VAXEQUITY - Key Persons
Anders was appointed to lead Pharmaceutical Sciences, BioPharmaceuticals R&D at AstraZeneca (AZ) in February 2016.
Anders joined AZ in 1998 as scientist and in 2005, he became Head of the Lead Generation DMPK team within the CVGI therapy area, and in 2008 he became Head of Early Development CVMD within the global Pharmaceutical Development group. Later Anders led the AZ Pharmaceutical Development team that developed formulations and supported Forxiga, Xigduo and Epanova successful submissions and commercial launches. During 2014-2016, Anders was seconded to GRAPSQA within Global Medicines Development as the global project leader for introduction of a new system for all our regulatory submissions.
Anders is passionate around building high performing teams and his team works across all therapy areas, with a focus to take the therapies of the future into clinical testing. Anders was founding member of the AI Innovation of Sweden board and is chairman of the Strategic Science Foundation FormulaEx consortium. In addition, he is a member of steering committee for the collaboration with Pieris Pharmaceuticals and has been heavily engaged in AZ's collaborations with Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Moderna and Ethris Therapeutics. Within AZ he is the sponsor for the global Digital Lab and Lab4Life programs which aim as developing AZ's next generation labs.
Anders holds a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Chalmers University and he did research in the area of nucleic acids biophysics and quantum chemistry.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Investor
- Investment Advisor at Morningside Technology Advisory LLC
Jason is currently an investment advisor at Morningside Technology Advisory LLC, which he joined in 2011. He has extensive experience providing operational and management oversight to early-stage biotechnology companies. Dr. Dinges is also a director of several biopharmaceutical or biotechnology companies, across a broad spectrum of therapeutic areas including several clinical stage companies: Kezar Life Sciences (NASDAQ: KZR), Enyo Pharma, CellCentric, Inotrem SA, Bacainn Therapeutics, ApicBio, IM Therapeutics, Pinteon Therapeutics, and Allysta Pharmaceuticals. He has also facilitated multiple financings for private companies. From 2006 to 2011, Dr. Dinges was an associate attorney at Foley & Lardner LLP, practicing intellectual property law in the firm's Chemical, Biotechnology, and Pharmaceutical practice group. Dr. Dinges received his Ph.D. in genetics from Iowa State University and a J.D., with highest distinction, from the University of Iowa College of Law.
Tim is a successful, serial entrepreneur with extensive C-suite and board level experience in the pharmaceutical sector over the past 27 years. In addition to working with VaxEquity Ltd as Managing Director, he is Executive Chair of Tay Therapeutics, a University of Dundee spinout focussed on readthrough, Non-Executive Chair of ConcR, an AI company and an adviser to Cumulus Oncology. His previous biotech experiences were in multiple therapeutic and technology areas including cancer, CNS, ophthalmology and drug delivery in public and private companies including Novintum Biosciences, Midatech, Q Chip, Proximagen and Merck & Co. His transactions total over $6bn and he has over 40 patents and publications.
Will represents Morningside on the boards of several biotech companies, including Cyted Ltd. and F2G Ltd. He is also the CEO of CellCentric Ltd, a development stage cancer drug biotech company which he co-founded out of the University of Cambridge with Prof Azim Surani. He also co-founded CTS Inc, a Johns Hopkins' spin-out focused on non-viral particles to deliver nucleic acid-based therapeutic products incorporating tissue specific promoters.
His scientific background is in virology and immunology, studying antibodies to RSV for his PhD, then as a post-doc at NIBSC, working on the MRC AIDS vaccine development programme. He was previously on the Executive Committee and Board of the BioIndustry Association, as well as Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). He Chaired the John Innes Centre, the world leading plant and microbial research institute. He holds a Masters in Clinical Research as well as an MBA from London Business School.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Corporate Development & Ventures at AstraZeneca
Dr. Tyrell Rivers is an Executive Director of Corporate Development & Ventures at AstraZeneca, where he is responsible for creating and executing innovative, value-enhancing business strategies. Prior to assuming this role in 2014, he worked at MedImmune Ventures, specializing in biotechnology investing. Earlier in his career, Dr. Rivers held various positions at Merck & Co., where he led technical support for commercial vaccines and directed global business initiatives for accessing key technologies for research and development. He currently serves as a Board member of ADC Therapeutics, Cerapedics and Goldfinch Bio. Dr. Rivers holds his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and an M.B.A. from the New York University Stern School of Business.
Job Titles:
- Imperial Director
- Member of the Crick Institute Translational Advisory Group
Mike is an experienced pharma and biotech executive who recently joined Imperial College as Associate Dean for Enterprise in Medicine to advise on biomedical translation and commercialisation. He has deep experience in the science and management of bioscience enterprises in a wide range of platforms, modalities and therapeutic areas, gained over 35 years in pharma and biotech.
Mike co-founded and led three biotech companies: Microbiotica, a microbiome precision medicine spinout of the Wellcome Sanger Institute developing novel therapeutics in immuno-oncology and IBD for which he raised $67m in 2022; Crescendo Biologics, an antibody fragment platform company spun out of the Cambridge Babraham Institute with a clinical pipeline in oncology and inflammation; and NK:IO, a NK cell immunotherapy company spun out of Imperial College. Prior to that he held major international roles in GSK R&D over 10 years, where he led divisions which helped shape the company's platforms and pipelines across multiple therapeutic areas and modalities.
Mike is a member of the Crick Institute Translational Advisory Group and previously was a Trustee of LifeArc, the UK's BioIndustry Association, Venture Partner for UKI2S fund, and panel member on the MRC's DPFS scheme for translational academic research.
Mike's academic work included research in influenza virology (MRC) and in yeast biotechnology (Leicester Biocentre). He holds a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University, a PhD in Molecular Virology from Imperial College, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology.
Job Titles:
- Chief Scientific Officer
- Co - Founder
- Member of the Board of Directors
Robin Shattock has over 30 years' experience in research and development of vaccines and antiviral therapeutics. He is a Professor of Mucosal Infection and Immunity at Imperial College, London. He is a pioneer in the development of saRNA technology, leading the initiative to develop a Covid-19 vaccine for the disease at Imperial. He is an international leader in the field of vaccine immunology with a focus on development of vaccines to prevent pandemic threats and poverty related diseases. His academic research portfolio includes vaccine projects on HIV, Ebola, Lassa fever, Marburg and Rabies viruses and Chlamydia. He has a strong track record of translation research having taken a wide range of vaccine products through from discovery into clinical testing. Robin is an elected fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.