Woerner P. Meehan, PhD, President Dr Meehan is a physiologist with over 20 years of experience in managing studies of animal models of disease for drug development. He previously worked at ZymoGenetics, Inc to develop models of vascular occlusion and evaluated the efficacy of drugs in maintaining blood flow through blood vessels. He has analyzed preclinical models required for FDA approval and formulated potential clinical pathways for drug development. At the University of Southern California and University of California, Los Angeles, Dr Meehan investigated drugs designed to inhibit the proliferative stages of atherosclerosis. He devised murine models of accelerated atherosclerosis and investigated the effect on the whole animal of preventing the formation of fatty plaques. Dr Meehan received a PhD in Physiology and Biophysics from the University of Southern California.
Advisory Team
Michael Kuran, Company Founder, Corporate & Business Development Advisor Mr Kuran founded Artemisia BioMedical, Inc in 2006, and has over 20 years of years of senior management experience in the biopharma industry. He is currently CEO of ACLIRES International Ltd, a global CRO service provider with operating units in South America and Southeast Asia conducting fully GCP-compliant clinical studies. Prior to his role as CEO of Artemisia BioMedical, he was co-founder and Chief Business Officer of Fulcrum Ventures Ltd, a company established to develop and commercialize promising late-stage oncology compounds between the US/European and Japanese markets. Mr Kuran has also held senior management positions with ZymoGenetics, Inc in Seattle, and Novo Nordisk and IMS Health in Japan, and speaks Japanese. Mr Kuran holds a BA degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and attended the Executive MBA program at Temple University, Tokyo campus.
Norman Kato, MD, Regulatory & Medical Affairs Advisor Dr Kato is a prominent surgeon with over 20 years of experience and expertise in clinical practice, clinical trials and regulatory affairs, healthcare service delivery, and healthcare policy issues. Dr Kato has been appointed to the Cardiology Preeminence Roundtable in Washington, DC, and named as a consultant to the FDA Circulatory System Devices Panel at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Dr Kato was also appointed to the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee of the FDA Cardiorenal Drug Panel, and to the Health and Science Policy Committee of the American College of Chest Physicians. Dr Kato received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. As an intern, resident and chief resident in surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr Kato completed a postdoctoral fellowship in physiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He served as resident and chief resident in cardiothoracic surgery at New York University Medical Center before obtaining an academic faculty appointment at UCLA Medical Center. Dr Kato has achieved board certification in Surgery, Surgical Critical Care, and Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC), the American College of Chest Physicians (FCCP), the American College of Surgeons (FACS), and the American Heart Association (FAHA).
Barry Philpott, Clinical Development Advisor Mr Philpott has over 25 years of senior management experience in the life science industry. Currently Mr Philpott is CEO of NCIMB Ltd, a professional microbiology company in Aberdeen, Scotland. He is also a co-founder and senior executive of ACLIRES International, a new CRO focused on early-stage clinical trials with operating units in South America and Asia. Previously, he was co-founder and CEO of Fulcrum Ventures, Ltd, a company developing and commercializing late-stage oncology compounds between the US/European and Japanese markets. At the multinational CRO PAREXEL, Mr Philpott was President of the Worldwide Clinical Trials Division. During his ten years at PAREXEL, Mr Philpott established and directed the Pharmaceutical Consulting Group, and also served as CAO of the corporation being responsible for M&A activities. Mr Philpott held several senior management positions with EG&G, Inc (Perkin Elmer) where he directed the company's worldwide scientific instrument business. Mr Philpott currently serves on the boards of other life science companies, including NCIMB, Ltd, Intermezzo Investments, Ltd and ACLIRES International Ltd. Mr Philpott studied Chemical Engineering at Imperial College, London.
Scientific Advisors
Henry Lai, PhD, Scientific Advisor Dr Lai is a Research Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr Lai pioneered research relating to the use of the compound artemisinin and its analogs for the treatment and prevention of cancer. His laboratory has synthesized and is testing a number of new synthetic artemisinin compounds, which have demonstrated a very high selectivity and potency in killing cancer cells. Dr Lai's other research interests involve studying the biological effects of non-ionizing radiation from extremely-low-frequency to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields, and the use of electromagnetic fields for the treatment of various diseases, such as malaria and cancer. In 2002 Dr Lai was awarded Honorary Professor status by the Tropical Medicine Institute at Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China. Dr Lai received a PhD in Psychology from the University of Washington. He has published numerous publications on artemisinin, and the neurological and biological effects of non-ionizing radiation.
Narendra Singh, MS, MBBS, Scientific Advisor Dr Singh is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington in Seattle. His main research interests are in DNA damage and repair, apoptosis, aging and cancer. Dr Singh developed the 'Comet Assay', which is the most sensitive method for determination of DNA damage in single cells. He has worked closely with Dr Lai and Dr Sasaki on the research and development of artemisinin-based technologies for the prevention and treatment of cancer and other diseases. In 2000 Dr Singh was granted the Colgate-Palmolive Visiting Professor Award in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Yale University. He is member on the Editorial Boards of Biogerontology, Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens, and Mutation Research. Dr Singh received degrees in Medicine and Surgery from King George's Medical College in India. He has published several papers on the use of artemisinin for prevention and treatment of cancer.
Tomikazu Sasaki, PhD, Scientific Advisor Dr Sasaki is a Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr Sasaki has worked together with Dr Lai and Dr Singh to develop a number of artemisinin-tagged compounds and technologies for the prevention and treatment of cancer, infectious diseases, and disorders characterized by abnormal cellular hyperproliferation. His other research activities are focused on novel peptide mimetics and multivalent carbohydrate ligands to investigate biomolecular recognition processes. The Sasaki Group has developed a series of metal-binding peptides, which show metal-ion dependent folding to adopt biologically active conformation. This concept was successfully applied to generate potent calcitonin analogs. Dr Sasaki has also developed a conceptually new approach to rapidly prepare multivalent carbohydrate ligands by the metal-assisted self-assembly process to investigate carbohydrate-protein and carbohydrate-carbohydrate interactions. He is the recipient of two National Scholarship Foundation awards in Japan, and an honorary member of the Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society. Dr Sasaki received a PhD in Bioorganic, Organic, and Biostructural Chemistry from Kyoto University in Japan.