Derek Ren
Zhixiong Ye
Jie Wang
Brian Hubbard
Charles Daniel Meyers
Chen Chen
Jianhua Cai
Litian Yeh
Michael Serrano-Wu
Shunqi Yan
Sheldon Cao
Yimin Zou
Yiwei Zong
Wang Shen
Zengquan Wang
Dr. Ren obtained his Ph.D. degree in animal science from Michigan State University in the U.S. and was a post-doctoral research associate at the Department of Biochemistry at Michigan State University. Dr. Ren has over 10 years of experience as a principal scientist and research project leader at Pfizer Global Research and Development. He has approximately 10 years of experience in the industry. He has successfully developed 4 drugs and has more than 10 papers published in core journals.
Dr. Ye graduated with his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Minnesota. Prior to working at Viva Biotech, Dr. Ye was a Senior Research Fellow at Merck. While at Merk, he was twice awarded the Merck Research Recognition Award (2006 and 2005) and the Award of Excellence, Merck & Co., Inc. (2004).
He has over 14 years of drug discovery experience with 26 published papers and 20 patents. He is the inventor of the cancer drug Ivosidenib which is now in clinical phase III. He is also one of the inventors of the leukemia drug Idhifa. He guided and participated in nine cancer, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular, and endocrine clinical drug candidates. Two are currently in the IND stage and one has been approved for the US market.
Highlights
• Developed from early screening hits and delivered five drug candidates into pre-clinical safety and clinical studies for the treatment of obesity and type-2 diabetes.
• Led the early efforts in target validation and lead identification for programs targeting endocrine, CNS, and metabolic diseases (e.g. growth hormone secretagogue receptor agonists, MC4 antagonists, MTP agonists, and MOR antagonists).
• Led chemistry efforts in designing, synthesizing and characterizing small molecule leads utilizing computer-facilitated drug-design and medicinal chemistry principles. Performed chemical library synthesis for the rapid lead generation in early phase drug-discovery.
• Designed libraries of compounds to enhance the molecular diversity of Merck's sample collection. Worked with outside vendors to implement and complete library synthesis.
• Managed and supervised Ph.D., M.Sc., and B.Sc. level chemists. Provided regular mentoring, scientific direction, and performance assessments.
• Coordinated collaborations in multi-disciplinary project teams with chemists, biologists, and other scientists.
Dr. Wang graduated from Gunma University with his Ph.D. in the field of Molecular Medicine, Islet biology, and diabetes and did his Postdoc studies at the University of Chicago. He then went on to be an Assistant Professor at the Ohio State University where he worked in the Department of Internal Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology with a focus on Diabetes & Metabolism. While at Ohio State University, Dr. Wang was one of the key researchers in developing a novel methodology to study the early post-translational process of an insulin precursor.
Before working with Viva Biotech, Dr. Wang was a Principal Scientist with Eli Lilly where he led projects focusing on protein and small molecule medicine for treatment of diabetes and/or NASH and brought 2 projects to the portfolio/pipeline.
Dr. Brian Hubbard is a former Senior Director in Merck and was a Director at the Broad Institute Medical Research Center. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois and did his Postdoctoral Research at Harvard Medical School as an Armenise Foundation Fellow. Dr. Hubbard has published 85 papers in core scientific journals.
Dr. Hubbard has over 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. He has directed research and development efforts at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, and Merck, and recently built an industry-facing group at the Broad Institute. He has a proven track record of delivering therapies to the clinic and has founded several biotechnology companies.
His previous entrepreneurial experience includes:
• 3 Point Bio, LLC (CEO) – A consulting company assisting groups globally on the execution of drug discovery programs.
• Dogma Therapeutics, Inc. (CEO) – A biotech company focused on discovery and development of small molecule PCSK9 inhibitors.
• Tabomedex Biosciences, Inc. (CEO) – A biotech company focused on novel Diabetes therapies.
• ApoLo1 Bio, LLC (Manager) – A biotech company focused on novel Kidney Disease therapies.
• Flash Therapeutics, LLC (Manager) – A biotech company focused on novel therapies for Acute Myeloid Leukemia
• Calira Biosciences, LLC (Manager) – A biotech company focused on novel Diabetes and Heart Failure therapies.
• Twin Lantern Bio, LLC (Manager) – A biotech company focused on novel Influenza therapies.
• San Therapeutics, LLC (Manager) – A biotech company focused on novel Cardiovascular therapies.
• Zing Bio, LLC (Manager) – A biotech company focused on novel Diabetes therapies.
Dr. Meyers received his Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from the Brigham Young University. After graduation, he moved to the University of Washington School of Medicine where he received his Doctor of Medicine. He completed his medical residency in the Internal Medicine Residency Program at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He completed his studies at University of Washington School of Medicine with a medical fellowship in Metabolism, Endocrinology, and Nutrition.
Dan Meyers has led over 40 clinical studies ranging from first-in-human Phase 1 studies to pivotal Phase 3 and post-approval programs.
He began his career as a staff physician at the Long Beach VA Medical Center where he conducted basic science research and clinical research involving mechanisms and treatments of dyslipidemia and diabetes as well as being an attending physician at a general endocrinology clinic and a specialized lipid clinic. He then went on to be a Director in the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research as a Senior Translational Medicine Expert. While at Novartis he designed and conducted first in human and proof of concept clinical trials involving novel drugs for diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and related metabolic disease, was the lead for diabetes strategy within translational medicine and was the Chair of the scientific review committee (protocol review committee) for all general medicine studies within NIBR. After spending 11 years working for Novartis, Dr. Meyers became the Head of Product Development at the Janssen Human Microbiome Institute.
Dr. Chen has a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, China. He did a post-doc at Texas A&M University with Nobel Laureate, Professor Sir Derek H. R. Barton, and a post-doc at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Dr. Chen spent 15 years at Neurocrine as Scientist to Senior Director of Medicinal Chemistry. In his research and management positions at Neurocrine, Dr. Chen achieved many outstanding scientific and industrial accomplishments, including development of two small molecule antagonists, NBI-42902 and elagolix (aka NBI-56418), of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor into clinical studies, the later was approved by US FDA for endometriosis. He designed, synthesized and developed NBI-30775 (R121919), a small molecule antagonist of the corticotrophin-releasing factor receptor as the first-in-class compound advanced into clinical trials for depression/anxiety. Dr. Chen also discovered NBI-31772, the first small molecule inhibitor for the insulin-like growth factor-I/IGF-binding protein. In addition, Dr. Chen identified the first selective antagonist of the melanocortin-5 receptor, and discovered numerous agonists and antagonists for the melanocortin-4 receptor for eating disorders. Dr. Chen Chen served as Sundia's Senior Vice President from 2009, and was appointed as CEO of Sundia in 2012. Dr. Chen started ABM Therapeutics in 2015 focusing neuro-oncology and drug resistance.
Dr. Chen has extensive experience in CNS drug research. His knowledge also includes oncology and cancer signal pathway. His research interests extend to clinic and preclinical pharmacokinetics of small molecules and the relationship with their chemical properties.
Dr. Chen has so far published near 130 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals such as J. Am. Chem. Soc., J. Org. Chem., J. Med. Chem., and J. Biol. Chem. He has written numerous review articles on the topics of drug discovery and medicinal chemistry. He is the co-inventor of over 26 US patents. He has been invited to give presentations in numerous scientific conferences such as the Gorden Research Conference of Medicinal Chemistry and the ACS National Meeting.
Dr. Jinhua Cai received his Ph. D. from the Shanghai Institute of Medicine and was a Chinese Academy of Science Postdoctoral Fellow at Fudan University. Dr. Cai worked with a fellow scientist to create the first structural biology research platform in China and opened one of the first biotech CROs in Shanghai.
He has 11 years of working experience in the Chinese pharmaceutical R&D industry and served as an executive for a CRO company for 9 years. He has rich experience as a team leader and in company operations.
Litain Yeh, Ph.D. has a fruitful career with 25 years of experience covering clinical development, clinical pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, drug metabolism, and toxicology. During that time, he led multiple teams in developing gout, anti-virus (AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C), anti-tumor, and central Nervous system drugs. Many of drugs he participated in developing recieved FDA approval and are listed in the United States. Two important drugs where Dr. Yeh was a key leader include Lesinurad which was acquired by AstraZeneca for $1.2 B USD and the anti-tumor entrectinib which was acquired by Roche Pharmaceuticals for $1.7 B USD. Through this work, Dr. Yeh has obtained a deep understanding of the requirements of both the FDA and the EMA (European Medicines Agency). He has been responsible for presentation and due diligence activities at various scientific conferences, investor meetings to facilitate business, and asset transfers with large pharmaceutical companies.
Dr. Serrano-Wu received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard University. Has over 15 years of experience working for companies like Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, and the Broad Institute.
At Bristol-Myers Squibb, he discovered symmetrical stilbene-based NS5A inhibitors that interfere with HCV replication. This effort broke open the field of NS5A inhibitors (i.e. daclatasvir), giving HCV patients access to an all-oral regimen for HCV cure. While at Novartis he co-led an effort that identified pradigastat (Phase III), a novel DGAT1 inhibitor for the treatment of familial chylomicronemia syndrome and other metabolic disorders. Most recently at the Broad Institute, he tackled “undruggable” targets like MCL1 and PCSK9 that derive exceptional target validation from human genetics.
Dr. Serrano-Wu is the inventor of two potential drugs:-Daklinza Dacacetin is the world's leading NS5A inhibitor for the treatment of hepatitis C, now available and Pradigastat, the world's leading DGAT1 inhibitor for the treatment of hypertriglyceridemia, which is currently in phase III clinical trials.
Shunqi Yan, Ph.D. has 17 years of experience in drug design, pharmaceutical chemistry, computational chemistry and led multidisciplinary teams in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals in the United States.
Dr. Yan is known for his many achievements in drug design. He was a key participant in the design and discovery of seven clinical drugs including two first-in-class drugs approved by the FDA for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), idhifa (Enasidenib) and tibsovo (Ivosidenib) as well as a first-in-class drug in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of PKR deficiency, AK-348. Idhifa won the 2018 Prix Galien USA Award in "Best Pharmaceutical Product". The Prix Galien is considered worldwide as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in biopharmaceutical and medical technology research. Dr. Yan is also an inventor of more than 200 global patent filings.
Spearheading Eubulus is researcher Dr. Sheldon Cao. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Chemistry from Peking University in 1980‘s, then received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from the University of Konstanz in 1991. He has nearly 30 years of management and practical expertise in drug development. This includes research and development experience in world-renowned companies such as Takeda Pharmaceutical. His research area include anti-tumor, anti-viral, metabolic diseases, and inflammation. He is the co-inventor of more than 20 issued patents. As of today, two drugs he was responsible for have been approved by the FDA to enter the market, while several others have entered clinical trials.
Previously, Dr. Cao worked as the CEO for Zova Biotherapeutics Inc. He established a high-quality R&D team and led the team to develop a technology platform for antibody-conjugated drugs (ADC), applied to begin clinical trials for a new drug (ZV0203) both in the USA and China.
Yimin Zouis currently Professor of Neurobiology at University of California, San Diego. Yimin Zou graduated from Shanghai Fudan University and was a CUSBEA (China and United States Biochemistry Examination and Application Program) student and received his Ph.D. from University of California, Davis and San Diego, in 1995. He did his postdoctoral fellowship at University of California, San Francisco from 1996 to 2000 and was an Assistant and Associate Professor at the University ofChicago from 2000 to 2006. After receiving tenure at the University of Chicago, he moved to UCSD in July, 2006 and rose to Professor in 2011. He served as Vice Chair of the Neurobiology Section from 2012-2014 and Chair of the Neurobiology Section from 2014-2017. Yimin Zou has made several fundamental discoveries onthe development, function and diseases of the nervous system. His lab discovered the conserved guidance molecules for axon wiring in development and that these same guidance molecules inhibit axon growth after spinal cord injury.He lab recently uncovered the key signaling mechanisms for glutamatergic synapse formation and function, which will lead to major breakthroughs in treatment of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. He founded VersaPeutics and VersaChem, located in San Diego, California, to develop first-in-class therapies for spinal cord injury.
Yiwei Zong is an experienced investor and entrepreneur and leads the corporate strategy of Anji. He previously served as Partner of a life sciences VC fund, where he led a number of high-return investments. He also brings Fortune 500 experience to operational planning and M&A activity.
Yiwei received his Ph.D. in Biomedicine from the University of Pennsylvania and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Dr. Wang Shen graduated with his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburg. After graduation, he stayed in the US and spent more than 20 years working as a senior research scientist at the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center as well as Abbott, Amgen, Sunnesis, and Kanion USA. While there, he was responsible for bringing numerous drugs to clinical stages and had two drugs approved by the FDA.
Dr. Shen is the inventor of Xiidra® (lifitegrast ophthalmic solution) and the leukemia drug VENCLEXTATM. He has over 40 publications and 44 patents to his name. Once he returned to China, he was the recipient of the national "Thousand Talents" award. Today Dr. Shen is the Founder and CEO of Viva Vision and a CSO of the Viva Biotech accelerators.
Highlights
· Principle inventor of Lifitegrast (SAR1118), a potent LFA-1 inhibitor, approved by the FDA to treat dry eye disease. Initiated and led the project, also led the discovery of SAR1119 while at Sunesis
· Key contributor to Venetoclax (ABT-199/GDC-0199), a selective BCL-2 inhibitor, approved by FDA in 2016 to treat certain types of leukemia. Initiated and led the project to Ki <1 nM before leaving Abbott, built a solid foundation for the discovery of ABT-199. Key contributor to Navitoclax (ABT-263), an orally available inhibitor of Bcl-2/Bcl-XL/Bcl-w. Co-inventor of ABT-747 Bcl-2/Bcl-XL/Bcl-w inhibitor
· Led the discovery of SNS-314, a pan-Aurora kinase inhibitor
· Co-led the discovery AMG-853, a potent and balanced dual antagonist to DP and CRTH2
· Co-inventor of ABT-839, a farnesyl transferase inhibitor
· Led the discovery of NT-113, a pan-ErbB inhibitor with high brain exposure, in IND enabling by NewGen Therapeutics (Menlo Park, California), intended for brain cancer and brain metastasis of other cancers
· Led the discovery of KU-004, KU-112, KU-125, and KU-420
· Co-author of over 40 peer-reviewed publications and in Co-inventor of over 40 patents (issued applications)
· Developed & published numerous well-adopted synthetic methodologies
Dr. Wang graduated from Washington State University with his Ph.D. He then went to work with Pfizer as a Research Fellow and then as a PI for AstraZeneca. He was the only Chinese scientist who held the R7 commission in the Department of Inflammatory Immunology at the St. Louis R&D Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
He has been a senior executive in Viva Biotech for four years and founded Technoderm in 2015 where his also the CEO.
