This panel of decorated physician scientists have brought about a dozen of drugs to the market and have collectively accumulated 70 years of industry drug development experience. The approved drugs (e.g., YEROVY, KEYTRUDA, ZEJULA, JEMPERLI, BLENREP, TZIELD, TREMFYA, ORENCIA, NULOJIX, FASENRA etc) span from immuno-oncology, precision-oncology, ADC, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, dermatology, to COVID, during their executive roles at Merck, JNJ, AstraZeneca, BMS, GSK, Sanofi, and a number of biotechs. Many of the biotechs were founded our panelists and later acquired by biopharmas.
This is the ideal panel to share the “Checklists”, or best practice, behind this stellar track record of approved drugs. Additionally, they will also share the secret sources of some turn-around stories and their advice to emerging biotechs, especially the China biotechs, that aspire to develop innovative medicines for the global market and patients around the world.
About the speakers:
Axel Hoos is a physician-scientist, biopharma leader, and entrepreneur. Most recently, Dr. Hoos served as CEO of Scorpion Therapeutics a next-generation biotechnology company focused on Precision Oncology 2.0, and as Senior Vice President, R&D Governance Chair, and Therapeutic Area (TA) Head for
Oncology at GSK, leading the re-building of the Oncology Division after its divestment to Novartis in 2015.
Previously, Dr. Hoos served as Executive Chair of the Board of the Sabin Vaccine Institute (SVI), a global health organization, overseeing its organizational re-structuring and renewal of R&D strategy, and as the Global Medical Lead in Immunology/Oncology at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), where he and his team developed Yervoy® (ipilimumab), the first checkpoint inhibitor drug, and created the term Immuno-Oncology together with a new development paradigm to
characterize the interplay of the immune system and cancer in the context of
immunotherapy drug development.
Dr. Hoos also served as Director on the Boards of biotechnology companies NextPoint Therapeutics, and TCR2, and Co-Founder and Director of Imugene. He further served as Co-Director of the Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium (CIC), Scientific Advisory Board Member of the Cancer Research Institute (CRI), and Co-Founder and Executive Committee member of the Partnership for Accelerating Cancer Therapies (PACT) of the Biden Cancer Moonshot.
Over his career, Dr. Hoos’ efforts aimed at the advancement of medicine and science into new territories, the development of transformational therapies for patients with life threatening diseases, and business and scientific partnerships.
Oncology at GSK, leading the re-building of the Oncology Division after its divestment to Novartis in 2015.
Previously, Dr. Hoos served as Executive Chair of the Board of the Sabin Vaccine Institute (SVI), a global health organization, overseeing its organizational re-structuring and renewal of R&D strategy, and as the Global Medical Lead in Immunology/Oncology at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), where he and his team developed Yervoy® (ipilimumab), the first checkpoint inhibitor drug, and created the term Immuno-Oncology together with a new development paradigm to
characterize the interplay of the immune system and cancer in the context of
immunotherapy drug development.
Dr. Hoos also served as Director on the Boards of biotechnology companies NextPoint Therapeutics, and TCR2, and Co-Founder and Director of Imugene. He further served as Co-Director of the Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium (CIC), Scientific Advisory Board Member of the Cancer Research Institute (CRI), and Co-Founder and Executive Committee member of the Partnership for Accelerating Cancer Therapies (PACT) of the Biden Cancer Moonshot.
Over his career, Dr. Hoos’ efforts aimed at the advancement of medicine and science into new territories, the development of transformational therapies for patients with life threatening diseases, and business and scientific partnerships.
Francisco Leon is the Founder and CEO of Tolerance Bio, focused on restoring and preserving the function of the thymus. He is also the Co-founder and Chairman of Paulex Bio, focused on prevention and treatment of diabetes.
Francisco is a clinical and basic immunologist with a long career in academia (NIH), biopharma (BMS, MedImmune/AZ, Janssen/JNJ) and as an entrepreneur – as CEO, CMO and CSO of several companies.
He has led or participated in the development of 6 drugs which reached the market, most recently teplizumab (TZIELD®) for the delay or prevention of the onset of clinical type 1 diabetes, and has co-founded two biotech companies acquired by Pharma: Celimmune, acquired by Amgen in 2017, and Provention Bio, acquired by Sanofi in 2023.
Francisco is a clinical and basic immunologist with a long career in academia (NIH), biopharma (BMS, MedImmune/AZ, Janssen/JNJ) and as an entrepreneur – as CEO, CMO and CSO of several companies.
He has led or participated in the development of 6 drugs which reached the market, most recently teplizumab (TZIELD®) for the delay or prevention of the onset of clinical type 1 diabetes, and has co-founded two biotech companies acquired by Pharma: Celimmune, acquired by Amgen in 2017, and Provention Bio, acquired by Sanofi in 2023.
David Weinstock joined Merck/MSD in January 2022 as the Vice President of Discovery Oncology and is based in Boston. In that role, he leads the global preclinical effort to develop novel agents for patients with cancer. Dr. Weinstock was previously the Lavine Family Professor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, and a National Cancer Institute Outstanding Investigator. He completed fellowship training in Medical Oncology and Infectious Diseases at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He joined the staff of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2008, where he saw patients as a medical oncologist and directed a translational research program focused on novel therapeutics for lymphoid malignancies.
Moderator
Li Yan is a seasoned drug developer. He held executive positions at Brii Biosciences, GSK, Merck, and Johnson & Johnson. He has contributed to and overseen the development and approval of many medicines to include amubarvimab and romlusevimab for COVID, Zejula™, Keytruda™, and Blenrep™. His passion is to bring innovative medicines to transform patients’ lives, especially those in underprivileged communities. He firmly believes in the power of global collaboration. Li is a graduate of Peking University Medical College where he served as an adjunct professor, and University of Kansas Medical School. He received his post graduate training at Harvard Medical School and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School Enterprise Leadership program. Li serves as an adjunct professor at Yonsei University, South Korea.
Webinar Host
Leon ‘Jun’ Tang, is the founding partner of InScienceWeTrust BioAdvisory, a business development company focused on the East-West cross-border partnerships in the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Tang is also the founder of InScienceWeTrust Community, which has more than 2,000+ members from Asian biotech community. He is also the c-founder and host of Bioverse webinar.
Dr. Tang serves as a scientific advisor to Mianus Capital, a boutique US-based healthcare PE/VC fund currently focused on ophthalmology. He is also an advisor to BioSpark, an Asian biotech professional’s association based in Massachusetts.
Previously, Dr. Tang was a senior director of BD Search & Evaluation at Shanghai Henlius Biotech, a public biotech listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange, a biotech sell-side analyst at Barclays Investment Bank, and a senior manager/senior analyst at the philanthropic venture fund of Cancer Research Institute of New York.
Dr. Tang has published 50+ academic papers, some of which are in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, Lancet Oncology, Science Translational Medicine, Nature Communications, Science Advances, PNAS, etc. Dr. Tang received his bachelor’s degree from Tianjin University, master’s degree from Nankai University, PhD from Icahn School of Medicine of Mount Sinai, and postdoctoral training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Dr. Tang serves as a scientific advisor to Mianus Capital, a boutique US-based healthcare PE/VC fund currently focused on ophthalmology. He is also an advisor to BioSpark, an Asian biotech professional’s association based in Massachusetts.
Previously, Dr. Tang was a senior director of BD Search & Evaluation at Shanghai Henlius Biotech, a public biotech listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange, a biotech sell-side analyst at Barclays Investment Bank, and a senior manager/senior analyst at the philanthropic venture fund of Cancer Research Institute of New York.
Dr. Tang has published 50+ academic papers, some of which are in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, Lancet Oncology, Science Translational Medicine, Nature Communications, Science Advances, PNAS, etc. Dr. Tang received his bachelor’s degree from Tianjin University, master’s degree from Nankai University, PhD from Icahn School of Medicine of Mount Sinai, and postdoctoral training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.