ITS management is supported by a board of directors with a wealth of experience in the vaccine field.
Magnus Persson, MD, PhD. (Acting Chairman)
Dr Persson is an experienced Venture Capital investor with over a dozen years as a Partner of HealthCap, one of the leading European life sciences VCs. He has sat on numerous boards of biotech and medtech Companies, private as well as public and in Europe as well as in the US. Prior to joining the venture capital industry he was responsible for Clinical Trials at Sanofi-Withrop. Dr Persson is a licensed medical doctor with education from the Karolinska Insitute and Harvard Medical School and an associate Professor in Physiology at the Karolinska Institute. He is a co-founder of Aerocrine AB, a medtech Company listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.
Florent Gros is Managing Director of the Novartis Venture Funds in Basel, Switzerland
For nearly 15 years, he held various positions and ran a range of projects in the intellectual property and venture areas at Nestlé, Aventis-Pasteur and Novartis, in several countries including Switzerland, France and USA. Florent has extensive experience in managing IP, BDandL and MandA projects, particularly in the Biologics area. Having qualified in Biotechnology Engineering in France, he completed his diploma thesis at Glaxo-Vaccine in Belgium. He also holds European and French patent lawyer degrees, as well as a Master’s in Private Law. In addition to Immune Targeting Systems, he holds board positions in Cellerix, NanoPowers and NeoVacs.
Philippe Pouletty is Co-Founder and General Partner, Life Sciences at Paris-based Truffle Capital
Philippe is a true biotech industry veteran having worked in both Silicon Valley and in France. During this time he founded three biotechnology companies: SangStat, Conjuchem, and DrugAbuse. Two of them have gone public: SangSat in 1993 (Nasdaq: SANG) later sold to Genzyme for $600 million and Conjuchem in 2000 (Toronto Stock Exchange: CJB). Chairman of France Biotech, Philippe is also former Vice-Chairman of Europabio, the European Biotech Industry Association and a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur. Philippe received his MD from the University of Paris, followed by an immunology laureate from the Pasteur Institute. He then went on to become a post-doctoral research fellow at Stanford University and in 1999 became a laureate of the American Liver Foundation. In addition to ITS, he is a board member of BMD, Carmat, Cytomics, Deinove, Neovacs, Splicos, Symetis, Theraclion, Vexim, Innate Pharma and Wittycell.
Sandy Primrose is a non-executive director representing The London Technology Fund
Sandy is also a non-executive director of the UK Health Protection Agency and a senior partner at Business and Technology Management, a biotechnology and healthcare consultancy practice. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) plays a critical role in protecting the UK population from infectious diseases and in preventing harm when hazards involving chemicals, poisons or radiation occur. Previously, Sandy was an academic at Warwick University and then held posts as Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of European Operations of Azur Environmental, Technical Director of Amersham International, and Senior Director of Drug Development at Searle Research and Development. He is a non-executive director of a number of biotechnology companies and was on the Board of the Microbiological Research Authority. He is the author of a number of well-known textbooks including 'Principles of Gene Manipulation' and 'Principles of Genome Analysis and Genomics'.
Daniel Adams is currently CEO / President of Protein Sciences Corp.
Protein Sciences Corp is a company developing recombinant vaccines and diagnostics from its patented Baculovirus expression system. Protein Sciences lead vaccine product for Influenza-A, FluBlØk®, is currently in registration filing with the FDA with marketing approval anticipated in 2009. Dan is a serial and highly successful bio-entrepreneur. In 1976 Dan co-founded Biogen (OTC-BGEN) and served as its first President and CEO. He founded and was CEO of Advanced Genetic Sciences Inc. ("AGS"), and co-founded Plant Genetic Systems in 1982. Dan also founded (CEO) Inco Securities Corp, a venture capital fund which made the first external equity investment in Genentech Inc and became a Director helping with initial company build out. These Companies have all gone on to generate billions of dollars of returns for investors. Dan holds a BA degree in Chemistry from Cornell University and a JD magna cum laude from New York University School of Law.
Martin Becker, PhD is currently President and CEO of CaloSyn Pharma, Inc.
Preceding this role, he was interim CEO of Resolvyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc and President and CEO of XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. (XTLB (Nasdaq. Prior to 1994, Martin was at Syntex Corp. (currently Roche Bioscience) where he held various senior research management and business development positions. In his last position as Vice President of Corporate Business Development at Syntex, Martin was responsible for biotechnology alliances. Dr. Becker’s research management experience at Syntex included the position of Senior Director of Biological Research at Syva Corporation, a subsidiary of Syntex where he managed four research departments, co-authored 19 patents and was responsible for developing several new diagnostic products. Martin received his doctoral degree from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Chemical Immunology and a BSc degree in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin.
Brenda Reynolds, founder PowderMed Ltd.
Brenda was a founder of PowderMed Ltd in May 2004 and was Chief Operating Officer from its inception through to its sale to Pfizer in December 2006. She continued as MD of PowderMed throughout its technology transfer and integration into Pfizer. She is currently an independent NED for a small number of biotech/vaccine companies and is also providing consultancy through her own company, Questrax Ltd. Previously Brenda was VP of Portfolio and Programme Management at Powderject Holdings PLC responsible for directing its strategic change into a vaccine company. She has a broad history within the pharmaceutical sector holding such positions as Global project leader for Viagra at Pfizer, Director of Preclinical Development for Scotia Holdings PLC and European Head of Project management for G D Searle and Co. Brenda holds a degree in Toxicology, is a Chartered Director and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. Brenda also assists Carlton on more strategic issues and corporate related activities.
