Corporate Governance
Gregory B. Brown, M.D. has served as a member of the Company’s board of directors since March 2007. Dr. Brown is currently the Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors of Memgen, LLC, a private clinical-stage biotechnology company. He is a co-founder of HealthCare Royalty Partners, or HCRx, and is a member of that firm’s Senior Advisor Board. Educated as a transplantation immunologist and trained as a thoracic and vascular surgeon, Dr. Brown practiced thoracic and vascular surgery in a community setting where he also founded and led a health maintenance organization. Before co-founding HCR Partners, Dr. Brown was a partner at Paul Capital Partners, where he co-managed that firm’s royalty investments as a member of the royalty management committee. Prior to beginning his principal investment career in 2003, Dr. Brown was co-head of investment banking and head of healthcare at Adams, Harkness & Hill (now Canaccord Genuity) and a ranked biotechnology research analyst at Vector Securities International. Dr. Brown holds a BA from Yale University, an M.D. from SUNY Upstate Medical Center and an MBA from Harvard University. Dr. Brown currently serves on the board of the following public pharmaceutical company: Lisata Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: LSTA) (formerly Caladrius Biosciences, Inc;. Nasdaq: CLBS).
Julie Krop, M.D. currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer of PureTech Health (NASDAQ: PRTC). Prior to assuming her position with PureTech Health, Dr. Krop was the Chief Medical Officer at Freeline Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FRLN) from April 2020 to August 2021. Dr. Krop was also the Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President, Development, with AMAG Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AMAG) from 2015 to 2021. From 2012 to 2015, Dr. Krop served as the Vice President, Clinical Development for Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX). In addition, Dr. Krop was Vice President, Clinical Development and Regulatory Affairs for Stryker Biotech (NYSE: SYK) from 2006 to 2012. Dr. Krop received a B.A. from Brown University and her M.D. from Brown University School of Medicine. She completed her fellowship in the Department of Endocrinology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she was also a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar. Our Board believes that Dr. Krop’s extensive experience successfully designing and executing clinical development programs from early-stage development through FDA approval, and senior leadership roles across clinical development, regulatory affairs, clinical operations, pharmacovigilance, medical affairs and program management during her career in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, as well as her medical background, qualifies her to serve on our Board of Directors.
Tim Morris presently serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Opthea Limited (NASDAQ: OPT, ASX: OPT). Previously he served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Humanigen, Inc. from 2020 to 2022 and as the Chief Financial Officer of Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. from 2017 to 2020. Mr. Morris has extensive Board experience, currently serving as a board member of DBV Technologies (NASDAQ: DBVT, Euronext: DBV.PA), where he serves as chairman of the audit committee and a member of the pricing committee, Univercells S.A., where he is chairman of the audit committee and a member of the strategic committee, Humanetics Corporation, where he serves as the chair of the audit committee and a member of the compensation committee. Mr. Morris earned a BS in Business, with an emphasis in accounting, from California State University and is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive).
Marco Taglietti, M.D. served as Director, as well as President and Chief Executive Officer of Scynexis Inc. until his retirement at the end of 2022. (NASDAQ: SCYX). Prior to joining Scynexis, Dr. Taglietti held various executive positions with Forest Laboratories (now Abbvie (NYSE: ABBV) from 2007 until 2014, including President, Forest Research Institute, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Corporate Vice President, Research & Development. Dr. Taglietti was also the Senior Vice President, Head of Global Research and Development for Stiefel Laboratories, Inc. (now a GlaxoSmithKline company) from 2004 until 2007 and served in a number of executive positions from 1992 to 2004 with Schering-Plough Research Institute, including Vice President, Clinical Research Anti-Infectives, CNS, Dermatology and Endocrinology. From 1987 until 1992, Dr. Taglietti served in a number of executive positions with Marion Merrel Dow Research Institute, including as the European Product Team Leader – Anti-Infectives. Dr. Taglietti previously served on the boards of directors of Delcath (NASDAQ: DCTH) from 2014 to 2021 and NephroGenex (NASDAQ: NRX) from 2014 to 2017. Dr. Taglietti also served as a director of Stiefel International, Ltd., a private company, from 2004 to 2007 and a director of TransCelerate BioPharma, a non-profit pharma coalition dedicated to streamlining and accelerating the research and development of innovative new therapies, from 2013 to 2014. Since 2011, Dr. Taglietti has served on the board of directors of BioNJ, a life sciences trade association in New Jersey. In addition, Dr. Taglietti served on the board of directors of HINJ, Health Institute of New Jersey, a trade association for the leading research-based biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies in New Jersey, from 2011 to 2014, and is currently on the boards of directors of Orchestra of St. Luke, a New York City based orchestra, and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the largest non-profit organization dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide. Dr. Taglietti received his Degree in Medicine from the University of Pavia, Italy. Our Board believes that Dr. Taglietti’s extensive senior experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, experience on the boards of both public and private companies, as well as his medical background, qualifies him to serve on our Board of Directors.
Corporate Governance Overview
Governance Committees Composition
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee | Compensation Committee | Audit Committee | Science and Technology Committee ** | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gregory B. Brown, M.D. | Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee | Compensation Committee | Audit Committee | Science and Technology Committee ** |
John Cochran | Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee | Compensation Committee | ||
Santo J. Costa | Compensation Committee | |||
Julie Krop, M.D. | Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee | Compensation Committee | Science and Technology Committee ** | |
Timothy Morris | Audit Committee | |||
Marco Taglietti, M.D. | Audit Committee | Science and Technology Committee ** | ||
Number of Meetings Held in 2022 | 4 | 7 | 6 |
* Mr. Morris was appointed to the Board in August 2022, and was made Chair of the Audit Committee in February 2023
** The Science and Technology Committee was formed in February 2023 and its first meeting convened in April 2023.