管理团队
叶立坦，博士
联合创始人兼首席执行官
在为公司提供资金之前，叶博士曾担任 Ignyta 的药物开发副总裁，在那里他领导了 Ignyta 多个项目的进展，从发现到临床开发，并最终获得了 Rozlytrek（entrectinib）的批准。他领导了所有临床阶段的临床药理学支持，以及恩曲替尼的 NDA 制备。此外，叶博士协助业务发展组将恩曲替尼出售给罗氏。
此前，叶博士曾担任阿斯利康集团成员 Ardea Biosciences 的转化科学副总裁，在那里他领导了 Ardea 的内部开发计划从概念到临床开发，并最终获得批准。他带领开发团队完成了所有临床阶段、IND 和 NDA 准备工作。此外，叶博士协助业务发展团队将 Ardea Biosciences 出售给阿斯利康，并成功将 refametinib 授权给拜耳医疗。他在 refametinib、lesinurad 和 verinurad 的临床试验期间监督了 Ardea 的临床药理学活动。
在他职业生涯的早期，叶博士管理所有内部团队以支持所有开发活动和 CRO 监控。Yeh 博士在 Valeant Pharmaceuticals、Ribapharm 和 ICN Pharmaceuticals 担任过越来越重要的职务。
叶博士获得博士学位。凯斯西部大学化学学士和化学学士学位。
严顺其，博士
联合创始人兼首席运营官
严顺其，博士 在药物设计、药物化学、计算化学方面拥有 17 年的经验，并在美国领导了生物技术和制药领域的多学科团队。
严博士以其在药物设计方面的多项成就而闻名。他是七种临床药物的设计和发现的主要参与者，其中包括两种获得 FDA 批准用于治疗急性髓系白血病（AML）的一流药物，idhifa（Enasidenib）和 tibsovo（Ivosidenib）以及一个用于治疗 PKR 缺乏症的 III 期临床试验中的一流药物 AK-348。Idhifa 荣获 2018 年 Prix Galien USA 奖“最佳药品”。Prix Galien 在世界范围内被视为生物制药和医疗技术研究领域的诺贝尔奖。严博士还是 200 多项全球专利申请的发明者。
科学顾问委员会
James Mackay, PhD
Founder & CEO, Aristea Therapeutics
James Mackay, PhD, is Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aristea Therapeutics. James has over 25 years of development and commercialization expertise in the pharmaceutical industry, including 6 drug product approvals across multiple therapeutic areas. Prior to founding Aristea, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Ardea Biosciences, Inc., following the company’s acquisition by AstraZeneca in 2012. James was instrumental to setting up an innovative model for Ardea Biosciences that retained the biotech’s independence and accountability for the development of the gout franchise while also developing a synergistic and collaborative relationship with the parent company, AstraZeneca. Prior to Ardea, James held senior executive positions at AstraZeneca where he led the development and commercialization of drugs across a range of therapy areas. and managed significant global functional departments.
As well as being an advisor to Arthrosi Therapeutics and on the company’s board of directors, James is an independent Board member for both MatriSys BioScience and Privo Technologies.
Additionally, James plays a pivotal role in the San Diego Ecosystem and currently sits on the Board and Executive Committee of CONNECT as well as being Vice-Chair of CONNECT. He also sits on the Board of BIOCOM. He is a former Board member of the San Diego Economic Development Corporation (EDC). James holds a BS in Genetics and PhD in Medical Genetics from Aberdeen University, Scotland.
Nicola Dalbeth, MD
Rheumatologist & Professor, the University of Auckland School of Medicine
Dr. Nicola Dalbeth is a Specialist Rheumatologist and Professor of Medicine from Auckland, New Zealand. She leads a research program focusing on the mechanisms, impact, and treatment of gout. She has been principal investigator on international phase 3 clinical trials of novel therapeutic agents for gout and has led international initiatives to define central concepts of gout, including nomenclature of disease, outcome measures in clinical trials, and response to treatment. She served as a member of the core oversight team for the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Gout Management Guidelines, and as a steering committee on the 2015 ACR/European League Against Rheumatism gout classification project.
Yasushi Ito, MD, PhD
Staff Physician, Kobe Tokushukai Hospital
Dr. Ito is a physician in Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, currently practicing Internal Medicine in Tokushukai Hospital in Japan. He has more than 40 years of academic and industrial experience. Dr. Ito received it M.D. and Ph.D. from the School of Medicine in Hokkaido University in Japan. During his visit to US between 1980 and 1990, he completed multiple residency and fellowship in Internal Medicine, Nephrology and Clinical Nutrition in universities and hospitals and was appointed as assistant professor in biochemical genetics & metabolism in Rockefeller University in New York City. Since returning to Japan, Dr. Ito has served several senior positions in global pharmaceutical companies including VP and Head of R&D in Amgen Japan and Senior Medical Advisor in AstraZeneca Japan. He is currently the co-chair of MBSR study group and also an active member in Japanese Mindfulness Association, Japanese Diabetes Society, Japanese Society of Geriatrics, Japanese Society of Internal Medicine, and American Society for Clinical Nutrition.
Fernando Pérez-Ruiz, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Cruces University Hospital University of the Basque Country
Fernando Pérez-Ruiz, MD, PhD, is a Consultant of the Rheumatology Division in Hospital Universitario Cruces, Head of the Investigation Group for Arthritis at Biocruces Health Research Institute, and Associated Professor of the Department of Medicine in School of Medicine and Nursery at the Basque Country University in Biscay, Spain.
He received his MD from Basque Country University and a PhD in from Barcelona University with a clinical investigation program on classification and treatment of hyperuricemia in gout. Board certified in Rheumatology after a fellowship at Hospital Ramón y Cajal in Madrid through qualifying in the national exam for specialty within the top20.
He has collaborated with the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) 2006 and 2016 recommendations for Gout management, the ACR Guidelines for gout 2012, the OMERACT special interest group for gout, and the T2T 2016 initiative for gout. He founded and coordinated the Crystal-induced Arthritis Study Group of the SER (Spanish Society for Rheumatology) and coordinates the SER-Guidelines and updates for the management of gout.
Has served as vice president of SER from 2014 to 2018 in charge of education programs and as delegate at EULAR of the Spanish SER presidency and in the education and the investigation committees. Member of the advisory Committee for rheumatology fellowship at the Spanish Health Ministry 2014 to 2016 and member of the Corporative Pharmacy Commission in the Basque Health Department of the Basque Government.
He has served for the last years as associated editor and editorial boards of several indexed journals and as an invited reviewer for more than 30 international journals and is an active member of the editorial board of Springer´s Medicine Matters Rheumatology and Wolters-Kluwer´s Up-to-Date.
His research interests include crystal-induced arthritis, and especially gout, but has also investigated and published on CPPD, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia. Dr. Pérez-Ruiz has delivered over 100 lectures, published 144 indexed articles and 21 book chapters, presenting over 250 scientific abstracts in rheumatology meetings on topics relating to diverse rheumatology diseases, but mostly gout, gathering a cumulated impact factor over 1,500, and h-index 48.
Ikumi Tamai, PhD
Professor, Institute of Medical, Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences, Kanazawa University
Dr. Ikumi Tamai is a Professor in Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Medical, Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences, Kanazawa University, Japan. He received his B.S. from Kanazawa University and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from The University of Tokyo. He started his research on the carrier-mediated transports of drugs and spent two years as Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Chicago and University of Michigan
for studies on P-glycoprotein and intestinal drug absorption and transporters, respectively. Then, he was appointed as assistant professor and associate professor in Kanazawa University. In 2002, he moved to Tokyo University of Science as Professor in Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and he is in current Kanazawa University since 2008. His research has focused on membrane transporters that determine pharmacokinetic properties of drugs as well as physiological compounds such as uric acid and carnitine. He has contributed to the researches on (1) the role of P-glycoprotein as the BBB firstly published in 1992, (2) characterization of PEPT1 and intestinal absorption of peptide mimetics, (3) molecular cloning and physiological and pharmacological roles of OCTNs, (4) the roles of OATP transporters for intestinal absorption as well as hepatic disposition of drugs, and (5) regulation mechanism of serum uric acid through transporters and drug-induced hyperuricemia and is serving as councilor of Japanese Society of Gout and Uric & Nucleic Acid. He published more than 300 original articles related to above topics. He served as a member of board of directors of ISSX and JSSX. He also served as Editor-in-Chief of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics (DMPK) and is currently an associate editor of Biopharmaceutics and Drug Disposition (BDD) and Editor of Pharmaceutical Research (Pharm Res)
Board of Directors
Cynthia Cai, PhD, MBA, M Eng
President, Tharton Consulting Venture Partner, Viva BioInnovator
Dr. Cynthia Cai is an executive and investor with over twenty-five years of experience in the healthcare and life science industry. International experience in sales, marketing, business development, equity investment, and board membership. In-depth understanding of global biotech and life science business, widely recognized as having a unique ability to bridge collaborations between technology and business, between the eastern and western cultures.
Dr. Caiis the founder and president of Tharton Consulting LLC, focus on investment and management consulting services. She is also a venture partner of Viva BioInnovator, investing in biotech innovation with novel solutions to cross multiple therapeutic areas. Before that, she served as senior advisor to Northern Light Venture Capital, led its healthcare investment effort in US.
Hanxiong Li
Chairman & General Manager, ApicHope Pharmaceutical
Hanxiong Li is the Founder, Chairman and General Manager of ApicHope Pharmaceutical. Mr. Li hasreceived national honors including "China Outstanding Innovative Entrepreneur", "China Outstanding Private Entrepreneur", "China Outstanding Private Science and Technology Innovation Entrepreneur", "Guangzhou Industry Leading Talent (Outstanding Industrial Talent)", "Guangzhou Science and Technology Innovation Talent", etc. He led the transformation of ApicHopePharmaceutical into an innovative bio-pharmaceutical company with integrated R&D, manufacturing and sales, which was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in November 2017 (300723.SZ).ApicHope is clinically need-oriented and has established a R&D center of 60,000square meters. ApicHope’s R&D area covers chronic disease drugs, anti-infective drugs, and pediatricdrugs, and has now expanded to vaccine therapy and precision medicine toward oncology. ApicHope has a strong marketing network and sales capability. Based on FDA & EU standards, ApicHope has built a biomedical intelligent industrial park in Guangzhou, covering an area of 220,000 square meters, integrated with information, digitalization and intelligence, which will be put into operation in 2022.
James Mackay, PhD
Founder & CEO, Aristea Therapeutics
James Mackay, PhD, is Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aristea Therapeutics. James has over 25 years of development and commercialization expertise in the pharmaceutical industry, including 6 drug product approvals across multiple therapeutic areas. Prior to founding Aristea, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Ardea Biosciences, Inc., following the company’s acquisition by AstraZeneca in 2012. James was instrumental to setting up an innovative model for Ardea Biosciences that retained the biotech’s independence and accountability for the development of the gout franchise while also developing a synergistic and collaborative relationship with the parent company, AstraZeneca. Prior to Ardea, James held senior executive positions at AstraZeneca where he led the development and commercialization of drugs across a range of therapy areas. and managed significant global functional departments. As well as being an advisor to Arthrosi Therapeutics and on the company’s board of directors, James is an independent Board member for both MatriSysBioScience and Privo Technologies. Additionally, James plays a pivotal role in the San Diego Ecosystem and currently sits on the Board and Executive Committee of CONNECT as well as being Vice-Chair of CONNECT. He also sits on the Board of BIOCOM. He is a former Board member of the San Diego Economic Development Corporation (EDC). James holds a BS in Genetics and PhD in Medical Genetics from Aberdeen University, Scotland.
Xin Xie, PhD
Venture Partner, LH-Ventures
Dr. Xie Xin is an investment partner of Linghang New Territories, mainly focusing on innovative drug research and development including biological drugs, small molecule drugs and cell/gene therapy. Dr. Xie is also a researcher and doctoral supervisor of the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a national new drug screener. As deputy director of the center, Dr. Xie has participated in many new drug research and development work and is responsible for active compound discovery and pharmacological efficacy research. Dr. Xie is a recipient of the National Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, a leading talent in scientific and technological innovation of the "Ten Thousand People Program” andappointed twice as national “973Chief Scientists”.
Dr. Xie has published more than 100 papers in well-known journals such as Nature Communications, Cell Research, and PNAS, and applied for more than 30 invention patents, and more than 10 patents have been authorized. Ms. Xie holds a bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Peking University and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, USA.
Shunqi Yan, PhD
Co-Founder & COO, Arthrosi Therapeutics
Shunqi Yan, Ph.D. has over 20 years of drug discovery and development experience in oncology, metabolic, anti-inflammation and rare diseases. He led multidisciplinary teams in various biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies with expertise including drug design with cutting edge technology in computational science and artificial intelligence (AI), medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry.
Dr. Yan is an inventor of over 400 worldwide patent filings, 230 issued patents globally, 25 granted patents in US and an author of over 30 peer reviewed journal articles. He contributed to the design and discovery of six clinical drugs including 3 FDA approved first-in-class drug, IDHIFA (enasidenib), TIBSOVO (ivosidenib) and PYRUKYND (mitapivat), for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in adults with IDH2, IDH1 mutations and pyruvate kinase deficiency (PKR) deficiency, respectively. Dr. Yan received his Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and Post-Doctoral training in the National Cancer Institute, NIH.
Litain Yeh, PhD
Co-Founder & CEO, Arthrosi Therapeutics
Prior to funding Arthrosi Therapeutics, Dr. Yeh served as Vice President, Drug Development at Ignyta, where he led the progression of Ignyta’s multiple programs from Discovery to clinical development, and eventually to approval of Rozlytrek (entrectinib). He led the clinical pharmacology supports through all clinical phases, and NDA preparation of entrectinib. In addition, Dr. Yeh assisted the business development group in the sale of entrectinib to Roche.
Previously, Dr. Yeh served as Vice President, Translational Sciences at Ardea Biosciences, a member of the AstraZeneca Group, where he led the progression of Ardea’s internal development programs from concept to clinical development, and eventually to approval. He led the development teams through all clinical phases, IND, and NDA preparation. In addition, Dr. Yeh assisted the business development group in the sale of Ardea Biosciences to AstraZeneca, and in the successful licensing of refametinib to Bayer Healthcare. He supervised Ardea’s clinical pharmacology activities during clinical trials of refametinib, lesinurad, and verinurad.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Yeh managed all internal teams to support all development activities, and CRO monitoring. Dr. Yeh held positions of increasing responsibility at Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Ribapharm, and ICN Pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Yeh received a Ph.D. in chemistry and a B.S. in chemistry from Case Western University.
Yiwei Zong, PhD, CFA
Co-Founder & COO, Anji Pharma
Yiwei Zong is Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Anji Pharma, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. He also serves as a director on the boards of multiple biotech companies. He is an experienced investor and entrepreneur. Prior to founding Anji, he served as partner of a life sciences VC fund, where he led a number of high-return investments. Yiwei received his Ph.D. in Biomedicine from the University of Pennsylvania and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.