TeamNigel Ferrey CEO of PrimeDP, Mr. Nigel Ferrey has over three decades of experience as a successful serial entrepreneur, most recently as CEO of Cytomation which ultimately merged with Dako of Denmark to form DakoCytomation. With extensive business and executive management experience worldwide, Mr. Ferrey has previously served as President of CorryHeibert and President of Corry Jamestown Corporation. In 2007, Ferrey and Dr. Ray Takigiku founded bioLOGIC, a biotech accelerator headquartered in the greater Cincinnati area with offices and laboratories throughout North America and the Pacific Rim. Mr. Ferrey has a philosophy of hiring and retaining the "best and brightest" staff which has led to a consistent record of profitability in his numerous business ventures. Ray Takigiku, Ph.D. Dr. Ray Takigiku is an entrepreneurial life sciences executive with substantial experience in the discovery, development and market support of novel drugs. At Procter and Gamble Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Takigiku led and built global R&D functions that helped grow P&G's Health Care segment to almost $8B with double digit earnings, including the discovery, development and launch of the blockbuster osteoporosis drug Actonel. He was also co-director of the Genome Research Institute at the College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati. In 2006, Dr. Takigiku co-founded Bexion Pharmaceuticals, now developing first-in-class oncology products with potential to treat gliomas and other deadly tumors. Margaret van Gilse Margaret is the Vice President of Business Development at PrimeDP with over 25 years of business development and marketing experience for emerging life science companies. Her work includes developing and implementing business and marketing plans, managing government relationships to secure funding, raising investment capital for client companies, and directing drug development projects. Ms. Van Gilse’s experience encompasses management positions in sales, marketing and business development, primarily in the healthcare field, including the pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and e-health markets. In addition to her business strategy expertise, Margaret is emerging as a regulatory expert. Margaret received her B.A. in Biology and Chemistry from Thomas More College and her M.B.A from Xavier University. Charles LeCroix, Ph.D. Dr. LeCroix is Vice President - Asia at PrimeDP with responsibilities for business interests/development and project management in that region. Prior to joining PrimeDP, Dr. LeCroix headed a consulting company from 2001-2007 focused primarily on providing regulatory support for companies interested in Asian markets and technology transfer support between western and Asian companies. This “virtual” organization included regulatory experts located in the 5 major markets in Asia: Japan; China; India; Indonesia and Australia. Dr. LeCroix spent over 26 years in R&D at Procter & Gamble; the vast majority of which was in international during which he spent 10 years in Japan and 2 years in Venezuela. During the 1990s, he headed the regulatory, clinical affairs, human and environmental safety groups for all of the company’s businesses in 14 Asia/Pacific countries; plus the OTC product development efforts in Asia. Dr. LeCroix received his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Alabama and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Rice University in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate, Dr. Robert Curl. Strategic AdvisersNilabh “Neil” Chaudary, Ph.D. Dr. Nilabh Chaudhary is the CEO and Co-Founder of NeoCytex Biopharma, a company that is developing novel small molecule drugs to treat degenerative diseases and injuries of the brain and other tissues. Dr. Chaudhary has 22 years of R&D management and commercialization experience in the biotech industry. Prior to starting NeoCytex in 2006, Dr. Chaudhary served as a Scientific Advisor for ten early stage drug delivery and stem cell therapy companies. Previously, he led the formation of a Cleveland Clinic spinoff, and prior to that, managed drug delivery and development programs at Ribozyme Pharma in Boulder (renamed Sirna, acquired by Merck), Atugen, in Boulder and Berlin (acquired; renamed Silence Therapeutics), and Aronex Pharma in Houston (acquired by Antigenics). Upon receiving his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, Dr. Chaudhary was awarded the Damon Runyon Cancer Fellowship to train in molecular cell biology with Nobel Laureate Günter Blobel at the Rockefeller University in New York. Dr. Chaudhary's multifaceted R&D background includes work on anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and anti-viral drug candidates. He has invented and commercialized some of the most efficient drug delivery systems for in vivo targeting and transport of macromolecular therapeutics. Giovanni Pauletti, Ph.D. Dr. Pauletti is an Associate Professor of Biopharmaceutics & Pharmacokinetics at the James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. His research interests focus on molecular pharmaceutics with an emphasis on membrane transport. Current activities include rational design, fabrication, and evaluation of innovative, non-viral nanocarriers as vectors for targeted drug delivery applications to improve therapeutic efficacy of small molecules, biotechnology drugs, and antitumor agents. Dr. Pauletti has a broad expertise in formulation optimization and is the inventor of 15 U.S. patents and patent applications securing various drug delivery technologies. Dr. Pauletti received both his Ph.D. in Biopharmaceutics/Pharmacokinetics and his B.S. in Pharmacy from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Zurich in Switzerland. |
