Leadership was retained to conduct the search.

Domann with offices in Madison, San Francisco and San Diego successfully recruits key Board, Chief Executive Officer, C-Suite, and other senior functional executives for the Life Sciences.

INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 21, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Assembly Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASMB), a biotechnology company developing curative treatments for infectious diseases including hepatitis B virus (HBV) andC. difficile (CDI) infections, today announced the appointment of Alan J. Lewis, PhD, to the company’s board of directors. Dr. Lewis has had a distinguished career in senior management and research & development roles in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry for more than 30 years.

“Dr. Lewis brings a wealth of business and scientific experience from his impressive career that includes front line leadership roles in managing large and small biopharmaceutical research organizations and in helping his companies achieve sustained growth, scientific excellence, and innovative global product development,” said Assembly’s Chairman, William Ringo. “Alan’s expertise encompasses a wide range of therapeutic areas and stages of development, including antiviral drug development and microbiome therapeutics. We believe Dr. Lewis will make many substantive contributions to the advancement of our two innovative programs that aim to cure intractable infectious diseases.”

Dr. Lewis is currently President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Diavacs, a company developing curative treatments for type 1 diabetes. He recently was CEO and a director of Medistem, a developer of stem cell therapies that was acquired by Intrexon. Previously, Dr. Lewis was Chairman, President and CEO of cancer drug developer Ambit Biosciences, which was subsequently acquired by Daiichi Sankyo. Prior to Ambit, Dr. Lewis was President and CEO of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and President and CEO of stem cell company Novocell. Prior to Novocell, Dr. Lewis served as CEO and a director of Signal Pharmaceuticalsuntil its acquisition by Celgene. Dr. Lewis then was named President of Celgene’s Signal Research division in San Diego, where he directed its integrated drug discovery program in oncology and inflammation and served on Celgene’s Corporate Executive Committee. Dr. Lewis also is on the board of directors for a number of companies, including BioMarin Pharmaceuticals, where he chairs the science and technology committee.

For the 15 years prior to Signal and Celgene, Dr. Lewis held positions of increasing responsibility at Wyeth-Ayerst Research, culminating in his serving as Vice President of Research with responsibility for 550 scientists and staff. Dr. Lewis has contributed to advancing more than 20 molecules into clinical development and overseeing five investigational drugs that have reached the market; he has co-authored over 100 peer reviewed publications and is an inventor on several patents. Dr. Lewis holds a BSc from Southampton University and a PhD from the University of Wales, and he completed his postdoctoral training at Yale University.
Dr. Lewis commented, “Assembly’s commitment to developing curative therapies for hard-to-treat infections, and the innovative science and technology it is applying to these efforts, make this an exciting company with the potential to make a real difference. I look forward to working with the talented Assembly team as it moves its HBV and microbiome programs into clinical development.”

About Assembly Biosciences

Assembly Biosciences, Inc. is a public biotechnology company developing novel oral therapies for the cure of intractable infectious diseases, focusing on hepatitis B virus (HBV) and C. difficile infections (CDI). Assembly’s HBV-Cure research team is discovering and developing multiple drug candidates focused on upstream and downstream targets in the HBV lifecycle for possible use in combination therapy. The goal is to eradicate HBV infection with an orally-administered regimen. Assembly has built a senior scientific team that has over 30 years of combined experience working on HBV. The company’s CDI program is focused on the targeted delivery of microbiome-based therapies in a novel oral formulation to treat recurrent CDI patients. Assembly has a proprietary delivery system, GemicelTM, which allows for targeted delivery of selected GMP-manufactured bacteria to the lower gastrointestinal tract, and it has built a team of world-class microbiome scientists from academia and industry to help advance this innovative program. For more information visit assemblybio.com.

Mr. Clarke’s original training in the pharmaceutical and vaccine industry was received at Merck and Company, where he held a number of positions, including Vice President of the Merck Vaccine Division and the founding President of Pasteur-Merieux MSD, a European joint venture that commercialized vaccines in the European Union. Since leaving Merck in 1996, his career has focused on leading and advising smaller developmental biotechnology and vaccine companies. Mr. Clarke was previously President and Chief Executive Officer of three biotechnology companies: Neose Technologies, a protein therapeutics company; Aviron, a vaccine company; and U.S. Bioscience, an oncology company. MedImmune acquired both Aviron (in 2001) and U.S. Bioscience (in 1999) for a combined value of $2 billion. Mr. Clarke has served as Chairman of the Board of QLT (an ocular company) and Mersana Therapeutics (an oncology company), and as Executive Chairman of LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals (a vaccine company), in which he oversaw the sale of the company to Takeda Pharamceuticals in 2012. He has also served as a board member or advisor to OraVax (a vaccine company) and Rib-X (an antibiotic company). In these capacities, he has developed significant expertise in the challenges of small company leadership, strategic management, business development, and mergers and acquisitions.

FluGen was founded in 2007 in Madison, Wisconsin by Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka, Dr. Gabriele Neumann and Mr. Paul Radspinner in response to the need for significant improvement in existing methods of preventing and treating influenza infections. Kawaoka, Neumann and Radspinner recognized an extraordinary opportunity to parlay Kawaoka’s virology work and Neumann’s reverse genetics breakthrough into a successful biotech business. Within just a few months, FluGen secured seed funding, a healthy valuation and experienced board members and supporters. The new Board Member will be announced at the next financing expected July 2015.

The Scripps Research Institute Announces “Scripps Advance,” a New Drug Discovery Initiative- LA JOLLA, CA, AND JUPITER, FL — April 14, 2014 — The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) announced the formation of Scripps Advance, a new drug discovery initiative to translate early-stage biomedical research projects, both internal and external to TSRI, into clinical development candidates. Scripps Advance’s first collaborator in this new endeavor is the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center in California. They are pleased to announce Neil Gibson, Ph.D. has been hired as Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board.

Neil is currently serving as Chief Scientific Officer at Regulus’ and previously worked at Pfizer, OSI, BAYER and the NIH before joining Scripps Advance. He attended school at the University of Strathclyde where he earned his Ph.D.

Acturus Press Release

“We are very pleased to have Bob and Stuart join the Arcturus Board. Both are widely recognized as successful biotech executives with exceptional credentials in cultivating company and strong track records of execution,” said Joseph E. Payne, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “With the addition of Bob and Stuart, we are building a San Diego all-star team of advisors that will help propel Acturus toward becoming a substantial player in the life sciences sector.”

Robert “Bob” Baltera is a seasoned pharmaceutical executive with vast business and product management experiences. Bob was the Chief Executive Officer at Amira Pharmaceutical, Inc. which was acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company for $325M upfront and $150M in future milestones. Before becoming Amira’s CEO, Bob worked for 17 years at Amgen, Inc. during which time he held a number of senior management positions, the last being vice president of corporate and contract manufacturing.

Bob serves in senior roles in several organizations, including Board of Directors at Organovo Holdings, Inc. (ONVO), Xencor, Inc. (XNCR), Panmira Pharmaceuticals, LLC, and San Diego Venture Group. He is also a Trustee of the Keck Graduate Institute Business Advisory panel member of PBS Biotech, Inc. and Executive Chairman at Adheron, Inc. Bob has a M.B.A. from Anderson School at UCLA and earned his B.S. in microbiology and M.S in genetics from the Pennsylvania State University.

Dr. Stuart Collinson is a partner at Forward Ventures and also the Executive Chairman of Tioga Pharmaceuticals Inc. Previously he was Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Aurora Biosciences Corporation (acquired by Vertex Pharmaceutical, Inc.). Before Aurora Stuart was Chief Executive Officer of Andaris Limited (acquired by Quadrant and now part of Perrigo). He held senior management positions at GlaxoWellcome plc. (now GlaxoSmithKline plc.) and Baxter International was a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group.

Dr. Collinson was previously a Director of Affinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (acquired by Debiopharma Group), Cabrellis Pharmaceuticals Corp. (acquired by Pharmion Corp., now part of Celgene Corp.), Conforma Therapeutics Corp. (acquired by BiogenIdec, Inc.), GeneOhm Sciences, Inc. (acquired by Becton, Dickinson and Company), NovaCardia, Inc. (acquired by Merck & Co, Inc.), and Proprius Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (acquired by Cypress Bioscience, Inc.), and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. Dr. Collinson received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Oxford.

KemPharm, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of new, safer therapies to treat pain, announced today the appointment of Richard Pascoe, CEO of Apricus Biosciences to the company’s Board of Directors. The addition of Mr. Pascoe brings extensive public company and business development experience to KemPharm as the company prepares for multiple clinical and business milestones in 2014, including the expected submission of a New Drug Application (NDA) for KP201, KemPharm’s lead clinical candidate, in the third quarter of 2014.

Richard Pascoe is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Apricus Biosciences (NASDAQ: APRI), a position that he has held since March of 2013. Prior to Apricus, Mr. Pascoe was the Chief Executive Officer of Somaxon Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for the FDA approval and commercialization of its lead drug Silenor® prior to the merger of Somaxon with Pernix Therapeutics. Mr. Pascoe’s career is further highlighted by a series of senior management roles at ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc., King Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Medco Research, Inc. (which was acquired by King), COR Therapeutics, Inc., B. Braun Interventional and The BOC Group. Mr. Pascoe served as a Commissioned Officer with the U.S. Army 24th Infantry Division, following his graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point where he received a B.S degree in Leadership.

Naurex a biopharmaceutical company developing novel modulators of the NMDA receptor to treat challenging diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) announced the appointment of Dr. Norbert Riedel as Chief Executive Officer and Board Member. Dr. Riedel was formerly corporate vice president and chief science and innovation officer at Baxter International. Earlier in his tenure at Baxter, Dr. Riedel was president and general manager of the recombinant proteins unit and vice president of research and development for Baxter’s Bioscience business. Previously, Dr. Riedel was head of worldwide biotechnology and core research functions at Hoechst Marion Roussel, now Sanofi. He also held a number of scientific management positions at Hoechst-Marion Roussel and Hoechst. Dr. Riedel serves on the boards of Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Ariad Pharmaceuticals and the Illinois Biotechnology Industry Organization. Dr. Riedel is a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and was appointed by Governor Pat Quinn to serve on the Illinois Innovation Council. Dr. Riedel received a Diploma and Ph.D. from the University of Frankfurt and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Novelos Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCQX: NVLT) announced that the Board of Directors, on October 4, 2013, appointed Dr. Simon Pedder as Acting Chief Executive Officer.

Dr. Pedder brings over 25 years of industry experience to the role, having served most recently as President and Chief Executive Officer of Chelsea Therapeutics, a Charlotte-based public company which he founded. Prior to his time at Chelsea, Simon held senior leadership positions at Hoffmann La Roche, including serving as an Officer and Vice President of Pharma Business Oncology.

Cellectar BioSciences formerly Novelos Therapeutics, Inc.

We are a pharmaceutical company developing novel drugs for the treatment and diagnosis of cancer. Our cancer-targeted compounds are selectively taken up and retained in cancer cells, including cancer stem cells, versus normal cells. I-124-CLR1404 (LIGHT) is a small-molecule, broad-spectrum, cancer-targeted PET imaging agent. LIGHT Phase 1-2 clinical trials are ongoing across 11 solid tumor indications anywhere in the body in a novel, effective and highly selective way. For additional information please visit www.cellectar.com

Aratana is focused on delivering solutions for unmet and underserved medical needs in pets, announced the appointment of Robert B. “Rip” Gerber, Jr. as an Independent Board Member. Aratana Therapeutics is a pet therapeutics company focused on licensing, developing and commercializing innovative biopharmaceutical products for companion animals. Aratana believes that it can leverage the investment in the human biopharmaceutical industry to bring therapeutics to pets in a capital and time efficient manner.

Rip Gerber is the founder of “Location-as-a-Service” (LaaS) and built Locaid into world’s largest LaaS platform that now locates over 350 million wireless devices for the world’s biggest banks, mobile agencies, brands and application developers. Rip is a noted mobile industry visionary, entrepreneur, public company executive and international best-selling author. Prior to Locaid, Rip served in senior executive roles at various public and private companies. At Nokia, he served as General Manager and Chief Marketing Officer of Intellisync, where he’s recognized for transforming the company’s brand and products and orchestrating the $510M acquisition by Nokia. Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President at Carlson, a $38 billion company and one of the largest family-held corporations in the United States. Rip was also on the founding executive team of Commtouch, where, as Chief Marketing Officer, he was a lead executive in taking the company public in 1999. Earlier in his career, Rip founded @once, an email marketing company that was later acquired by InfoUSA. He also served in engineering and management roles at Deloitte Consulting, American Express and Firestone Tire & Rubber. Rip holds several patents in location technologies, sits on the WIC Leadership Council of the CTIA and has spoken at many industry events, including the DMA, CTIA and CES. His thrillers have been published by Random House and Forge. He holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Cellastra, Inc., a pioneering cellular therapeutics and regenerative medicine company, today announced the appointment of Daniel Quintero to the Board of Directors as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, and Virginia Fennerty-Brooks to the Management Team as Vice President, Business Development. Cellastra focuses on the emergent commercial space around human regenerative medicines that stem from revolutionary discoveries of the ability of cells to regenerate and repair tissues or organs and novel pioneering techniques that are being developed in the world’s leading research institutions. Dr. Karl Mettinger, Co-founder, President and CEO, notes that “With the appointment of Brian Lundstrom we have a new member of our leadership that is an industry veteran with a long and successful track record in the Life Sciences.

Brian Lundstrom has more than 25 years’ experience as an executive in the life science industry. He started his career in Denmark with product development for Immuntech and clinical research for Novo Nordisk. In 1993, Novo Nordisk transferred him to Seattle, WA, where he became head of business development and member of the executive management team of the company’s US R&D unit. He was subsequently VP, Corporate Development, for Oxford GlycoSciences (now UCB) in Seattle, WA, and VP, Business Development, for SangStat in Fremont, CA. After in 2003-2004 leading the $600M sale of SangStat and integration into Genzyme, he joined Californian-Swedish neuroscience company ACADIA in San Diego, CA, as their SVP, Business Development. In 2009, Mr. Lundstrom became President of International Stem Cell Corporation (ISCO) in Carlsbad, CA with responsibility for public representation and financing and international collaborations until acquisition by a Russian entity. In early 2012, Mr. Lundstrom joined other ex-SangStat executives as CBO of Open Monoclonal Antibody (OMT) in Palo Alto, CA and, in parallel, is a founder of cancer company Abcida. Mr. Lundstrom holds a M.Sc. degree in Biochemical Engineering from Danish Technical University and an MBA-equivalent degree International Management from Copenhagen Business School, Monterey Institute of International Studies, and Seattle University.