Management
Dr. Ekman joined Protox as Chairman in November 2010 and accepted the role of Executive Chairman and President in April 2011. Dr. Ekman is Founder & Executive Chairman of Cebix Incorporated, an Executive-in-Residence of Warburg Pincus and Executive Partner of Sofinnova Ventures. During 2001 to 2007, Dr. Ekman was EVP & President of Research & Development at Elan Pharmaceuticals where he advanced Elan's drug development pipeline by securing four US NDAs, three European MAAs and five INDs. Prior to joining Elan, Dr. Ekman was EVP, Research and Development at Schwartz Pharma AG (now UCB) and held various senior scientific and clinical functions from 1984 to 1997 at Pharmacia (now Pfizer). Dr. Ekman is a Director of Elan Corporation where he chairs the Science and Technology Committee. He is also a director of InterMune Inc., Ocera Therapeutics, Inc., and Amarin Corporation. Dr. Ekman is a board certified surgeon with a PhD in experimental biology. He obtained his PhD and MD from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Alexander Casdin joined Protox in October 2011 and brings 15 years of life science related financial experience to the company. He most recently served as Vice President of Finance at Amylin Pharmaceuticals where he oversaw the financial planning and analysis, treasury, and investor relations groups. Prior to his position at Amylin, he founded Casdin Advisors LLC where he served as a strategic advisor to the life sciences industry. Before founding Casdin Advisors, Mr. Casdin served as CEO and Portfolio Manager at Cooper Hill Partners, a dedicated health care investment firm, and prior to that as Portfolio Manager of the Pequot Health Care Fund. Previous to that, Mr. Casdin worked at the Dreyfus Corporation as a health care analyst, covering all areas of health care. Mr. Casdin graduated with a AB in Political Science from Brown University and an MBA, Beta Gamma Sigma, from Columbia Business School . He is currently a member of the advisory board of the Social Enterprise Program at Columbia Business School.
Dr. Hulme is a highly accomplished pharmaceutical executive with over 20 years of drug development experience. Before joining Protox, she most recently served as Executive Vice President and Head of Global Development at Elan Pharmaceuticals, and has a proven track record in all phases of global clinical drug development. She joined Elan Corp. Plc. in October 1995 and has served as an Executive Vice President since January 2005. She has achieved multiple regulatory approvals in the United States and Europe, coupled with hands on global commercial launch experience for the blockbuster drug Tysabri. Dr. Hulme held several positions in Clinical Research at Glaxo Wellcome Pharmaceuticals (United Kingdom) and served as Lecturer at Luton University. Dr. Hulme holds a first class honors Degree in Science from Luton University and earned her PhD from Cranfield Institute of Technology.
Dr. Brunswick has over 25 years of experience in Regulated Industry including over 9 years in the US FDA, Center for Biologics, Division of Monoclonal Antibodies. Most recently he was Head of Regulatory Affairs at Arena Pharmaceuticals, a company specializing in therapies directed at G Protein receptors. Prior to that he lead the regulatory group at Elan Pharmaceuticals concentrating on Alzheimer Disease and the pain compound, ziconotide. He obtained his PhD from University College London, University of London.
Ms. Merchant has held a variety of positions at Connaught Laboratories, Vetrepharm, Pharmacia Biotech, IBEX Technologies and ARC Biotech. Over the past 12 years she has been actively involved in the development of four targeted toxins for the treatment of cancer, including TransMID, a targeted toxin for the treatment of brain cancers. Following the acquisition of Intelligene by KS Biomedix in 2001, she became VP of International Regulatory Affairs, where she was responsible for securing fast track designation (FDA) and orphan drug status (EMEA and FDA) for TransMID. She is an internationally respected professional in the areas of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs. Her education includes a B.Sc. in Chemistry and Pharmacology from Aston University and an M.E.Sc. Biochemical Engineering from the University of Western Ontario. |
