Management Team / Advisory Board Bios
Alan Lewis
Director
Experienced Chairman with a demonstrated history of working in the biotechnology industry. Skilled in Translational Research, Biomarkers, Protein Chemistry, Medical Devices, and Vaccines. Strong entrepreneurship professional graduated from Yale University School of Medicine.
Thomas H. Bliss, Jr.
CFO
Mr. Bliss brings a broad experience in Financial Management, Licensing and Business Development, from the majors, JNJ, Baxter and Amgen, where he spent the first half of his career, to the innovators, where he’s worked for the last decade.At JNJ, Mr. Bliss worked on the team that prepared all transactions over $10m in value for Executive Committee review. This exposed him to the terms associated with the full range of transactions, from brand-value-driven consumer to patent-IP-drive biopharmaceutical. This led to his running BioPharmaceuticals Business Development at Baxter BioScience (now part of Takeda). There, Mr. Bliss managed 16 discrete licensing transactions, the most productive in Baxter history in so short a period of time. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Bliss brought many of the JNJ and Baxter systems to Amgen, such as rank ordering of targets and candidates, but most of what he contributed to Amgen involved building functional capability that didn’t previously exist. While at Amgen, Mr. Bliss created International Licensing, reorganized M&A and expanded Licensing Operations. He also created, from scratch, a 200-person China-India Research Activities organization to augment R&D capabilities.Over the last decade, Mr. Bliss has worked in the development-stage arena and participated in a number of molecular and device delivery systems. Mr. Bliss is also fortunate to sit on a couple of Boards, which enhances his industry access and exposure. POP Bio, creator of a unique, activated liposome, is a newly created delivery specialist and Mr, Bliss is delighted to serve as a founding Director on their Board. He is also a Director and functioning as the Chief Financial Officer at TargaZyme, a clinical-stage company which is developing cellular-therapy replacement enzymes that direct 5x more therapeutic cells to the disease site, utilizing the universal transport system of fucose and disease-site-specific ligands. Enzyme-activated cells also access diseased cells in greater amounts and have demonstrated enhanced activity, such as increased “killing machinery” in solid tumor models.Mr, Bliss came to know TargaZyme while he was managing Genisphere, a reagents company with a history in signal amplification, where he helped convert their DNA-based reagent into a successful drug-delivery system, culminating in a $600m option/licensing transaction with MedImmune.Mr. Bliss has managed virtually every type of partnering transaction, from in-and-out-licensing transactions to acquisitions, business combinations, carve outs and spin outs. He has also executed CRO, CMO and other vendor contracts. These are the essential events of commercializing research and turning drug candidates into useful medicines. As TargaZyme looks to the commercialization of TZ101 and TZ102, and cultivate a growing portfolio of cellular-therapy businesses, Mr. Bliss will help the team transact for success.
Dr. Reid Bissonnette, PhD
Director of Immuno-Oncology (Consultant)
PhD oncology drug discovery scientist and senior manager with more than 25 years experience in research and development, from discovery to registration, and with extensive experience in oncology, inflammation, apoptosis, nuclear receptor biology, hematology and cytokine biology
Specialties: - Oncology, Immunology (immuno-oncology), small molecule, protein/peptide, biologics, adoptive cell therapies, drug development
- Strong hands-on laboratory experience assay development (yeah, I remember being a lab rat)
- Translational research, mechanism of action, biomarker identification and validation, non clinical IND enabling.
- Regulatory agency submissions (IND, NDA, Investigator’s Brochure)
- Strong communication and presentation skills
- Multidisciplinary team environment.
- Managing PhD and non-PhD scientists, external academic collaborations and contract research organizations.
Dr. Richard Martin, PhD
Director of CMC (Consultant)
Experienced pharmaceutical executive with over 20 years of drug discovery and development experience. An excellent track record of bringing hits to leads and optimizing compounds into development candidates. Energetic leader with a proven track record to attract, lead, mentor and motivate a strong group of chemists. Directed many successful programs of which 4 compounds are currently in the clinic. Managed manufacturing, CMC and supply chain for Apricus' internal pipeline including clinical and commercial products. Involved in CMC and regulatory work for the approval of Apricus Biosciences' (NexMed) first drug Vitaros in Canada and Europe. Acting vice president of CMC and Head of Operations at Targazyme. Currently leading technical operations at Travere Therapeutics.
Specialties:
Medicinal, automation and analytical chemistry.
Manufacturing, CMC and Supply Chain.
Intellectual property and patent filings.
Drug Discovery and development in the fields of inflammation, oncology, virology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.
Project/Program management and collaboration with big Pharma
Directing CROs and CMOs
Formulation and DMPK
Dr. Audrey F. Jakubowski, PhD
Director of Regulatory Affairs (Consultant)
Dr. Jakubowski is a highly experienced Regulatory Affairs executive with over 35 years managing the regulation of medicines and experience at large and small companies alike.
Dr. Jakubowski is particularly familiar with the regulatory requirements related to novel medicines and high, unmet medical needs which explains her attraction to and interest in working with TargaZyme.
Dr. Ashok Srivastiva, MD, PhD
Medical Director (Contractor)
Developing the first class personalized immunotherapy, Antibody-Drug Conjugate therapy (HER2+, HER3+, triple negative metastatic breast cancer and other tumors) and oncolytic virus therapy for cancer.
Leader in drug development, and executive leadership skills of pharmaceuticals. Leader in medical research, clinical development, clinical operations and medical affairs of cancer drug and commercialization. Trained at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA, NCI, Bethesda, MD, & School of Medicine Nagasaki University, Japan.
Leader in Oncology phase 1-4 drug development; first-in-human, and full development of solid tumors, leukemias and lymphomas; immuno-oncology, cell therapy, oncolytic virus therapy, chemotherapy and commercialization. Experienced Executive working in start-up and large pharma, INDs and NDAs submissions to US FDA, EU and Japan.
• Expert in global drug safety, pharmacovigilance of pre- and post-marketed products.
• Experience in viral RNA vaccine clinical trials and safety monitoring
• Experienced in regulatory; FDA, EMA, DCGI, MHLW, support FDA CRLs questions