Management Team

Litain Yeh, PhD

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Prior to funding the company, 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 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 from Case Western University.

Robert Keenan, MD

Chief Medical Officer

Prior to joining Arthrosi, Dr. Keenan spent most of his career at Duke University. Dr. Keenan was the Founding Director of the Gout and Crystal Arthropathy Clinic at Duke University Medical Center. During that time, he also held numerous roles, including Associate Chief Medical officer of the Patient Revenue Management Organization, Vice Chief for Clinical Affairs for the Division of Rheumatology, Medical Director of the Duke Specialty Infusion Center, and Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology and Immunology.

Dr. Keenan has also published several peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on gout. He obtained his undergraduate and Master of Public Health degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his Doctor of Medicine from St. George’s University School of Medicine, Master of Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and completed his Fellowship in Rheumatology at New York University.

Shunqi Yan, PhD

Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer

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.

Stephen Smolinski

Chief Business Officer

Before joining Arthrosi, Mr. Smolinski was SVP of Business Development at Precigen, a Cell and Gene Therapy company. Prior to that, he was at Sobi where he was the Head, Immunology Therapeutic Area. Prior to that, Mr. Smolinski served as the Chief Commercial Officer for Selecta Biosciences where he led the commercial efforts related to SEL-212 for Chronic Refractory Gout. He was involved in multiple gene therapy business development deals leading to collaborations and licensing deals with AskBio and Sarepta. Mr. Smolinski served as the Vice President and Head of Sanofi/Genzyme’s North American Rheumatology Business Unit, where he led the development of the company’s commercialization plans for the rheumatoid arthritis medicine KEVZARA^®. Prior to this, he served as Group Vice President of Immunology & Inflammation, Global Strategic Unit at Sanofi. Mr. Smolinski also previously held senior commercial roles at Roche-Genentech, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, and Savient Pharmaceuticals. He earned a B.S. in Health Care Administration from Oregon State University.

Scientific Advisory Board

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.