Life Science Industry Expert: Pharmaceutical Business Development, Drug Development and Portfolio Management

Expertise

• Strategy and streamlined processes for the identification and evaluation of strategic partnerships.
• Ability to obtain alignment, prioritize and build consensus from internal stakeholders.
• Diverse therapeutic area expertise in both global and U.S. markets, including; inflammation/autoimmune disease, transplantation, respiratory diseases, infectious diseases, vaccines, diagnostics, and oncology.
• Academic collaborations, technologies, early and late stage products, product marketing, contract manufacturing and acquisitions, negotiating and closing all of these transactions.
• Strong alliance management skills with the ability to bridge gaps in cultural and operational differences and prioritize alliance strategic drivers to maximize probability of success.

Experience

Undisclosed Company, Chief Executive Officer, 2013 - Present

• Provide leadership and strategic direction for the development of early stage biological product pipeline.
• Lead all operational and business development activities leading up to and raising venture and strategic partner financing. Manage and expand all relationships with University of Pennsylvania Center for Technology Transfer Office and other strategic partners.

Independent Consultant, 2009 - Present

• Consulting to individuals, U.S. and multinational companies, academic institutions and start-ups in the Life Sciences industry.
• Provide expert advice on strategic and business development issues as well as scientific and drug development assignments.
• Assist CEO's, board members and other executives with business development, scientific, clinical, regulatory and commercial expertise within the pharmaceutical and biotechnology arena. Prepare and review various proposals, business plans, company presentations, term sheets and agreements.

Pfizer/Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Collegeville, PA, 2005 - 2009

Senior Director Licensing, Global Business Development

• Led all licensing activities for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in the area of inflammation, respiratory and autoimmune disease. Initiated and led technical and business discussions with prospective partners and led negotiation teams to close multimillion dollar licensing/acquisition deals for technology, preclinical and development stage products.
• Led multidisciplinary teams to develop mechanism of action based strategy to proactively identify and conduct initial evaluation of licensing opportunities in key therapeutic areas.
• Principal negotiator for worldwide licenses with Pharmacopeia Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (JAK-3 kinase program), Biotica Ltd. (m-TOR inhibitors), Opsona Ltd. (TLR program) resulting in the generation of multiple development track candidates. Signed final agreements within 21 days of term sheet agreement.
• Principal negotiator in the acquisition of a portfolio of respiratory diseases assets from a mid-sized biotech resulting in multiple lead candidates and advancement of internal program by more than 2 years.
• Lead due diligence and negotiation team member responsible for closing a five year multi target research collaboration transaction with Trubion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Resulting in the addition to the portfolio of two clinical stage candidates for Rheumatoid Arthritis, (RA)and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, (SLE). Responsible for managing all aspects of the collaboration.
• Prepared market analysis and financial models justifying a go/no-go decision on licensing opportunities.
• Led the integration of new alliances and worked with alliance teams to develop and implement strategies designed to evaluate the status of relationship and maximize value delivery. Voting member on two JRC's.
• Responsible for developing concise product summaries and out-licensing of de-prioritized compounds from Wyeth's portfolio.
• Accountable for conducting detailed analysis of financials and development pipelines of companies for the identification of potential merger and acquisition opportunities.
• Assumed responsibility for all early stage licensing activities in oncology.

Centocor, Inc. , Malvern, PA , 2002 - 2005

Senior Director, Head Technology Licensing and Alliance Management

• Responsible for the identification, initial screening and coordination of the technical/commercial evaluation of early stage licensing candidates and platform technologies across all Centocor therapeutic areas.
• Responsible for the initiation and management of contacts with external partners, conducting due diligence and negotiations, preparation of term sheets and work closely with deal team to finalize various licensing and supply agreements related to pipeline and marketed monoclonal antibody therapeutics.
• Developed and implemented a process for the identification, evaluation and management of technology licensing opportunities.
• Worked with cross functional research and development teams to develop and execute strategic plans for the identification and acquisition of platform technologies and early stage licensing candidates.
• Responsible for the management of new and existing alliances with commercial and academic partners for Discovery Research and Pharmaceutical Development.
• Managed multi-million dollar budget to support research licensing activities.
• Mentored and assisted in the career development of direct reports.

Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals, St. Davids, PA, 1995 - 2002

Director, Licensing, Global Business Development, 1998 - 2002

• Independently managed all activities associated with the licensing of individual products and technologies in the area of Infectious Diseases and Transplantation. Worked with multidisciplinary teams responsible for portfolio optimization and franchise management, strategy planning and implementation in key therapeutic areas.
• Proactively identified and conducted initial evaluation of licensing opportunities in key therapeutic areas.
• Established initial contact with outside companies and develop and foster relationships with other licensing professionals, industry leaders, and scientific community.
• Coordinated all aspects of the technical and commercial evaluations of licensing candidates including all due diligence activities and final reports.
• Conducted financial and commercial analysis leading to the development of sound proposals for further negotiation.
• Negotiated deal terms and Heads of Agreement and worked closely with legal team to finalize contract.
• Directed alliance management and maintaining existing agreements and contracts.
• Responsible for conducting detailed analysis of financials and development pipelines of companies for the identification of potential merger and acquisition opportunities.

Assistant Director, Strategic Development, 1995 - 1998

• Directed key activities of the Immunology/Inflammation, Infectious Disease and Transplantation Therapeutic Area Councils.
• Responsible for managing and coordinating the cross-departmental strategic review for each therapeutic area with a detailed analysis of rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, antibiotics and antiviral agents. Presented final recommendations to senior management.
• Developed product profiles and conducted thorough database searches to proactively identify potential licensing candidates in each therapeutic area.
• Conducted the primary review of all licensing candidates in the area of Immunology/Inflammation and Infectious Diseases.
• Prepared concise reports and made recommendations of licensing candidates for senior management.
• Developed and implemented a database for tracking licensing opportunities across all therapeutic areas.
• Conducted independent and detailed analysis of individual products and entire development pipeline of various companies for senior management.

Principal Scientist, Preclinical Vaccine Development and Senior Research Scientist, Biotechnology, Microbiology

• Contributed to the crafting of the overall drug development plan, including the Global Development Plan, Research Strategy, and IND preparation and filing; responsible for the selection and validation of various cytokine assays and a central clinical laboratory to support clinical trials in the U.S. and Europe.
• Directed research project for Rotavirus Vaccine Development and Liposomal Influenza Vaccine Team.
• Supervised and validated contract labs to support clinical trials.
• Designed and implemented experiments in various animal models to determine the antigenicity of vaccine.
• Mentored and assisted in career development of 4 direct reports.

Additional Professional Experience

Duke University Medical School, Durham, NC

• Research Fellow, Division of Rheumatology and Immunology

Albany Medical College, Albany, NY

• Teaching Assistant, Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Albany Medical Center Hospital, Albany, NY

• Research Assistant, Clinical Microbiology