Anarug holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. Anurag Bagaria is the Chairman & CEO of Kemwell Biopharma, India's largest biopharmaceutical CDMO providing customized process development, product development and manufacturing solutions to global biopharmaceutical companies. Anurag joined Kemwell in 2004 as a second-generation entrepreneur and became Chairman in 2010. He expanded Kemwell's facilities in India, Sweden and the U.S., providing CDMO services for small and large molecule drugs for global markets. In 2017, he leg the sale of Kemwell's small-molecule services business to Recipharm AB.
Anurag also services on the Board of Stempeutics, a company developing stem-cell based therapeutics, and is a board observer on Apexigen Inc, a clinical-developer of antibody therapeutics against cancer, among other drug-development startups that he is actively involved with.
William J. Rutter, Ph.D. is an investor in and strategic advisor to ProLynx. Currently, Dr. Rutter is Founder, Chairman and CEO of Synergenics, LLC, which controls a consortium of companies with different but complimentary approaches to diagnosis, prevention and treatment on worldwide basis. Previously, Dr. Rutter was co-founder and chairman of Chiron Corporation, a major biotechnology company which is well known for the develoopment of recombinant DNA-based vaccines, including Hepatitis B, and for the discovery of Hepatitis C, the first sequencing of the HIV-AIDS virus. Chiron pioneered the development of quantitative DNA-based diagnostic tests measuring viral load, which has played a major role in protecting the blood supply, and also in developing drugs for treatment of these diseases. Chiron was acquired in two stages by Novartis and its antecedent company Ciba-Geigy. Dr. Rutter has served on boards of Novartis and several Biotech companies. Dr. Rutter is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Rutter has published 381 scientific articles and holds 26 patents and patent applications. Previously, Dr. Rutter served as Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UCSF. His lab made key contributions to biotechnology and recombinant DNA technology, including cloning of the human insulin gene and a process for producing insulin in yeast now widely used by Novonordisk and other companies manufacturing insulin for human use. In addition, yeast was employed in the production of a virus-like particle for Hepatitis B, which is used in the manufacture of a Hepatitis B vaccine.
Dr. Santi received a Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from SUNY in 1967 and a M.D. from UCSF in 1981. He was Assistant Professor of Chemistry at UCSF from 1968 to 1974. He joined the UCSF faculty in 1974 and was Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics, and of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at UCSF until 2000 when he became CEO of Kosan Biosciences. He returned to UCSF in 2007 where he served as interim Director of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute and then Director of Translational Research at QB3. He was Associate Dean for External Relationships in the SOP from 2009-2019 and managed a successful Industry Outreach Program. Dr. Santi has published over 325 scientific papers and is co-inventor on over 40 US Patents.
Dan Santi was a member of the original Scientific Advisory Board of Chiron Corp. and has co-founded five biotechnology companies In 1988, he founded and was Chairman of the peptide-combinatorial chemistry company Protos Corp., which merged with Chiron in 1992. He was a co-founder of Parnassus Pharmaceuticals, and of Prospect Genomics that merged with Structural Genomix in 2001. In 1996, he co-founded Kosan Biosciences where he served as CEO and Chairman until 2006; Kosan was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb. During his tenure as CEO the company went public (NASDAQ), and found oncology compounds were brought into clinical trials. He co-founded the platform technology company ProLynx, where he currently serves as President.
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