LigoCyte’s Board includes the following individuals:
Ben Auspitz
Principal, Fidelity Biosciences
Mr. Auspitz has worked in pharmaceuticals and life-science for over ten years, both in industry and as a consultant. Most recently before joining Fidelity in 2005, he served as Therapeutic Area Head for Immuno-Inflammatory products at CombinatoRx Inc. during its growth from an angel-backed start-up to a publicly-listed company (NASDAQ: CRXX). In this role, Mr. Auspitz oversaw the advancement of seven programs from assay stage into phase II human clinical studies, and was co-inventor on 15 product patents. Mr. Auspitz also served as Director for Corporate Strategy at CombinatoRx, where he was responsible for product in-licensing, new business development, and the build-out and $20M financing of an infectious disease subsidiary. His consulting experience has included work in clinical development, product launch, M&A, and medical marketing. Sample projects include sales force optimization and managed markets strategy for Celebrex, the first-in-class COX-2 inhibitor, and clinical development strategy for gene-therapy, protein, and small molecule products. He holds a B.A. from Harvard University.
Donald P. Beeman
Chief Executive Officer
(see management bio for details)
C. Boyd Clarke
Executive Chairman of the Board; Chairman of the Board, QLT Inc. and Mersana Therapeutics
Boyd Clarke is currently the Chairman of the Board of QLT Inc. and Mersana Therapeutics, sits on the board of Rib-X Therapeutics and serves as a venture advisor to Proquest Investments, a venture capital firm.
Mr. Clarke was formerly Chief Executive Officer of Neose Technologies, a publicly-traded biopharmaceutical company focused on improving protein therapeutics from April 2002 through May 2006. From December 1999 through March 2002, Mr. Clarke was Chief Executive Officer of Aviron, a biotechnology company developing vaccines, which was acquired by MedImmune in February 2002. From 1997 through 1999, Mr. Clarke was President and Chief Executive Officer of US Bioscience, a biotechnology company focused on cancer therapeutics, which was also acquired by MedImmune. He served as President and Chief Operating Officer from 1996 to 1997. From 1977 to 1996, Mr. Clarke held a number of positions in sales and marketing and in general management at Merck & Co., including that of the first President of Pasteur-Merieux MSD, and Vice President of Merck Vaccines. Mr. Clarke has a BS in Biochemistry and an MA in History from the University of Calgary.
J. Donald deBethizy, Ph.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Targacept, Inc.
Dr. deBethizy assumed this role in August 2000 with the spin-out of Targacept from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJRT). He led Targacept through its Initial Public Offering in 2006. Dr. deBethizy joined RJRT in Winston-Salem, N.C. in 1985. During his tenure at RJRT, he held positions of increasing responsibility, including Vice President of Product Evaluation, Research and Development, managing over 165 scientists and managers. He was named President of Targacept, Inc. in March 1997, when it became a wholly owned subsidiary of RJRT.
Markus Goebel, M.D., Ph.D.
Managing Director, Novartis Ventures
Dr. Goebel is a Managing Director of the Novartis Venture Funds in Cambridge, MA, USA. Previously Dr. Goebel worked as head Pharma Corporate M&A and head Nervous System BD&L Pharma. An M.D. by training and certified, amongst others, in Haematology/Oncology he worked for Farmitalia Germany and later held several positions in R&D, Marketing and Strategy at Roche headquarters before joining Novartis. Markus Goebel received an M.D. and a Ph.D. from the Ludwig Maximilian’s University in Munich and an MBA from Henley.
Hironori Hozoji
JAFCO Life Science Investment
Mr. Hozoji is Investment Officer with JAFCO Life Science Investment in San Diego, a subsidiary of JAFCO Co. Ltd., a Tokyo based publicly traded venture capital firm. He is one of the most experienced Japanese life science venture capitalists with more than 20 years of experience with JAFCO working both in Tokyo and San Diego. Mr. Hozoji has made forty eight investments totaling more than $180 million in the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific, including Affymax, MediciNova, Acorda, Targacept, Artisan, and Elixir. His investment results include 21 IPO's on the NASDAQ and stock markets in Europe and Asia and 10 companies acquired by major pharmaceutical companies or biotechnology companies. Mr. Hozoji is a board member of Artisan and served on the board of Affymax from July 2005 until February 2007.
Ivor Royston, M.D.
Managing Partner, Forward Ventures
Dr. Royston is a Founding Managing Partner of Forward Ventures. Dr. Royston has been involved in the biotechnology industry in San Diego from its inception in 1978 with the founding of Hybritech, Inc. (later acquired by Eli Lilly) and with the founding of Idec Pharmaceuticals in 1986 (which later merged with Biogen).
Dr. Royston has been instrumental in the formation, financing, and development of numerous successful public biotechnology companies, including: Applied Molecular Evolution (acquired by Eli Lilly); Combichem (acquired by DuPont); Corixa (acquired by GlaxoSmithKline); Favrille; Genesys Therapeutics (merged with Somatix and acquired by Cell Genesys); and Triangle Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Gilead).
Currently, Dr. Royston is the founding Chairman of Targegen in San Diego, and was elected Chairman of Morphotek in Exton, PA. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Avalon Pharmaceuticals, and Favrille, where he was the founding Chairman.
Dr. Royston was previously the Founding President and CEO of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center (1990-2000) and on the faculty of the medical school and cancer center of the University of California, San Diego (1977-1990). He received his B.A. (1967) and M.D. (1970) degrees from the Johns Hopkins University and completed post-doctoral training in internal medicine and medical oncology at Stanford University. In 1997, President Clinton appointed Dr. Royston to a six-year term on the National Cancer Advisory Board.
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