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TEAM
MEET THE PARTNERS
ProPharma Partners, North America
James Chubb, Ph.D.
James Chubb, Ph.D. is broadly experienced in operational management, strategy and financing of biopharmaceutical companies, as well as possessing extensive pharmaceutical product development experience.
As a senior executive at Glaxo with more than 12 years of experience, Dr. Chubb was responsible for directing the filing of more than 15 NDA's and ANDs for anti-bacterial and anti-fungal drugs, beta agonist bronchodilators and inhaled steroids for asthma, topical steroids for dermatological indications and serotonin antagonists for cancer induced nausea and vomiting. As President and Chief Executive of Triplex Pharmaceuticals and its successor, Aronex Pharmaceuticals, for 8 years, Dr Chubb raised over $65 million in financing, and established several corporate partnerships. He built a strong management team and over saw advancement of three cancer drugs and an anti fungal into clinical trials. Dr. Chubb was subsequently founder and principal of ProPharma International Partners, Inc, a consulting and advisory service company to biotechnology companies, with locations in the San Francisco Bay area and London, UK.
Dr. Chubb received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Arizona College of Medicine and completed a cardiovascular research fellowship at Michigan State University.
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Paul Cossum, Ph.D.
Paul Cossum has more than 20 years of experience in the biotechnology industry. He began his career as a scientist in the Pharmacological Sciences Department at Genentech Inc. There he worked on the metabolism and toxicity of recombinant human proteins, as well as peptides, in support of new therapeutics entering clinical trials. Over the next two decades he assumed increasingly broader roles and responsibilities in drug development at Isis Pharmaceuticals, Aronex Pharamceuticals and Newbiotics Pharmaceuticals. Most recently Paul was President and CEO of Proacta Inc., an early stage oncology focused discovery and development company. Much of his experience has focused on the interface between discovery and development, although he has also been responsible for preclinical sections of New Drug Applications (NDAs). Therapeutic areas of knowledge include inflammation, oncology, anti-infectives, cardiovascular, neurology and endocrinology. He has experience with small molecules, recombinant proteins, peptides, oligonucleotides, monoclonal antibodies and gene therapy. Paul holds Bachelor, Masters and PhD degrees from the University of Tasmania, Australia.
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Agustin de la Calle, Ph.D.
Agustin has over 10 years of a professional proven success record, negotiated more than a dozen deals of a wide range of types and has hands-on expertise in working internationally in strategic business roles.
Most recently he served as Vice President of business development at VistaGen Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company applying stem cell technologies to discover, develop and commercialize small molecule drugs and protein therapeutics for diabetes and neurological disorders. He negotiated key licenses, arranged high level meetings with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and directed a number of due diligence processes. Prior to VistaGen he was head of business development at Innate Pharma, S.A. in France, where he lead the negotiating team and moved forward the closing of alliances and licenses that proved to be of strategic importance for the success of the company’s IPO in 2006 and additionally resulted in a commercial product launch in early 2007. In a preceding role at Micromet AG in Munich, Agustin helped establish the licensing program of the IP portfolio around scFv antibodies and accomplished the generation of annual revenues in the single digit million of dollars. His early industrial experience included protein science research and working as a consultant to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in both marketing and business development projects.
He received his M.S. from the Free University of Berlin, Germany, his Ph.D. was awarded from the Free University of Berlin after having performed his research at Harvard Medical School. He conducted his postdoctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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Paulo Rangel
Paulo S. Rangel is experienced in business development, strategy, fund raising and intellectual property management.
Mr. Rangel was a Founder, President & CEO of Lasercure Sciences, a medical device start-up focused on the use of lasers to treat diabetic foot ulcers and pain. Mr. Rangel completed the financing, a diabetic foot ulcer clinical study, two collaborations, and filed two patents (an inventor on both). Before Lasercure, Mr. Rangel was a Founder and Chief Business Officer of 5i Sciences, a start-up focused on a new approach to treat sleep apnea. As CBO, Mr. Rangel was responsible for the company’s intellectual property, finance and general strategy.
Mr. Rangel was the head of Business Development at Arizeke Pharmaceuticals, a respiratory company, from December 2000 to August 2006. While at Arizeke, Mr. Rangel completed license agreements, renegotiated existing agreements and was responsible for intellectual property, business planning, evaluation of new product opportunities and certain financial projects. Prior to joining Arizeke, Mr. Rangel was Director of Business Development at Universal Preservation Technologies from September 1998 to December 2000. Between 1990 and 1998, Mr. Rangel was in the finance department at Hybritech, Inc. and was also involved in the start-up of four biotechnology companies, two of which were successfully acquired by large companies. Earlier, he was at Amgen Inc., focused on the process scale-up of erythropoietin.
Mr. Rangel received a B.A. in chemistry/biochemistry from the University of California at San Diego and an M.B.A. from Duke University.
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ProPharma Partners, United Kingdom
Peter Cozens, Ph.D.
Peter Cozens has worked for more than 27 years in the pharmaceutical industry. He is a scientifically-qualified commercial development professional with broad international experience in both the biotechnology and conventional pharmaceutical sectors of the industry. Experienced in all facets of identifying, negotiating and managing third party agreements in all major territories to facilitate strategic business expansion. Additional responsibility in managing Patents and Trademark functions, including overseeing multinational patent litigation, many cases of which gave rise to seminal patent law, has provided valuable experience in contractual and intellectual property law. Experience also includes management of an export function responsible for sales outside Europe and the US and responsibility for strategic marketing/business information. A molecular geneticist by training on completion of his PhD, in 1978 Peter joined Ciba-Geigy (now Novartis) in Basel, Switzerland as a research scientist. In 1981 he moved to Wellcome Biotechnology Ltd. to work as a senior scientist in Molecular Biology and became leader of Wellcome’s cytokine programme. From 1987 to 1991, whilst still at Wellcome, he worked with Group Patents and Agreements on both patent litigation and licensing activities.
In 1991 he joined Medeva PLC where he became Executive Vice President, Business Development and Intellectual Property and a member of Medeva’s Executive Management Committee. Peter’s major achievement during this period was the building of Medeva’s development pipeline. He was responsible for a series of in-licensing and out-licensing deals and acquisitions including partnerships with Janssen, Connetics Corporation, Targeted Genetics, Peptide Therapeutics, SmithKline Beecham, ML Labs, Aviron, Mayo Medical Ventures, Eurand and Chiroscience. Peter also piloted the Biogen v. Medeva patent case through several courts culminating in the landmark House of Lords decision on the scope of patent claims. He is Chairman of the Intellectual Property Advisory Committee of the UK BioIndustry Association and a Non-Executive Director of Eden BioPharma Limited.
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Geoffrey Kitson, M.D.
Geoff has gained a broad-based international perspective on drug development, from phase I to phase IV, experience of pre-clinical work, and regulatory requirements, since joining the pharmaceutical industry in 1988. He has been involved in the preparation of INDs, CTXs/CTAs, MAAs and other regulatory documents. He has experience in the development of individual clinical studies, clinical trial programmes, running multinational clinical trials and developing clinical strategies. In the last few years he has taken 5 products through to first in man studies, and progressed products through to Phase II/III.
Geoff obtained his medical degree from the University of Nottingham and initially trained and worked in anaesthesiology and intensive care before joining the pharmaceutical industry with Syntex Pharmaceuticals Limited. In various roles at Syntex he worked in a number of therapeutic areas, primarily pain, but also including female health care and cardiology. He was instrumental in the approval of ketorolac in the UK and maintaining the approval throughout Europe. Prior to the take over of Syntex by Roche Geoff worked in the USA, overseeing all ketorolac clinical trials worldwide, including planning the 16,000 patients "SAMM" study undertaken in Europe at the request of he CPMP. Geoff then joined Yamanouchi Pharma as the UK Medical Director. Wishing to move to earlier clinical development he moved to Head of Clinical Development at Chiroscience and then to Director of Exploratory Development World-wide at Medeva.
Before joining ProPharma, Geoff served as a consultant to start up companies offering services in clinical trial development and possible clinical strategies and identifying therapeutics areas for products.
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Donna Hackett
Donna Hackett has spent over 18 years commercialising life science technology through partnering and start-up activity. She is both scientifically qualified and legally qualified as a non-practising barrister.
After a degree in Biochemistry and Diplomas in Management Studies and Marketing she began her career at BTG, a world leader in the commercialisation of novel technologies. At BTG she sourced technologies in the life science field and commercialised them internationally. She then moved to University College London and became head of the life science arm of UCL Ventures, the technology licensing and start-up company. At UCL Ventures she undertook early stage licensing of potential life science products, including medical devices, and was integrally involved in its start-up activity.
In 2001 Donna joined ProPharma. Here she has been involved with in and out partnering of early and late stage products, business strategy and legal, commercial and intellectual property due diligence on potential start-up activity, product and company acquisitions for academic institutions, companies and potential investors.
To date her deals have varied from small biotech to large pharmaceutical companies in Europe, Japan and USA and include AstraZeneca, CR Bard, Sanochemia and Shionogi. Start-up company involvement includes BioVex, Immune Regulation and Ionix and she was a board member of BioVex and FreeMedic, the technology transfer company of The Royal Free Medical School.
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Jill Rasmussen, M.D.
Jill obtained her medical degree from Manchester and has held senior positions in the Pharma Industry in Europe and the US including positions with the Wellcome Foundation, Lundbeck Ltd, UK, SmithKline Beecham, Duphar BV (The Netherlands, now Solvay Pharmaceuticals) & Kali-Duphar Inc (U.S.A., now also part of Solvay). During her time in the industry Jill has worked in the following therapeutic areas, affective disorders (depression, dysthymia); anxiety and phobic states (generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder with and without agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; psychoses (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder); sleep and circadian rhythm disorders; dementia (Alzheimer’s, Lewy Body, vascular); Neurological disorders (Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, migraine, pain). Jill has also gained experience as a Senior Medical Assessor with the UK regulatory agency the MHRA (formerly the MCA).
In 1999 in recognition of her services to CNS research, she was made a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine. From 2002 to 2004, she was the Director of the UK National Neuroscience Institute.
In addition to her work in ProPharma, Jill maintains a part-time clinical commitment as a community specialist in psychiatry and neurology.
She is a member of major international psychopharmacology and neurology organisations and attends relevant conferences to remain at the cutting edge of both the therapeutic areas and developments in worldwide clinical trial methodology and regulatory strategy.
From 2002 to 2004, Jill was a member of the British Association of Psychopharmacology Council. Since 2004 she has been elected to the Board of the International Psychogeriatric Association.
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ProPharma Partners Affiliate, BioLink International, Tokyo
Yasuhiro Takahashi
Yasuhiro Takahashi has more than 25 years experience in pharmaceutical and health-care companies including: management of Japanese business operations of U.S. bio-venture firm, business development and commercialization of biopharmaceuticals & clinical diagnostic tests, clinical development of biopharmaceuticals in Japan, licensing of biopharmaceuticals and clinical diagnostic assays to Japanese firms. Prior to founding Biolink International, Inc., served as President, Nippon Centocor KK, Deputy General Manager, Abbott Japan. Member of Japan Bio-Industry Association, Licensing Executive Society, Japanese Bio-Venture Development Association, Organizing Committee Member of Kanto Area Genome Network, Officer of Pharma Delegates, Council Member of the America-Japan Society.
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Shigefumi Ito
Shigefumi Ito has more than 25 years experience in pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing information industry. Held positions in sales & marketing department in a pharmaceutical company and progressive positions in healthcare marketing information company. Has experience in market evaluation, sales forecasting, pricing analysis, and evaluation of corporate strategic alliances. Served as Director of IMS Japan K.K. Holds BS in Agriculture Chemistry.
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Mitsutoshi Hamano, Ph.D.
Mitsutoshi. Hamano held management positions in the Central Research Institute, and served as Director of Plant Cell Fusion and Biotechnology, Director of Business Development of Kikkoman, Director of Allergen Free Technology Institute, Director of Kikkoman Food Culture Institute and Council Member of Japan Food Science and Engineering Society. Received Ph.D. in Applied Microbiology, University of Tokyo. Graduated from Agricultural Chemistry, Nihon University
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Katsuharu Tsuchida, Ph.D.
Katsuharu Tsuchida has 30 years of experience in Taisho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., and served as Senior Research Scientist at Pharmacology Laboratory, General Manager at R&D Frontier Division and Research Strategy Division. Received Ph.D. in Pharmacy Science from Tokyo University. Graduated from Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Tokyo. Fellow at Technology Transfer and Training, Japan Health Sciences Foundation. Professor of Medicinal Rational Science, Faculty of Pharmacy, Doshisha Women’s College.
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