About Gliknik - Board of Directors
David S. Block - Chairman
Paul A. Friedman, M.D. – Non-executive Director
Dr. Friedman has been the Chief Executive Officer of Incyte Corporation since 2002. Under Dr. Friedman Incyte developed and launched Jakafi®. From 1994 to 1998, Dr. Friedman served as President of R & D for the DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company and from 1998 to 2001 as the President of DuPont Pharmaceuticals Research Laboratories, a wholly owned subsidiary of the DuPont Company. From 1991 to 1994, he served as Senior Vice President at Merck Research Laboratories. In these positions Dr. Friedman has overseen the discovery and development of numerous drugs and brought Sustiva® to market. Prior to his work at Merck and DuPont, Dr. Friedman was an associate professor of medicine and pharmacology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Friedman is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation. He received his A.B. in biology from Princeton University and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. Dr. Friedman is a director of Incyte and of Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Skip Klein - Non-executive Director
Mr. Klein is currently Managing Director of Gauss Capital Advisors, LLC, a financial consulting and investment advisory firm focused on biopharmaceuticals, which he founded in March 1998. Mr. Klein currently serves on the board of directors of the public biotechnology company Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. as well as the Board of Directors of the Prospector Funds, Inc., an SEC registered investment company that manages two no-load mutual funds. He has previously served on the boards and Audit Committees of BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc.; Clinical Data, Inc.; Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Guilford Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; PDL BioPharma, Inc.; Savient Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and Synbiotics, Inc. Mr. Klein also serves on the boards of private and non-profit entities. From 1989 to 1998, Mr. Klein was a health care investment analyst at T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., where he was the founding portfolio manager of the T. Rowe Price Health Sciences Fund, Inc. He has previously served as a Venture Partner of Red Abbey Venture Partners, L.P. and of MPM Capital. Mr. Klein received a B.A., summa cum laude, in Economics from Yale University, and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.
Raymond F. Schinazi, Ph.D., D.Sc. (Hon.) - Non-executive Director
Dr. Schinazi is the Frances Winship Walters Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology at Emory University. He serves as Senior Research Career Scientist at the Atlanta Department of Veterans Affairs and Director of the Scientific Working Group on Viral Eradication for the NIH-sponsored Emory University Center for AIDS Research (CFAR). He is also an adjunct professor of Chemistry at Georgia State University and serves as an Advisor for the Schiff Center for Liver Diseases at the University of Miami. Dr. Schinazi received his B.Sc. (1972) and Ph.D. (1976) in Chemistry from the University of Bath, England and completed post-doctoral training in Pharmacology at Yale University and in Virology/Immunology at Emory University. Dr. Schinazi is a world leader in the area of nucleoside chemistry and the founder of several biotechnology companies focusing on antiviral drug discovery and development, including Pharmasset Inc. (VRUS; acquired by Gilead in 2012), Triangle Pharmaceuticals (VIRS; acquired by Gilead in 2003), Idenix Pharmaceuticals (IDIX; 51% acquired by Novartis in 2003), and RFS Pharma LLC (formed in Sept 2004). He has authored over 470 peer-reviewed papers and 7 books, has secured more than 100 issued U.S. patents, and is on the editorial board of several journals. He is best known for his pioneering work on d4T (stavudine/Zerit®), 3TC (lamivudine/Epivir®), FTC (emtricitabine/Emtriva®), and LdT (telbivudine/ Tyzeka®), drugs that are now approved by the FDA and for RCV (racivir), and DAPD (amdoxovir), which are in clinical development. His inventions now sell more than $2.0 billion per year and more than 94% of HIV-treated individuals take at least one of the drugs he invented.
Geeta Vemuri, Ph.D. – Non-executive Director
Geeta Vemuri joined Baxter in January, 2012 as VP, Head of Baxter Ventures, the corporation's $200 million venture fund. Prior to joining Baxter, she was a General Partner at Quaker Partners, where she spent her time leading investments in Biopharmaceutical and Healthcare companies and being integral part of the team in raising capital for the funds. Dr. Vemuri's role in building and mentoring portfolio companies has helped lead their exit through either acquisition or through Initial Public Offering. Some of her representative Quaker portfolio board member or observer responsibilities include Protez, Cempra, Corridor, Regado and Tranzyme Pharma. Prior to Quaker, she was an Associate at Toucan Capital, where she was responsible for investments in seed-stage and start-up biotech opportunities. She participated in raising capital and helped start portfolio companies by identifying technologies from universities. Prior to that, she was an Associate Equity Analyst at SalomonSmithBarney and First Union Securities covering specialty pharmaceuticals and healthcare sectors. Geeta was also a research scientist at The Wistar Institute and completed her postdoctoral fellow program at Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. Vemuri received her M.S. from Central University in India, her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Indian Institute of Sciences, and her M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.