Board of Directors

Faheem Hasnain

Chairman of the Board

Mr. Hasnain has served as one of our directors since October 2010, and as the chairman of the board since November 2010. Mr. Hasnain is the president and chief executive officer of Receptos, Inc., a drug discovery and development company, a position he has held since December 2010. From December 2008 until its acquisition by Abbott Laboratories in April 2010, he was the president and chief executive officer and a director of Facet Biotech Corporation, a publicly-traded, biology-driven antibody company with a focus in oncology and multiple sclerosis. Mr. Hasnain was president, chief executive officer and a director of PDL BioPharma, Inc., a publicly-traded biotechnology company, from October 2008 until Facet Biotech was spun off from PDL BioPharma in December 2008. From October 2004 to September 2008, Mr. Hasnain served at Biogen Idec Inc., a biotechnology company specializing in neurological disorders, autoimmune disorders and cancer, most recently as executive vice president in charge of the oncology/rheumatology strategic business unit. Prior to Biogen Idec, Mr. Hasnain held roles with Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he was president of the oncology therapeutics network, and for 14 years at GlaxoSmithKline plc and its predecessor organizations. Mr. Hasnain has served on the board of directors of Somaxon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly-traded specialty pharmaceutical company, since September 2010. Mr. Hasnain received a B.H.K. and B.Ed. from the University of Windsor Ontario in Canada.

 

David Bonita, M.D.

Director

Dr. Bonita has served as a one of our directors since October 2012. He is a Private Equity Partner on the private equity team at OrbiMed Advisors LLC, an investment company, a position he has held since June 2004. From 1998 to 1999, Dr. Bonita was a corporate finance analyst in the healthcare investment banking group of Morgan Stanley, an investment firm. From 1997 to 1998, Dr. Bonita was a corporate finance analyst in the healthcare investment banking group of UBS AG, an investment bank. Dr. Bonita received an A.B. degree magna cum laude in Biological Sciences from Harvard University and a joint M.D./M.B.A. from Columbia University where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society and Beta Gamma Sigma Business Honor Society.

 

Jeffrey S. Hatfield

Director

Mr. Hatfield joined the board in June of 2014 and currently serves as President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Vitae Pharmaceuticals. Under his leadership, Vitae focuses on high value therapeutic areas with significant global unmet medical need, including diabetes, Alzheimer’s Disease, autoimmune disorders, acute coronary syndrome, atopic dermatitis and immuno-oncology. Mr. Hatfield has successfully transitioned Vitae from a novel technology start-up to a product-focused discovery and development engine with a robust pipeline that includes multiple programs advancing in human clinical trials. Prior to joining Vitae Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Hatfield worked at Bristol-Myers Squibb in a variety of executive positions, including Senior Vice President of BMS’s Virology and Immunology Divisions; President and General Manager, Canada; and, Vice President, U.S. Managed Health Care. While at BMS, Mr. Hatfield was directly associated with several product successes, including Pravachol®, Plavix®, Avapro®, Abilify®, Reyataz® and Atripla®. Mr. Hatfield holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from Purdue University, where he is a Distinguished Alumni. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), serving on the Emerging Company Section, and the Capital Formation and Intellectual Property Committees. He is also a member of the Advisory Committees for Purdue University’s College of Pharmacy, Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business and the Chapman-KGI School of BioPharmacy.

 

Standish M. Fleming

Director

Mr. Fleming has served as one of our directors since June 2001. He is a managing member at Forward Ventures, a venture capital firm which he co-founded in 1993. Before establishing Forward Ventures, he served as the chairman, president and chief executive officer of GeneSys Therapeutics, Inc. (merged with Somatix Therapy Corp. and subsequently acquired by Cell GeneSys, Inc.). In his capacity as a founding managing member of Forward Ventures, Mr. Fleming has served on the board of directors and as the initial president and chief executive officer of numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Mr. Fleming received a B.A. from Amherst College and an M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, Graduate School of Management.

 

Allan P. Marchington, Ph.D.

Director

Dr. Marchington has served as one of our directors since October 2007. He is a partner at Apposite Capital LLP, a venture capital firm, a position he has held since April 2006. From July 2003 to August 2005, he served as an entrepreneur in residence at Abingworth Management, a venture capital firm. From July 2000 to July 2003, he served as senior vice president, at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and served as chairman of Millennium Pharmaceuticals Ltd., the European subsidiary of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to Millennium, he was principal founder and CEO of Cambridge Combinatorial Ltd., a biotech company which he founded in 1997 and successfully sold to Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in 2000. Before setting up Cambridge Combinatorial, Dr. Marchington worked for seven years in a range of therapeutic areas at Pfizer. Dr. Marchington received a Ph.D. and B.Sc. in chemistry from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom.

 

Michael A. Martino

President and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Martino has served as president and chief executive officer of Ambit since November 2011. From March 2010 until November 2011, Mr. Martino held multiple positions with CareFusion Corporation, a publicly-traded healthcare company, including senior vice president and general manager of diagnostics and senior vice president of innovation, business development and strategy. From January 2009 to March 2010, Mr. Martino was president and chief executive officer of Arzeda Corp., a privately-held enzyme design and development company that he co-founded, and he remains on the board of directors. From September 1998 to August 2008, Mr. Martino served as president and chief executive officer of Sonus Pharmaceuticals a publicly-traded pharmaceutical development company that merged with Oncogenex Pharmaceuticals in August 2008. Earlier in his career, he held multiple positions during a 17-year tenure at Mallinckrodt, Inc., in strategic planning, business development, marketing and general management. Mr. Martino received an M.B.A. from Virginia Tech and a B.A. from Roanoke College.

 

David Parkinson, M.D.

Director

Dr Parkinson has served as one of our directors since April 2013. He is a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates, a position he has held since 2012, and a member of the board of directors for Threshold Pharmaceuticals, a publicly-traded oncology company, and Zyngenia, Inc. He served as a director of Facet Biotech through its acquisition by Abbott in 2010. Prior to joining New Enterprise Associates, Dr. Parkinson was president and chief executive officer of Nodality, a biotechnology company focused on personalized medicine. Before this, he held positions as senior vice president of oncology research at Biogen Idec, vice president of oncology development at Amgen, Inc, vice president of global clinical oncology development at Novartis Corporation. Additionally Dr Parkinson has held previously held multiple positions with the National Cancer Institute from 1990 to 1997, and has held academic positions at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas, and New England Medical Center at Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Parkinson received his medical doctorate from the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, with internal medicine and hematology/oncology training at McGill University in Montreal and at New England Medical Center in Boston.

 

Isai Peimer

Director

Mr. Peimer has been one of our directors since March 2011. He is a principal at MedImmune Ventures Inc., an investment company, a position he has held since August 2010. From April 2008 to January 2009, he was a senior associate at Visium Asset Management, LP, a healthcare-focused investment fund. From June 2005 to April 2008, Mr. Peimer worked as an investment banker at J.P.Morgan & Co. and as a specialty pharmaceuticals analyst at Alliance Bernstein L.P. and was a management consultant and focused on corporate strategy for the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors. Mr. Peimer’s career began at Merck & Co., Inc. Mr. Peimer received a B.S. in Chemistry summa cum laude from Emory University and an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Mark G. Foletta

Director

Mr. Foletta joined the board of directors in January, 2014, and currently serves on the board of directors of AMN Healthcare Services and Regulus Therapeutics. Previously, Mr. Foletta served as Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 2006 to August 2012 during the growth of Amylin’s diabetes and obesity franchises, including the commercial launch of diabetes drugs BYDUREON®, BYETTA® and SYMLIN®. Prior to joining Amylin in 2000, Mr. Foletta held a number of management positions with Intermark, Inc. and Triton Group Ltd. and served as an Audit Manager with Ernst & Young. Mr. Foletta received a B.A. in Business Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the Corporate Directors Forum.