Biosyntech

Board of Directors

Michel Lagueux
Executive Chairman of the Board and Interim CEO

Mr. Michel Lagueux was Senior Vice-President, Life Sciences, at the Solidarity Fund QFL from November 2006 until May 2008. Holder of a Bachelor of Business Administration, Mr. Lagueux has helped launch many bio-pharmaceutical start-ups in the past 20 years and as a consultant has also provided strategic planning advice to many Québec, Canadian and European life sciences companies. From 1983 to 1994, Mr. Lagueux helped grow Pharmacia Canada, a subsidiary of global giant Pharmacia Corporation. Then, after spending the next four years working as a strategic planning consultant in Italy, he became President and CEO of Canacure Corporation, a company operating in the nutraceuticals sector. In 2002, he was appointed Vice-President, Health Sciences, at Innovatech du Grand Montréal. Prior to his appointment at the Solidarity Fund QFL, Michel Lagueux was managing partner at Multiple Capital, a venture capital firm specializing in high technology and an affiliate of global giant Coller Capital UK.

Winston Black
Director

Mr. Winston Black joined Highland Capital Management, L.P. as a Senior Portfolio Analyst in September 2007. Prior to this, Mr. Black was COO/Analyst and Chief Compliance Officer at Mallette Capital Management, Inc., a biotech focused hedge fund, from 2005 to 2007. At Mallette Capital, Mr. Black focused on the generation and execution of investment ideas in the biotech and specialty pharmaceuticals sectors. From 2000 to 2005, Mr. Black was Vice President, Corporate Development for ATX Communications, Inc. where he was a core member of a turn-around management team that successfully completed a three-phase restructuring process, resulting in the recapitalization of approximately $1.2bn of various debt and equity securities and operational liabilities in both in- and out-of-court transactions. Mr. Black began his career in 1998 as an investment banking analyst in the Healthcare and Telecommunications groups at Salomon Smith Barney. Mr. Black received MBAs with distinction from both Columbia Business School and London Business School, and he received a BA in Economics from Duke University, where he graduated cum laude.

Jean-Pierre Desmarais
Director

Mr. Desmarais has been working in the medical device industry for over 30 years, in the field of surgical products, orthopedics, wound healing and in the cardiovascular industry for the last 12 years. Mr. Desmarais, Chief Scientific Officer with CryoCath Technologies Inc is responsible for the Quality Assurance, Animal Research, Regulatory Affairs and Clinical Research. As he started with CryoCath in 1996 when the company was a start up, he designed the road map to achieve regulatory approval for its product in Canada, Europe and led the first U.S. FDA PMA approval for a therapeutic medical device given to a Canadian company. Currently he is leading the company in its second original PMA approval for its flagship product, Arctic front, for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. Recently the company announced that it completed the enrolment of its pivotal IDE phase and has started the filing of its modular PMA.

Mr. Desmarais who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from Sherbrooke University worked previously at Smith and Nephew Canada and Davis & Geck surgical where he implemented quality system achieving ISO certifications and where he was responsible for regulatory filings.

Most recently he served on several boards including Biorthex and Cardianove, two start up companies and l’ Association des Industries des Technologies de la Santé.

Karen Hong, Ph.D.
Director

Dr.Karen Hong, Ph.D. joined ProQuest Investments in 2001 as an Associate and became a Principal in 2004. Currently, Dr. Hong serves on the Board of Directors of Agile Therapeutics and has represented ProQuest as an observer on the Board of Directors of BioRexis Pharmaceutical Corp. Prior to joining ProQuest, Dr. Hong provided technical consultation to the healthcare group at BancBoston Ventures and conducted basic biomedical research. Most recently, she led research projects in mammalian cancer genetics in the laboratory of Dr. Eric Lander at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Dr. Hong received her Ph.D. in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her B.S. in chemistry and B.A. in molecular biology from the University of California at Berkeley.

Rudy Huber
Director

Rudy Huber has over 25 years of business experience in the health care industry in Canada with a focus on the dental market. Mr. Hubert has a Bachelor of Commerce from Concordia University in Montreal and has held various sales and marketing positions for international companies including Johnson and Johnson. He also became an entrepreneur and co-owner of a successful Canadian distribution for a leading manufacturer of dental implant components and related components, 3i Implant Innovations Inc.

Mr. Huber since 1999 is the Country Manager for 3i Implant Innovations Canada, which is a subsidiary of 3i Implant Innovations Inc. a Biomet company (Nasdaq:BMET). Mr. Huber as County Manager for 3i Canada is responsible for both the strategic and operational activities of the company. He has served on boards of medical device companies including Cryocath (CYT.TO), a medical device company that develops and commercializes proprietary catheter cryotherapy products, principally for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Eric W. Linsley, MBA
Director

Mr. Linsley, is an experienced operating executive and venture capital investor who prior to joining Pappas in 2000 served as Chief Financial Officer of TriPath Imaging, Inc. (Nasdaq: TPTH), a medical device company. Mr. Linsley played a key role in the three-way merger between AutoCyte, NeoPath and Neuromedical Systems that created TriPath. Prior to the merger, he served as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Operations at AutoCyte where he led the company in a successful public equity offering in 1997. From 1991 to 1997, Eric worked as an investment professional with Ampersand Ventures, a leading venture capital firm based in Boston. He previously served as a management consultant with Bain & Co. and McKinsey & Co., and was a certified public accountant with Arthur Andersen LLP. Eric is a director of Emerald BioAgriculture, FlowCardia, and Cequent Pharmaceuticals and is a past director at Panacos Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: PANC). Mr. Linsley received a BA in Economics from Trinity College, an MS in Accounting from New York University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Amine Selmani, Ph.D.
Director

Dr. Selmani is the founder of BioSyntech. As a CEO, he led the company from its academic inception to its advanced R&D stage. Prior to founding the company in 1995, Dr. Selmani was a professor at Ecole Polytechnique. Dr. Selmani received a Ph.D. in Materials Science at the University of Montreal in 1985. He has been involved in many university-industry transfer technology projects.

 

Somesh Sharma, Ph.D.
Director

Dr. Somesh Sharma Ph.D., is the Chief Scientific Officer of Nicholas Piramal India Limited. Prior to November 2002, Dr. Sharma was the Senior Vice President of Monoclonal Antibody and Vaccine Unit at Anosys Inc., USA. After completing M. Sc. In Chemistry, obtained another MS in Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Pathology from the University of Maryland School in Medicine. He did postdoctoral work at Harvard and Standard Medical Schools and then spent eight years doing academic research in immunology and infectious diseases. After spending a year at Applied Immunesciences Director of Immunology, Dr. Sharma co-founded Anergen and was its Vice President-Research, and Chief Scientific Officer from 1988 to 1994. Dr. Sharma was President, Chief Executive Officer, and sole proprietor of Wizard Laboratories from 1996 to 1997 and of S2 Pharmaceuticals from 1994 to 1996. He co-founded Calyz Therapeutics Inc. in1997 and was its President and CEO from inception until May 2001 and CSO and Executive Vice President from May 2001 until his recruitment to Anosys Inc. in February 2002.

Joyce Tsang, Ph.D.
Director

Dr. Tsang joined ProQuest as an Associate in 1999 and became a General Partner in 2002. Her scientific background combined with financial and business judgment offers a unique understanding of how to commercialize innovation. Prior to joining ProQuest, Dr. Tsang held positions with McKinsey & Company and Smith Barney (now Citi Smith Barney). At McKinsey, she advised a variety of healthcare-focused Fortune 500 clients on strategic, operational, and organizational issues. At Smith Barney, Dr. Tsang worked on structuring numerous dept and equity offerings. She has previously served on the Board of Directors of Artemis Medical and Threshold Pharmaceuticals. Currently Dr. Tsang serves on the Board of Directors of Sopherion Therapeutics and Mersana Therapeutics.

Dr. Tsang received an A.B. in molecular biology from Princeton University, where she graduated cum laude. She received a Ph.D. in the macromolecular and cellular structure and chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute.