Management

Daniel V. Santi, M.D., Ph.D

President (Co-Founder)

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 UCSB 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 became an Associate Dean for External Relationships in 2009, and has managed a successful Industry Outreach Program since that time. Dr. Santi has published over 300 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 four oncology compounds were brought into clinical trials. He co-founded the platform technology company ProLynx LLC in 2010, where he currently serves as President.

Gary W. Ashley, Ph.D

Chief Scientific Officer (Co-Founder)

Dr. Ashley received his S.B. in Chemistry from MIT in 1979, and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1984. He was an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University, head of Chemistry at Parnassus Pharmaceuticals, Executive Director of Chemistry and then Vice President, Exploratory Research at Kosan Biosciences, Inc. Dr. Ashley is also a licensed patent agent with over eighteen years professional experience. He is co-author of over 70 scientific publications, and co-inventor on over 50 issued US patents.

Linda Pullan, Ph.D.

Business Development

Dr. Linda Pullan is the founder of Pullan Consulting, which helps in all aspects of business development for fund raising and partnering, Dr. Pullan has over 30 years of BD and drug discovery experience spanning early-stage startups and global pharmaceutical companies. Previously, Dr. Pullan served as VP of BD at Kosan Biosciences and Head of Oncology and Hematology Licensing at Amgen. Dr. Pullan has participated in completion of over 100 partnership deals, including one of the largest deals in China. Her specialties include: strategy, identification, evaluation, valuation, and negotiation for biotech and pharma drug candidate opportunities.

Peter Langecker, M.D., Ph.D, Oncology

Advisor, Clinical Development

Dr. Langecker has over 25 years of experience in academic and industry-sponsored oncology/hematology clinical research and development Phase I to Phase IV, including the past 5 years at Clinipace as Medical Monitor and Executive Medical Director Global Oncology.  Peter's Pharmaceutical company experience includes Novartis, Schering-Plough, SUGEN (acquired by Pfizer) and several biotech companies. He contributed to the clinical development of Femara®, Eulexin®, Intron A®, Temodal®, Bexxar®, and Sutent® and is co-author of over 50 publications and posters.

Click here for more information: Board of Directors and Advisors.