Hans-Joachim Böhm, Ph.D.
Global Head of Chemistry, Roche
Richard DiMarchi, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry, Indiana University
Jesse Z. Dong. Ph.D.
Vice President, Compound Discovery, Ipsen
Soumitra Ghosh, Ph.D.
Senior Director, Research, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Rodney Lappe, Ph.D.
Sr. Vice President, Worldwide Research and Development
Chief Scientific Officer, CovX Research
Mr. Pankaj R. Patel
Chairman and Managing Director, Zydus Cadila
Janice Reichert, Ph.D.
Senior Research Fellow, Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development
Pierre Rivière, Ph.D.
President, Ferring Research Institute & Senior Vice President, Research
Jane Salik, Ph.D.
CEO PolyPeptide Group
Hans-Joachim Böhm, Ph.D.
Hans-Joachim Böhm is Global Head of Chemistry at Roche and Center Manager for the Roche Pharma Research and Early Development Site Basel. Prior to this, Hans-Joachim Böhm was President and Research Site Head of Roche Palo Alto from October 2006 to June 2008. Hans-Joachim Böhm also headed Non-clinical development at Roche Basel from January 2005 until September 2006, the Discovery Chemistry Department from 2002 – 2004, the Discovery Technology Department from 2000-2001 and the Research Informatics Department in Basel. Before joining Roche in 1996, Hans-Joachim Böhm worked for BASF in Ludwigshafen as Computational Chemist from 1988-1996 and for Siemens in Munich in field of Microelectronics from 1985-1987. He obtained his Ph.D. in Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Karlsruhe in 1984.
Richard DiMarchi, PhD.
Richard DiMarchi is the Linda & Jack Gill Chair in Biomolecular Sciences, Professor and Chairman of Chemistry at Indiana University. He is a retired Group Vice President at Eli Lilly & Company where for more than two decades he provided leadership in biotechnology, endocrine research and product development. He is a co-founder of Ambrx, Inc. and Marcadia Biotech. He serves as a board member to Ambrx, Marcadia, and Isis Pharmaceuticals. He is a scientific advisor to Alba Therapeutics, Kai Pharmaceuticals, Semafore Biotechnologies, Zydus-Cadila, 5AM Ventures, TMP Partners and Twilight Ventures.
Professor DiMarchi is readily recognized for discovery and development of rDNA-derived Humalog® (LisPro-human insulin). This designer insulin represents the first demonstration that structurally altered rDNA-derived biosynthetic proteins can improve pharmacological performance without increasing the risk of an abnormal immunological response. As scientist and administrator Dr. DiMarchi participated in the commercial development of Humulin®, Humatrope®, Xigris®, rGlucagon® and Forteo®.
The goal of his current research and commercial endeavors is to develop proteins with enhanced therapeutic properties through biochemical optimization with non-natural amino acids, an approach he has termed chemical-biotechnology. He has published more than one hundred papers and he is co-inventor on ninety patents. He received the 2005 AAPS Career Research Achievement Award in Biotechnology, the 2006 ACS Earle B. Barnes Award for Leadership in Chemical Research Management, the 2006 ACS Gustavus Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Service of Public Interest, and the 2007 Wallace Carothers Award for Excellence in Polymer Sciences.
Jesse Dong. Ph.D.
Dr. Dong has served as Vice President of Compound Discovery at Ipsen since 2009 overseeing peptide and toxin drug discovery research. He joined Ipsen/Biomeasure, Incorporated in 1993 as a scientist in the medicinal chemistry department. He is the inventor of four drug candidates that are currently in development: Taspoglutide in phase III clinical trials for treatment of type II diabetes, BA058 in phase III clinical development for treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis, RM-131 in phase I clinical trial for GI disorders, and RM-493 in preclinical stage for treatment of obesity. During his distinguished scientific career to date, he has published over 130 scientific articles and has been awarded 27 U.S. patents. Prior to joining Ipsen/Biomeasure, Dr. Dong was a Research Fellow in the Unit for Rational Drug Design, Department of Medicine, Boston University Medical Center. He holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Ohio University, Athens, Ohio and M.S. and B.S. degrees from Peking University, Beijing, China.
Soumitra Ghosh, Ph.D.
Soumitra Ghosh is Senior Director, Research at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and joined the company in 2003. He provides oversight to the chemistry and biology research functions and leads a joint clinical development program of a diabetes drug candidate with Biocon, India. Prior to Amylin, Dr. Ghosh was Senior Director of Chemical Biology at Mitokor, where he directed drug discovery programs for CNS disorders, osteoarthritis and obesity. His work experience also includes development of DNA-based diagnostic tools and peptidase inhibitors at Baxter Diagnostics, Inc. and at the Salk Institute Biotechnology/Industrials Associates (SIBIA). Dr. Ghosh received his undergraduate training at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, and obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and the University of Chicago, respectively. He conducted his post-doctoral research at the Rockefeller University in New York.
Rodney Lappe, Ph.D.
Dr. Lappe is Sr. Vice President, Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer for CovX in San Diego, California. Dr. Lappe joined Pfizer with the CovX acquisition in 2008, bringing 27 years of drug discovery experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Dr. Lappe has been responsible for the advancement of protein bio-conjugates through the industry leading work at CovX. Three novel conjugates (CovX-bodies) addressing key medical needs in cancer and diabetes are now in clinical testing with two additional clinical candidates in late stage preclinical development. In addition to leading CovX, Dr. Lappe has recently taken on responsibility for the continued growth and productivity of Pfizer’s other internal Biotech Units as well. These include Rinat and the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Unit (OTU).
Prior to joining CovX, Dr. Lappe served as Vice President for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases at Pharmacia where he contributed to the registration of Inspra®, a novel aldosterone receptor antagonist. He was also site leader for Pharmacia in St. Louis. Prior to joining Pharmacia, he held positions of increasing responsibility with Wyeth, Rorer Central Research, CIBA Geigy and Searle Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Lappe received his PhD in Pharmacology from Indiana University and his BA from Blackburn College.
Mr. Pankaj R. Patel
Mr. Pankaj Patel has been the guiding force behind the Zydus Cadila's fast tracked growth. With an experience spanning over 30 years in the Indian pharmaceutical industry, Mr. Patel combines both research and techno-commercial expertise and has published 50 research papers. Mr. Patel is on the governing councils of many national industry associations. He is a member of the Advisory council for developing Human Resources for the Pharma Industry, and is also a part of the Task force on R&D and Drug Discovery, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India. Mr. Patel is also an industry representative for the ‘Consultative Group on Exports of Pharmaceutical Products’ under the Chairmanship of the Minister for Commerce and Industry, Government of India. Mr. Patel is currently the President of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance and the Chairman of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) Gujarat State Council. He is the Executive Chairman, Vice President and Trustee of the Gujarat Cancer Society and Chairman of the Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute. Mr. Patel is also on the Governing Board of The Ahmedabad University and the President of the Ahmedabad Management Association.
Mr. Patel was awarded the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year – Life Sciences Award for the year 2009, the M.L. Schroff Memorial National Award in 2009 and the ‘Baroda Sun Lifetime Achievement Award’ for the year 2010 by the Bank of Baroda. Recently, Mr. Pankaj Patel was conferred the Indian Pharmaceutical Association’s ‘Special Recognition Award 2010’ in recognition of his contributions to the growth of the Pharmaceutical Industry, Research and the Profession of Pharmacy.
Janice Reichert, Ph.D.
Dr. Janice Reichert is a Senior Research Fellow at Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD) and Editor-in-Chief of mAbs, a new Landes Bioscience journal. She has studied innovation in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries at the Tufts CSDD since 1999. Her work includes strategic analyses of candidate and approved products, including clinical development and approval times and probabilities of success for new therapeutics and vaccines. These analyses have been featured in over 25 publications by Dr. Reichert. As Editor-in-Chief of mAbs, Dr. Reichert has recruited a 63-member editorial board and is actively preparing for the journal’s launch in January 2009.
Dr. Reichert received her Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania and her postdoctoral training as a National Institutes of Health Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School. Before joining the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, Dr. Reichert performed drug discovery research and preclinical development at severalcompanies in the Boston area.
Pierre Rivière, Ph.D.
Dr. Rivière is responsible for global research at Ferring Pharmaceuticals and for the Ferring Research Institute. Dr. Rivière joined Ferring in 1996 as Head of Biology before becoming Director of Research (2002), Vice President, Research (2006) and Senior Vice President, Research (2010). In recent years, Dr. Rivière has contributed to the discovery of several peptide new chemical entities, now at various stage of development, either in house or through licensees. He previously led the Gastroenterology drug discovery department of the Institut de Recherche Jouveinal in Fresnes, France. Dr. Rivière holds a Ph.D. in Biology and Physiology from the Institut National Polytechnique of Toulouse, France, and has completed a post-doctoral training in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. Dr. Rivière is a co-founder of Cara Therapeutics, BioHeatMap, the Peptide Therapeutics Foundation and the Annual Peptide Therapeutics Symposium. Since 2008, he also serves as Director and President of the Peptide Therapeutics Foundation.
Jane Salik, Ph.D.
Dr. Jane Salik is the CEO of the PolyPeptide Group and President and co-founder of PolyPeptide Laboratories Inc in Torrance, California, the US subsidiary of the PolyPeptide Group. The PolyPeptide Group is a world leader in the industrial-scale manufacture of proprietary and generic GMP peptides used as Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) by pharmaceutical, biotech and research organizations.
Dr. Salik has been involved in management, business development and sales and marketing in the peptide business for over 20 years, having served as Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Business Development at Bachem California before founding PolyPeptide Laboratories Inc. Prior to that, she was Marketing Manager at Boehringer Mannheim Biochemicals where she was in charge of sales and marketing of reagents for molecular biology, immunology and biochemistry. Dr. Salik received her Ph.D. degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from The State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1981, and her B.A. degree from Lafayette College in 1975.