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
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.
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.
Naomi Schlesinger, MD
Professor of Medicine, Endowed Chair, Chief of Division of Rheumatology, Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, University of Utah
Dr. Naomi Schlesinger is a Professor of Medicine, Endowed Chair, and Chief of the Division of Rheumatology at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, at the University of Utah. She was a previous Chief, Division of Rheumatology at Rutgers - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS). She was the Founder and Director of the Rutgers RWJMS Gout Center in New Brunswick and Co-Founded and is Co-Director of the International Gout and Hyperuricemia Center for Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. Dr. Schlesinger is a noted authority in the field of gout, having published many papers regarding the diagnosis, treatment, and better understanding of the pathogenesis of gout. Her pioneering work includes the use of anti-inflammatory agents in gout such as anti-Interleukin (IL)-1beta monoclonal antibody in the treatment of flares, quality of life of gout patients, seasonality of gout, diagnosing gout using ultrasound, and understanding the pathogenesis of bone erosions in gout. Dr. Schlesinger served as a scientific advisor, Consortium of Rheumatology Researchers of North America (CORONA) gout registry, and the Co-chair of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR)- Crystal Study Group. In addition, Dr. Schlesinger served on the ACR Division Directors Special Committee and currently serves on the ACR Global Engagement Special Committee.
Robert Terkeltaub, MD
Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Rheumatology, Autoimmunity and Inflammation Division, University of California, San Diego
Robert Terkeltaub, M.D. is Professor Emeritus of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. After earning his medical degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, Dr. Terkeltaub completed postdoctoral research training in Immunopathology at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA. His research concentrates on gout and other forms of crystal deposition disease, gout clinical trial and treatment guidelines and outcomes in the disease, as well as the interfaces of inflammation, uric acid metabolism, and skeletal biology in these disorders. Among his achievements, Dr. Terkeltaub has authored or coauthored approximately 210 original, peer-reviewed journal articles and over 120 invited articles and book chapters, and 2 textbooks on gout and crystal deposition diseases. His research has been funded for decades by the NIH, VA, and Industry, and has been cited over 25,000 times, with an H-index of 92. He was the sixth Morris Ziff Distinguished Lecturer in Rheumatology at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and first Malawista Memorial Lecturer at the ACR, and was awarded Honorary Professor at Qingdao University School of Medicine in China. Dr. Terkeltaub was co-Editor for 8 years, and first ever Review Articles Editor of Arthritis and Rheumatology, regularly serves on multiple editorial boards and scientific advisory committees. He is founding President of the 300 member strong global research networking and mentoring organization G-CAN (Gout, Hyperuricemia and Crystal-Associated Disease Network). In 2022, he also founded the first journal specifically for gout and crystal deposition disease (GUCDD (gout, urate, and crystal deposition disease)
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.
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.
John Leaman, MD, MBA
Chief Financial Officer, Cellarity
John H. Leaman, M.D. has served as the Chief Financial Officer at Cellarity since March 2023 and during his tenure has helped to oversee the close of the company’s partnership deal with Novo Nordsk, lead the effort to close the Company’s Series D financing, and prepared the Company’s finance team for a planned IPO.
From June 2019 to February 2023 Dr. Leaman served as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer at Impel Pharmaceuticals where helped lead the Company’s IPO in April 2021. From October 2017 to March 2019, Dr. Leaman served as the Chief Financial Officer and Head of Corporate Development at Selecta Biosciences Inc. From June 2016 to September 2017, he served as Head of Corporate Development at InfaCare Pharmaceutical Corp., a specialty pharmaceutical company, until it was acquired by Mallinckrodt plc. in September 2017. From August 2014 to March 2016, Dr. Leaman was the Chief Financial Officer of Medgenics Inc.
He also previously held senior roles at Shire plc. and Devon Park Bioventures, a venture capital fund targeting investments in therapeutics companies, and began his career serving a range of life sciences companies as an Associate Principal at McKinsey & Company.
He received an M.D. from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, a B.A. in psychology, philosophy and physiology from Oriel College, University of Oxford while completing a Rhodes Scholarship, and a B.S. in biology from Elizabethtown College.