Feldan is a biopharmaceutical company that specializes in the development of treatments based on the intracellular delivery of therapeutics. Feldan is behind the design of a proprietary peptide-based technology that enables safe and efficient delivery of various compounds inside cells and hence unlocks the development of a new generation of therapies. Feldan’s pipeline focuses on diseases affecting lungs and skin.
Our team is composed of passionate and highly qualified individuals with combined expertise in chemical engineering, biochemistry, cellular biology, microbiology, business and finance.
Board Member
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.
BOARD MEMBER
Dr. Iain D. Dukes is a Venture Partner at OrbiMed Advisors.
Dr. Dukes previously served as Senior Vice-President and Head of business development and licensing for Merck Research Laboratories. Prior to joining Merck, Dr. Dukes was Vice President of External Research and Development at Amgen. Dr. Dukes has also served as President and CEO, and a member of the Board of Directors, of Essentialis Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of breakthrough medicines for the treatment of rare metabolic diseases.
Previously, Dr. Dukes was Vice-President of Scientific and Technology licensing at GlaxoSmithKline, and prior to that, he held various positions at Glaxo Wellcome, including head of exploratory development for metabolic and urogenital diseases and head of the Ion Channel Drug Discovery Group. Dr. Dukes is Chaiman of Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASQ: IOVA) and serves on the Board of Directors of Themis Biosciences (acquired by Merck & Co), Ikena Oncology, KaNDy Therapeutics (previously as Chairman, acquired by Bayer AG), NeRRe Therapeutics, ReViral Limited, and ENYO Therapeutics. Dr. Dukes co-founded and is Chief Executive Officer of Theseus Pharmaceuticals; co-founded and serves on the Board of Directors of Kartos Therapeutics where he is President; and co-founded Telios Pharma, where he is President and serves on the Board of Directors. He is also Executive Chairman of Angiex.
Dr. Dukes holds an M.A. and D.Phil, from the University of Oxford, an MSc. in Cardiovascular Studies from the University of Leeds, and a B.Sc. in Pharmacology from the University of Bath.
Board Member
Mr. Truex serves as CEO and Chairman for Thryv Therapeutics (Formerly LQT Therapeutics).
Before Thryv 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.
Chairman
Dr. David J. Mazzo is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Lisata Therapeutics (previously Caladrius Biosciences).
Dr. Mazzo is a pharmaceutical executive and strategic leader with more than 35 years of broad international experience developing and launching drug products for both big pharma and emerging pharma in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan. He is also a seasoned board director, having served on the boards of all the companies for which he was CEO, as well as Essex Chemie AG (EU subsidiary of Schering-Plough), Avanir Pharmaceuticals and EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, where he served as chairman of the board until 2018. Dr. Mazzo is the current chairman of the board of Visioneering Technologies, Inc.
Dr. Mazzo earned a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry and an M.S. in Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst), and he completed a research fellowship at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland). He also holds a B.S. (Chemistry) and a B.A. (Honors – Interdisciplinary Humanities) from Villanova University (Pennsylvania).
Board Member & Chief Executive Officer
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.
Board Member
Dr. HoWon Joseph Kim serves as GC Cell's Chief Technology Officer and Internal Director.
He is overseeing the company's research and development. Dr. Kim graduated from the College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University, and completed his master's degree in immunology at the same university before earning his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the School of Medicine, UCLA. Since then, he has led cell therapy research at global biotech companies such as Stemgent, ORIG3N, and STEMCELL Technologies. Most recently, he was co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of K2B Therapeutics, a Boston-based biotechnology company, where he led the development of anti-cancer drugs.
Observer
Gladys Nunez, Director Amgen Ventures, joined Amgen in 1997 and leads investment diligence for corporate ventures including the Amgen Ventures R&D Seed Fund. As part of her portfolio management activities, she is a board observer on Obsidian Therapeutics, Inversago, Kernal Bio, Caraway Therapeutics, Celsius, and Ribometrix. Based in Amgen’s Cambridge, Ma site she is a member of the external outreach team supporting local outreach/incubator activities, and a member of the cross-site leadership team.
Prior to joining Amgen Ventures in 2014, Ms Nunez spent 12 years in Amgen's Business Development group prospecting and negotiating external alliances. Prior to joining Amgen’s Business Development organization, Ms Nunez worked 7 years in R&D, concurrent between Amgen and AstraZeneca. She holds an MSc in Biochemical Pharmacology from the University of Southampton in England, and BSc from Marist College in Pre-Med.
As an active member of the Mass Bio community, Ms Nunez is a board member and treasurer of Latinos in Bio, a non-profit sponsored by Mass Bio to increase the role of Latinos in the life sciences including career development, education and healthcare disparities. She is also a member of Women in Bio supporting women’s entrepreneurial development and increasing presence of women in venture capital careers.
We are owners of Feldan’s future. We stake our reputation on the excellence of our work and take ownership of everything we do to meet our business needs, improve our systems and help others grow. We are Feldan!
Having fun and enjoying our work bring out the best of us, which is essential to our mission. We celebrate successes and gather as a team to make Feldan a great place to work.
We work as a team to promote optimal efficiency and performance in all our activities. We take pride in having a highly diverse team of people whose complementary backgrounds make us a unique and innovative company.
Feldan Therapeutics is supported by a group of firms that contribute to the success of our mission.
Chairman at Feldan Therapeutics
Chairman – Feldan Therapeutics
Angel (Biotech specialist)
President – Biopharmacopae Design Int. – 2000-2005
President – Biogenie – 1986-2006
Master’s degree – Biology – 1984-1986
General Manager at GreenCross Holdings
CEO
VP - Scientific affairs and Operaitions at Paladin Labs
Chief R&D Officer at Kodikaz Therapeutic Solutions
Jean-Michel is an accomplished drug development executive. Starting as a director of clinical pharmacology at Aventis (and predecessor companies), and 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 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) and are a testament both of his strong scientific education, and his focus on driving projects forward. Most recently Jean-Michel Gries led the Early Phase organization aka the translational medicine arm of PAREXEL.
As a business executive, Dr, Gries helped create 9 companies (2 of which are now public) via 26 assets acquisition 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 Profits Boards of Directors.
Dr. Gries has had exposure over a broad set of disease area, Oncology, Inflammation & Pain, CNS, Metabolism, Cardio-Renal, Anti-Infectives (including HIV and HCV), Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Genito-Urinary, GastroEnterology. Dr. Gries joined Covance in 2012 as the General Manager for Early Clinical Development, an organization dedicated to help companies achieve their major clinical and investment decision through efficient Proof of Concept or in patient studies. He built and grew this organization to a very successful business, winning 3 Business Unit of the Year Award. In 2016, Dr Gries joined PAREXEL International to lead the transformation of its Early Phase Organization which grew 26%.
Dr. Jean-Michel Gries has a PharmD, and a PhD in pharmacokinetics from Rene Descartes University in Paris, a Master in Statistics and a doctoral degree in Analytical Chemistry. He is a Clinical Pharmacology fellow with numerous assignments both in adult and pediatric medicine and a post-doctoral fellowship from UC San Francisco. He also completed a MBA with a Major in Finance and concentration in entrepreneurial Leadership from the Wharton School.
Dr. Gries is the author of more than 30 papers and communications. He has been a fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology since 2001, served on its Finance Committee and on its Board of Regents, and is a reviewer for JCP. He is also a long time member of ASCPT and a Member of its Board of Director. Jean-Michel is also a member of ASCO.
Executive Chairman of the Board at Anthera
Mr. Truex currently serves as the Executive Chairman of the Board. He served as Director and Chief Executive Officer since the inception of Anthera in 2004 through 2016. He was responsible for negotiating Anthera’s product licenses for both blisibimod, our anti-BAFF peptibody program from Amgen, and recently, Sollpura™(liprotamase), a novel enzyme replacement product, from Eli Lilly and Company. During his career Mr. Truex has been involved with over $500 million in private, public and debt financings and over $1 billion in various strategic in-licensing, out-licensing and merger/acquisition transactions including initial public offerings for Trius Therapeutics (Board Member, 2010), Anthera (CEO, 2010), Peninsula Pharmaceuticals (2004), and Versicor (Vice President, 2000).
Prior to founding Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Truex served as a Founder, Director, President and CEO of Peninsula Pharmaceuticals. During that time Mr. Truex negotiated both of Peninsula’s product agreements with Shionogi & Co., Ltd. (Doribax®, doripenem) and Takeda Chemical Industries (Teflaro®, ceftaroline). Peninsula was acquired by Johnson and Johnson for $245 million in an all cash transaction. The remaining entity, Cerexa was subsequently acquired in $480 million in cash.
Prior to Peninsula, Mr. Truex was Vice President of Commercial Development for Versicor Incorporated (acquired by Pfizer) where he directed early commercial efforts for their infectious disease portfolio and participated in the company’s successful $55 million initial public offering.
Prior to joining Versicor, Mr. Truex worked at Eli Lilly and Company where he served in various marketing and sales roles during the launch of three different products for the primary care physician market (Actos®’ Evista®’ and Humalog 75/25®). His business development experience includes the Lilly ICOS LLC joint venture for the development of Cialis® two major product divestitures (anidulafungin, Eraxis® and loracarbef, Lorabid®) and and numerous research collaborations.
Mr. Truex obtained his Masters of Business Administration in Marketing and Finance from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Waterloo. Mr. Truex sits on the Indiana University West Coast Advisory Board for the Johnson Center of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, is a member of the Board of Directors of Milestone Pharmaceuticals Limited (Chairman) and involved as an advisor to a number of early stage ventures in multiple industries. His past board appointments include Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, Trius Therapeutics, and Protagonist Therapeutics.
Dr. Rhodes is a pharmaceutical technologist with experience in product development of complex formulations and delivery systems including sustained release injectable, pulmonary inhalation aerosol, nasal spray, transdermal patch, and oral formulations for biopharmaceutical products and small molecules. He played a key role in the development of commercial products Byetta, Lusedra, Bydureon, Myalept, and Afrezza and was leader of product development at Amydis Diagnostics, SKS Ocular, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Guilford Pharmaceuticals, and Mannkind Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Rhodes is President & CEO of Drug Delivery Experts, a company he founded in 2014 to develop biologics delivery systems through contract R&D and in-house programs. Dr. Rhodes has a PhD in physical organic chemistry from UCLA, a BS in chemistry from NYU, and was a Post Doc at Yale University.
Consultant in Drug Development
Luc Vachon, Ph.D. has over 30 years of experience in drug development, covering all phases and including translating preclinical research into first-in-humans Phase I and early proof-of-concept Phase II studies in patients, large multicentre Phase III and registration trials. His scientific, clinical, regulatory and corporate experience has been acquired through programs conducted in Canada, USA and Europe, encompassing various therapeutic areas such as neurology, endocrinology, pulmonology, inflammatory bowel diseases, mitochondrial disorders as well as oncology. He worked in two multinational pharmaceutical organizations (now Novartis and Sanofi), a public biotechnology company (Theratechnologies), a start-up company (Asmacure), two CROs (Cato Research, NEOMED LABS), as well as with numerous private and academic Canadian, American or European clients as independent consultant. He has held positions such as Manager of Clinical Research, Global Product Team Leader, Executive VP of R&D, Managing Director, President and CEO. He has also been active in the “biopharmaceutical” sector as member or chairman of boards of directors as well as of scientific and clinical advisory boards. He has given lectures in the academia and a number of corporate forums in Canada, USA Europe and China, and has served on several review committees and panels in Canada and USA. He has also participated in raising private and public funding for early stage companies and academic organizations. He obtained his B.Sc. from University of Sherbrooke, his Ph.D. from the Faculty of Medicine of Laval University (Quebec City, Canada), and conducted post-doctoral training in neuropharmacology at the Max-Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich (Germany) and in neurophysiology at the Centre for Research in Neurological Sciences, University of Montreal (Canada). He is author or co-author of more than 75 publications or communications in basic or clinical research.
2666, Boul. du Parc Technologique, Suite 290
Quebec, Qc, Canada,
G1P 4S6
Phone: 1-418-872-7277
Email: info@feldan.com