About Allostera > Board of Directors

Cedric Bisson, MD
Cedric Bisson

Cedric Bisson has been a director of Allostera since 2009.

Cedric Bisson is the managing partner in charge of life sciences at iNovia Capital. He leads investments in that sector with a focus on biopharmaceuticals and medical devices. Prior to joining iNovia in 2003, Mr. Bisson was an associate principal at McKinsey & Company, a leading global management consulting firm, where he co-led the Canadian healthcare (including pharma, biotech and private equity) and innovation practices; during this time, he also pursued extensive professional activities in Montréal, New York City and Paris in pharmaceutical and medical devices. Mr. Bisson currently serves or has served as a board member to Allostera Pharma, Milestone Pharmaceuticals, Mimetogen Pharmaceuticals and Resonant Medical. He is an active member of many life sciences initiatives in Canada and abroad, and is also a member of the boards of BIOQuébec (Québec's life sciences industry association) and Procure (a non-profit charity against prostate cancer).

Mr. Bisson obtained an M.D. degree from McGill University and a J.D. (law) degree from Université de Montréal.

Ela Borenstein, M.Sc., MBA
Ela Borenstein

Ela Borenstein has been a director of Allostera since 2009.

Ms. Borenstein has 20 years of management, entrepreneurial and consulting experience in the Biopharmaceutical industry.Prior to joining BDC, she was Chief Operating Officer, VP of Regulatory Affairs and Product Strategy and VP of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs for biotech companies as well as Senior Vice President of Scientific Affairs for a public pharmaceutical company. Ela's diversified background includes senior management responsibilities in drug and medical device development, key involvement in product acquisition and M&A activities including a business development role and building multi-disciplinary teams involved in all aspects of research and product development. Ela holds a B.Sc. Chemistry Honours from University of Western Ontario, a M.Sc. in Pharmacology from University of Toronto and an MBA in Bio-Industries from UQAM.

Christopher Henney, PhD (Chairman of the Board)

Christopher Henney has been a director of Allostera and Chairman of the Board since 2010.

Dr. Henney began his professional career as an academic immunologist; he published over 200 papers in the peer reviewed literature and held professorships at the Johns Hopkins University Medical School in Baltimore and at the University of Washington in Seattle. He held the first chair in Basic Immunology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle.

In 1980, together with Steven Gillis, he cofounded Immunex Corporation in Seattle, where he served as Executive Vice President, Scientific Director (Chief Scientific Officer) and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors . Immunex developed two FDA approved drugs, one of which, Enbrel [etanercept],is one of the leading products by sales, produced by the biotechnology industry. In 2002, in one of the biggest trade sales in the history of the industry, Immunex was sold to Amgen. In 1989, together with George Rathmann (cofounder of Amgen) Henney cofounded Icos Corporation. He served as a director and Chief Scientific Officer of the company until 1995. Icos developed a leading drug, Cialis [tadalafil] .The company was subsequently acquired by Eli Lilly in 2005 for over $2 billion. In 1995, Henney became the first CEO and Chairman of Dendreon Corporation and began the development of a dendritic cell based therapy for prostate cancer, with a lead product he termed, Provenge. The company became publicly listed on NASDAQ in 2000, and Henney remained as CEO until 2003 and as Executive Chairman until 2005. Provenge became the first FDA- approved cell-based immunotherapy treatment in April of this year.

Henney has served on many biotechnology company boards, both in the U.S and internationally, public and privately held. He currently serves as Chairman of Oncothyreon Inc.[NASDAQ, ONTY] and Anthera Pharmaceuticals Inc. [NASDAQ, ANTH] and is Vice Chairman of Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals Inc. [NASDAQ, CYCC]

Jamie Stiff, MBA

Jamie Stiff has been a director of Allostera since 2009.

He joined Genesys Capital in 2002 and became partner at the firm in 2007. He brings to Genesys a unique combination of scientific understanding and business acumen and has demonstrated an innate affinity for the business of venture capital. Since joining the firm, Mr. Stiff has gained significant deal experience across a number of transactions. Mr. Stiff currently sits as an observer on the board of NeurAxon Inc. Past board roles include directorships at Matregen Corp. and Stempath Inc. and board observer at Zelos Therapeutics and Interface Biologics. Prior to joining Genesys, Mr. Stiff worked at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in the genetic diagnostics arena. This experience combined with an academic background in biology has provided significant technical knowledge of many areas of life sciences and provides for a keen eye for sourcing promising early stage deal flow through the company’s proprietary Technology Access Partnerships.

Mr. Stiff holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Biology from Queen’s University and an MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.

Bogdan Dziurzynski, D.P.A., R.A.C.

Bogdan Dziurzynski has been a director of Allostera since 2009.

Dr. Dziurzynski is a strategic planning and regulatory management consultant. In addition to the board of Allostera, he serves as an independent member of the Board of Directors of Dendreon Corporation in Seattle, Washington, and the Biologics Consulting Group in Alexandria, Virginia and is on the business advisory board of Integrated Biotherapeutics, Inc. in Germantown, Maryland. He is a Fellow of the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society and a past President and Chairman of the Board. The Society creates and upholds standards of ethics, credentialing and education for the regulatory affairs profession within the health product sector and represents over 11,000 individuals worldwide from governments, corporations, academia, research and nonprofit organizations.

His career spanning over thirty six years includes regulatory experience in clinical research design and execution, biopharmaceutical product development and manufacture, production facility design and validation, product advertising and promotion, post-market drug safety surveillance, quality assurance and quality control. He served as a senior vice-president with MedImmune, Inc., a vice-president with Immunex Corporation and has held management positions with Genetic Systems, Inc., C.R. Bard, Inc., and Johnson and Johnson’s Ortho Diagnostics Division.

He holds a Doctorate in Public Administration, an MBA in Marketing and Management, and undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Laboratory Technology.

Jean-Paul Castaigne, MD, MBA
Jean-Paul Castaigne

Jean-Paul Castaigne has been a director of Allostera since 2006.

Dr. Castaigne is currently the CEO of AngioChem, a biotechnology company in Montreal. He has extensive international experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Prior to joining AngioChem as CEO, he was COO and CSO of Conjuchem, and previously he was Vice President, Head of Global R&D at the Fournier Group in France. In addition, Dr. Castaigne spent eleven years with Novartis in a variety of management positions, including Corporate Vice President for Canada, President and Managing Director in the Philippines and Director of Medical and R&D in France. Dr. Castaigne has also worked with CILAG (J&J) and Sanofi in France. He received his MD from Paris University in 1975 and held the position of Associate Professor of oncology and pneumology in 1978.

Dr. Castaigne received an MBA from HEC Paris in 1987. Dr. Castaigne is member of the board of the three following biotech companies: Tranzyme Pharma, Asmacure and Allostera.

Mark Kaufmann, MBA
Mark Kaufmann

Mark Kaufmann has been a director of Allostera since 2009 and currently serves as Allostera’s President and CEO.

Mr. Kaufmann has nearly 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry in both the U.S. and Canada. Prior to joining Allostera, Mr. Kaufmann was President and CEO of Celmed BioSciences where he was responsible for raising funds and selling the company in a deal worth over $40M to a European biotechnology company, Kiadis Pharma. Prior to his role as CEO, he was Chief Operating Officer at Celmed with responsibility for the operations and corporate development of the Company including the progression of Celmed's three products into Phase I/II human clinical testing, the development of a new business plan for Celmed and its early merger with NewBiotics Inc. Prior to joining Celmed, Mr. Kaufmann was Vice-President Corporate Development at Nexia Biotechnologies Inc. in Montreal where he was responsible for building Nexia's biopharmaceutical business, including product development and licensing agreements. He was previously Chief Financial Officer of Conceptis Technologies Inc., a medical media and education company, and prior to that, Mr. Kaufmann worked for five years with MedImmune, Inc, located in Maryland, as Director of Planning and Analysis where he led the strategic planning and contributed to the development of MedImmune's commercialization strategy.

Mr. Kaufmann holds an MBA from the University of Michigan School of Business and a BA in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University.

 

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Allostera Pharma Inc.
500 Cartier Boul Ouest
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