About
Our team
- Board
- Management
- Scientific advisors
Board
Gabriele Cerrone
Executive Chairman
Mr Cerrone has a successful track record and extensive experience in the financing and restructuring of micro-cap biotechnology companies. He has founded nine biotechnology companies in oncology, infectious diseases and molecular diagnostics, and has taken six of these companies to the NASDAQ Market and one to the AIM Market in London. Mr Cerrone co-founded Trovagene, Inc. (NASDAQ: TROV), a molecular diagnostic company and served as its Co-Chairman; he was a co-founder and served as Chairman of both Synergy Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SGYP) and Callisto Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCMKTS: CLSP), and was a Director of and led the restructuring of Siga Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SIGA). Mr Cerrone also co-founded FermaVir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and served as Chairman of the Board until its merger in September 2007 with Inhibitex, Inc. Mr Cerrone served as a director of Inhibitex, Inc. until its US$2.5bn sale to Bristol Myers Squibb Co in 2012.
Mr Cerrone is the Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Gensignia Life Sciences, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company focused on oncology using microRNA technology; Chairman and Founder of Tiziana Life Sciences plc (AIM: TILS) an oncology focused therapeutics company; Chairman and Co-Founder of Rasna Therapeutics Limited, a company focused on the development of therapeutics for leukaemias; Co-Founder of ContraVir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTRV); and founder of BioVitas Capital Ltd.
Willy Simon
Non-Executive Director
Willy Jules Simon is a banker and worked at Kredietbank N.V. and Citibank London before serving as an executive member of the Board of Generale Bank NL from 1997 to 1999 and as the chief executive of Fortis Investment Management from 1999 to 2002. He acted as chairman of Bank Oyens & van Eeghen from 2002 to 2004. Willy Simon has been the chairman of Bever Holdings, a company listed in Amsterdam, since 2006 and Chairman of Ducat Maritime since 2015. He also serves as the Executive Chairman of OKYO Pharma Ltd.
John Brancaccio
Non-Executive Director
Mr. Brancaccio, retired CPA, is a financial executive with extensive international and domestic experience in pharmaceutical and biotechnology for privately and publicly held companies. From 2000 to 2002, Mr. Brancaccio was the Chief Financial Officer/Chief Operating Officer of Eline Group, an entertainment and media company. From May 2002 until March 2004, Mr. Brancaccio was the Chief Financial Officer of Memory Pharmaceuticals Corp., a biotechnology company. From April 2004 until May 2017, Mr. Brancaccio was the Chief Financial Officer of Accelerated Technologies, Inc., an incubator for medical device companies.
Mr. Brancaccio is currently a director of Cardiff Oncology, Inc., Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., OKYO Pharma Ltd., and Rasna Therapeutics, Inc.
Management
Ivor Elrifi
Chief Executive Officer
Ivor Elrifi serves as our Chief Executive Officer. Mr Elrifi was formerly the global head of the Patent Group at Cooley since 2014 and before that the global head of Patents at Mintz Levin from 1999 – 2014. He has counseled companies in various key industries, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life sciences and medical device companies, research institutions, universities, hospitals and governments throughout the world, particularly in the US and Europe. Ivor has guided clients in developing and implementing intellectual property strategies and in the prosecution, licensing and enforcement of patents. He has extensive experience in advising clients on strategic transactional work and regularly counsels’ clients with respect to investments, business development and mergers and acquisitions, including acquisition transactions involving Novartis, Eli Lilly, Biogen and Astellas.
He has received various awards throughout his career, including being named an “LMG Life Sciences: Life Science Star,” and ranked nationally in Chambers USA since 2007. Elrifi earned his B.S. and Ph.D. in Biology from Queen’s University and his J.D. from Osgoode Hall Law School.
Keeren Shah
Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer
Keeren Shah serves as our Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Shah currently also serves as the Chief Financial Officer of OKYO Pharma Ltd, Accustem Sciences Limited and Rasna Therapeutics Inc., having previously served as the Group Financial Controller for all businesses from June 2016 to July 2020. Prior to joining the Company, Ms. Shah spent 10 years at Visa, Inc. as a Senior Leader in its finance team where she was responsible for key financial controller activities, financial planning and analysis, and core processes as well as leading and participating in key transformation programmes and Visa Inc.’s initial public offering. Before joining Visa, Ms. Shah also held a variety of finance positions at other leading companies including Arthur Andersen and BBC Worldwide. She holds a Bachelor of arts with honours in Economics and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
William Clementi, PhD
Chief Development Officer
Dr. Clementi has followed a science-driven career path since completing his NIH Training Fellowship (under John L. McNay M.D. and Thomas M. Ludden Ph.D.) Upon completing his Fellowship research in drug metabolism and vascular smooth muscle relaxation, Dr. Clementi joined the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (UTGBS) faculty and the College of Pharmacy faculty in Austin, Tx, in the Departments of Medicine and Pharmacology at the Health Sciences Center in San Antonio. His primary responsibilities were interdisciplinary, and he led innovative programs in the Colleges with teaching, research, and clinical commitments. Dr. Clementi directed the Clinical Pharmacokinetic Consultation Service, providing novel computer-based drug dosing to the acute care settings at two major teaching hospitals.
Dr. Clementi continued his career in the pharmaceutical industry, joining Synthelabo and the U.S. affiliate Lorex Pharmaceuticals, where he held the Worldwide Director of Market Development position. Lorex and Synthelabo launched three EMA and FDA-approved products (betaxolol, zolpidem, and alfuzosin).
In 1991 Dr. Clementi established a regulatory consulting company, Clementi & Associates, Ltd. (dba as Clementi Ltd). Clementi Ltd. provides regulatory and clinical consultation to small companies developing drugs, biologics, cell-based therapies, organ sustainability products and contrast media for medical imaging. Clementi Ltd. has experience with required regulatory submission standards and processes, including orphan designation, exploratory INDs, expanded access INDs, and combination drug-drug and device-drug products. Clementi Ltd also provides high-level cGMP and GCP oversight.
Dr. Clementi is a graduate of Boston University and the University of Texas and the College of Pharmacy.
Scientific advisors
Howard Weiner MD
Harvard Medical School
Dr. Howard Weiner is the Robert L. Kroc Professor of Neurology at the Harvard Medical School, Director and Founder of the Partners Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Center and Co-Director of the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. The Partners MS Center is the first integrated MS Center that combines clinical care, MRI imaging and immune monitoring to the MS patient as part of the 2000 patient CLIMB cohort study. He has pioneered immunotherapy in MS and has investigated immune mechanisms in nervous system diseases including MS, Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, stroke and brain tumours. He has also pioneered the investigation of the mucosal immune system for the treatment of autoimmune and other diseases and the use of anti-CD3 to induce regulatory T cells for the treatment of these diseases.
Kevan Herold MD
Yale University
Dr. Kevan Herold is Professor of Immunobiology and of Medicine (Endocrinology) as well as Deputy Director, Yale Center for Clinical Investigation, Director of the Yale Diabetes Center and Director of the TrialNet Center at Yale. His investigative work has focused on developing new ways to prevent and treat autoimmune diseases, using novel translational immunologic and metabolic approaches to prevent progression, in particular anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody therapy. His clinical interests are in the management of endocrine diseases, and he is involved in a number of national and international clinical studies of new treatments.
Arun Sanyal MD
Virginia Commonwealth University
Charles Caravati Distinguished Professor and Chair, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.
Dr Sanyal is a world leader in the field of liver disease.
Prof. Napoleone Ferrara, MD
University of California’s Moores Cancer Center in San Diego
Dr Ferrara is Senior Deputy Director for Basic Sciences at University of California’s Moores Cancer Center in San Diego; and Distinguished Professor of Pathology at the University of California’s School of Medicine, also in San Diego. Dr Ferrara’s research led to the development of the anti-VEGF monoclonal antibody bevacizumab (Avastin®) which was initially approved for the treatment of colorectal cancers, now one of the top ten selling global pharmaceutical products and won the 2010 Lasker Award for his work on VEGF.