Benoît Cyr serves as the Executive Chairman of Feldan since 2012, as a member of the board at Kalgen Pharmaceutical since 2017 and as an angel investor at Anges Québec since 2012.
Mr. Cyr was the President and Co-Founder of Biogenie Corporation and Biopharmacopae Design International. Biogenie, a company specialized in site remediation and organic waste management was acquired by Englobe in 2006, while Biopharmacopae was involved in discovery and development of new active ingredients derived from plant extracts. Mr. Cyr’s work with Biopharmacopae led to the discovery and development of MMPs and cathepsin inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. He currently holds patents related to the treatment of contaminated soils and active therapeutic ingredients derived from plant extracts.
Through the years, Mr. Cyr invested in more than twenty start-ups specialized in biotechnology, drug development, medical devices (Cadence, Imagia, Incentia, Kalgene, Laurent Pharmaceuticals, Inversago), and additional industries. He also served on many boards of directors across those sectors.
Mr. Cyr obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural and food engineering from Laval University in Quebec City.
Dr. Sungyong Won currently serves as VP of Alliance Management of Artiva Biotherapeutics, where he is leading collaboration with GC Holdings & Lab Cell for cell and gene therapy.
Dr. Won has over 10 years of experience in the biotech industry. Before joining Artiva, he was a General Manager at GC Holdings & GC Lab Cell (Korea), where he led investments for biopharmaceutical and healthcare companies as a Strategic Investor. He has also been in charge of R&D Strategy and Planning for Cell & Gene Therapy as a project manager.
Prior to GC, Dr. Won was a Senior Scientist at HealthCare Institute of CJ Cheil-Jedang in Korea where he led Vaccine R&D as Head of the Vaccine Group and was responsible for various human vaccine development programs.
Dr. Won holds a BS in Biology and a MS in Microbiology from Kyung Hee University in Korea, in addition to a PhD in Microbiology & Immunology from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Dr. Won was a postdoctoral fellow at the Scripps Research Institute at La Jolla.
Mr. Hyunki Kim is a Senior Manager at Stonebridge Ventures.
Mr. Kim joined Stonebridge Ventures in March 2018. He worked at the Dong-A Biotech Research Center for 8 years as a scientist for Dong-A Biosimilars and has served as a senior manager on the Global Business Development team at Dong-A for 3 years.
Prior to Stonebridge Ventures, Mr. Kim worked at NS Investment, affiliated with Dong-A, where he was involved in global biotech ventures and now is focusing on investments related to healthcare in Stonebridge Ventures.
Mr. Kim received a B.S. in Biotechnology from Sungkyunkawn University and a M.A. in Biochemical Engineering from Seoul National University. He was also a visiting scholar at the University of Minnesota.
Mr. Truex serves as Executive Chairman for LQT Therapeutics.
Before LQT Therapeutics, Mr. Truex recently served as the Executive Chairman, Director, and Chief Executive Officer of Anthera Pharmaceuticals.
Mr. Truex has been involved in over $5 billion in biotech financing and strategic transactions. His recent experience includes initial public offerings for Milestone (Board Member, 2019), Trius (Board Member, 2010), Anthera (CEO, 2010), Peninsula (CEO, 2004), and Versicor (Vice President, 2000). Mr. Truex was Founder, President, and CEO of Peninsula Pharmaceuticals which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson and Forest for more than $700 million.
Mr. Truex began his biotech career at Eli Lilly where his business development experience included the Lilly ICOS joint venture for the development of Cialis®. Mr. Truex is a member of the Board of Milestone (MIST), Cymabay (CBAY), Anthera (ANTH), and Gladius.
Mr. Truex obtained his MBA from Indiana University and a BA in Economics from the University of Waterloo.
Dr. Robert Wills is the Chairman of Cymabay Therapeutics’ Board of Directors since October 2015 and has been a member of the Board since March, 2015.
Dr. Wills has more than 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and spent over 25 years at Johnson & Johnson, where he held positions as Senior Vice President of Global Development, Vice President of Alliance Management and member of the R&D Board of Directors. He has been responsible for the R&D pipeline and for managing strategic alliances for the Pharmaceutical Group worldwide, playing an active role in the negotiations of these alliances. Dr. Wills also served on several of the Company Boards and key decision-making committees. He began his career at Hoffmann-LaRoche where he spent 10 years in several roles of scientific responsibility.
Dr. Wills holds a B.S. in Biochemistry and an M.S. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Wisconsin, and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Texas.
Dr. Jean De Serres currently serves as Vice President of Scientific Affairs and Operations at Paladin Labs
Dr. De Serres was previously CEO at Héma-Quebec, where he launched the production of stem cells, including the launch of a new plant. He was named Manager of the Year in 2003 for his success in cost efficiency and development. He is a former VP of R&D, Regulatory Affairs and In-Licensing for Jubilant/Draximage/HolisterStier where he led the development and launch of products in imaging, oncology, and immunology.
Dr. De Serres contributed to the founding of various biotech companies, including MedDiscovery SA (2006), a Swiss firm developing new medications against urogenital cancers, as well as Biomilestones Inc. (2008) and Gestion BD, marketing consulting firms for biopharmaceuticals.
Dr. De Serres is a board member of MedDiscovery, Cadens Medical Imaging and has previously served on the board of multiple organizations such as BioQuebec, Montreal InVivo, and the Canadian College of Family Physicians.
From 1999 to 2005, he was Medical Director and General Manager at CSL Behring with sales mostly in hematology and immunology. From 1996 to 1999, he was Director of Public Health in the Ottawa area. He was previously in charge of teaching units at McGill University and a practicing physician in emergency and family medicine.
In addition to his training in medicine, Dr. De Serres has a master’s degree in Community Health and an MBA in Bio-Industry Management from UQAM.
Dr. François-Thomas Michaud serves as the Chief Executive Officer at Feldan Therapeutics and is a co-founder of the company.
Dr. Michaud co-founded and became CEO of Feldan in 2007 while completing his PhD degree in chemical engineering. At the time, the company was mainly active in the production and international distribution of bioreagents. In parallel with sales activities, Dr. Michaud and Feldan’s team worked on a research project that led to the inception of proprietary cell-penetrating technology: the Feldan Shuttle. Over the years, Dr. Michaud’s value-creating vision has shaped the business model of the company, which now focuses exclusively on therapeutic development.
Dr. Michaud is actively engaged in corporate, academic, and entrepreneurial communities of the Province of Quebec and Canada as an administrator, speaker, and mentor. He is also a board member of Bio-Québec, Ag Biocentre and Entrepreneurial Laval.
Dr. Chris Rhodes is CEO and founder of Drug Delivery Experts.
Dr. Rhodes is a pharmaceutical scientist with over 25 years of experience in developing complex formulations and delivery systems including long-acting injectables (PLGA (Poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) and non-PLGA systems), formulations for peptides, proteins, antibodies, oligonucleotides, and small molecules. He played a key role in the development of various commercial products including Byetta, Lusedra, Bydureon (PLGA microspheres), Myalept, and Afrezza, and was an R&D leader at Amydis Diagnostics, SKS Ocular (PLGA microfabrication platform), Amylin, Guilford (Gliadel wafer PLGA microsphere, and polyphosphoester polymer platform), and Mannkind.
Dr Rhodes was Drug Development Team Leader for a propofol prodrug and an NCE for peripheral neuropathy at Guilford. He led translational research on delivery systems for exenatide, including nasal, pulmonary, and oral administration, as well as transdermal microporation technologies, evaluating several delivery systems in clinical studies.
Dr Rhodes is a founder of Sensulin, CASS Pharmaceuticals, and Baywind Bioventures, companies developing drug-delivery-enabled pharmaceutical assets.
He has a PhD in Chemistry (UCLA), a BS in cChemistry (NYU), and was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale.
Dr. Jean-Michel Gries is the Chief Research and Development Officer at Kodikaz.
Dr. Gries is an accomplished drug development executive. Starting as a director of clinical pharmacology at Aventis (and predecessor companies), he then became the Head of Clinical Pharmacology for Hoffmann-La Roche. He joined Alcon as the Head of R&D for the Pharmaceutical Products Division, in which capacity he led the transformation of the organization to support a more innovative mechanism of actions for the treatment of ocular diseases, leading all activities from research to registration. His successes in the drug development space cover both early stage (with over 275 INDs) and late stage (15+ NDAs, 7 ANDAs).
As a business executive, Dr. Gries helped create 9 companies (2 of which are now public) via 26 asset acquisitions and led them early on, in a venture capital company specialized in the creation and incubation of biotechnology startups. He has extensive licensing experience from both Roche (member of the licensing committee) and Aventis (oncology and CNS licensing committee) and Alcon (Board level). Dr. Gries also served on private companies and not-for-profit boards of directors.
Dr. Gries has had exposure over a broad set of disease areas: oncology, inflammation and pain, the central nervous system, metabolism, cardio-renal syndrome, anti-infectives (including HIV and HCV), dermatology, ophthalmology, genito-urinary, gastro-enterology. Dr. Gries joined Covance in 2012 as the General Manager for Early Clinical Development. This organization is dedicated to helping companies reach major clinical and investment decisions through efficient proofs of concept or in-patient studies. In 2016, Dr. Gries joined Parexel International as the General Manager and Strategic Business Unit Leader of its early phase organization (a.k.a. the translational medicine arm of Parexel) in order to lead its transformation.
Dr. Gries has a PharmD, and a PhD in pharmacokinetics from Rene Descartes University in Paris, a master’s in Statistics and a doctoral degree in Analytical Chemistry. He also completed an MBA with a Major in Finance and concentration in Entrepreneurial Leadership from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Robert Wills is the Chairman of Cymabay Therapeutics’ Board of Directors since October 2015 and has been a member of the Board since March, 2015.
Dr. Wills has more than 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and spent over 25 years at Johnson & Johnson, where he held positions as Senior Vice President of Global Development, Vice President of Alliance Management and member of the R&D Board of Directors. He has been responsible for the R&D pipeline and for managing strategic alliances for the Pharmaceutical Group worldwide, playing an active role in the negotiations of these alliances. Dr. Wills also served on several of the Company Boards and key decision-making committees. He began his career at Hoffmann-LaRoche where he spent 10 years in several roles of scientific responsibility.
Dr. Wills holds a B.S. in Biochemistry and an M.S. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Wisconsin, and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Texas.
Dr. Webb is the Vice President, Translational Science at Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Webb has over 25 years of drug discovery and development experience in both industrial and academic settings, with a focus on the conduct and management of translational preclinical studies supporting the entry of novel drugs into clinical trials. This expertise includes an extensive background in vivo efficacy, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetic studies, ADME/biodistribution studies, non-GLP and GLP toxicology studies, drug combination studies and natural products. Dr. Webb also has expertise in the regulatory requirements for novel oncology in clinical testing and has initiated and managed Phase I and II cancer clinical trials. Collectively, Dr. Webb has more than 90 published research articles, including 32 patents (seven granted) and is the co-inventor of Marqibo®, FDA approved for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, plus five novel drugs in advanced preclinical and clinical testing by three different US-based companies.
