Board
Harren Jhoti, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Harren Jhoti co-founded Astex in 1999 and was Chief Scientific Officer until November 2007 when he was appointed Chief Executive. Dr. Jhoti was recently named by the Royal Society of Chemistry as ‘Chemistry World Entrepreneur of the Year’ for 2007. He has published widely including in leading journals such as Nature and Science and has also featured in TIME magazine after being named by the World Economic Forum a Technology Pioneer in 2005. Dr. Jhoti was also a non-executive director of Iconix Inc. and is currently a member of the SAB for Cellzome Ltd. Before setting up Astex in 1999, he was Head of Structural Biology and Bioinformatics at GlaxoWellcome in the UK (1991-1999). Prior to Glaxo, Dr. Jhoti was a post-doctoral scientist at Oxford University and received his BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry in 1985, and PhD in Protein Crystallography from the University of London in 1989.
Peter Fellner, PhD
Non-Executive Chairman
Peter Fellner was appointed as Chairman of Astex in 2002. He is also Executive Chairman of Vernalis, a Non-executive Director of two European biotechnology companies, UCB SA and Evotec AG and a Non-executive Director of QinetiQ Holdings plc, one of Europe's largest technology-based companies, and of Bespak. He is also a member of the Medical Research Council.
He was previously Chairman of Celltech Group plc, one of Europe's largest biotechnology companies until its acquisition in 2004, having served as its CEO from 1990 to 2003. Before joining Celltech, Dr. Fellner served as CEO of Roche UK, from 1986 to 1990. From 1984 to 1986 he was Director of the Roche UK Research Centre.
John Aston, MA ACA
Chief Financial Officer
John Aston joined Astex as Chief Financial Officer and was appointed to the Board in January 2007. Before joining Astex, John was Chief Financial Officer of Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) for ten years. He played a central role in the development of CAT into one of Europe's most important biotechnology companies, including the successful IPO on the London Stock Exchange, secondary offering in 2000 raising over £90m, listing on NASDAQ, and eventual sale to AstraZeneca in June 2006 at a valuation of $1.3 billion. Prior to joining CAT John was a director in investment banking with Schroders in London and previously worked for British Technology Group (BTG) and Price Waterhouse. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has a degree in Mathematics from Cambridge University.
Professor Sir Tom Blundell, FRS
Founder
Tom Blundell is Head of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge, UK and a world-leader in research on protein structure and function. He has pioneered many aspects of the protein structure field and is an authority on structure-based drug design and protein bioinformatics. He has also played an active role in UK national science policy in appointments as Director General of the AFRC (1991-1994) and Chief Executive of the BBSRC (1994-1996).
Martin Buckland, DPhil MBA
Chief Business Officer
Martin Buckland joined Astex as Chief Business Officer in September 2004 and was appointed to the Board in July 2008. He has more than 20 years of commercial and business development experience in the pharmaceutical industry and joined Astex from Elan Pharmaceuticals where he previously held the position of VP Global Business Development. His prior experience includes a variety of business development and commercial management roles with Quintiles, Xenova and Celltech. He has a BA in Chemistry and a DPhil from the University of Oxford, and an MBA from the Open Business School.
Stephen Bunting, PhD
Stephen Bunting is the Managing Director of Abingworth Management Ltd and has been in the venture capital business for over 20 years. During this time he has assisted in over 70 investments in the biotechnology and medical sectors. He has served on the boards of a number of life sciences companies including Ablynx, Astex, Aurora Biosciences, Cantab Pharmaceuticals, Devgen, Genetic Therapy,Hexagen and 3-D Pharmaceuticals.
Mark Carthy, MS MBA
Mark Carthy is a founder of Orion Healthcare Equities; previously he was a General Partner of Oxford Bioscience. He has more than 17 years' experience of operating or investing in high technology companies. Prior to joining Oxford, he was Biotechnology Portfolio Manager at Morningside Ventures and served as a director of Variagenics and Dendreon. Mr Carthy has also been Chief Business Officer of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Senior Director of Business Development at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated. He received an MS in chemical engineering from University of Missouri and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Amos Goren, MSc MBA
Amos Goren is a Venture Partner at Apax and until 2006 was Head of the European Healthcare Team focusing on healthcare investments particularly within the biotechnology and medical devices industries. Before joining Apax Partners in 1997 he was president and CEO of AquaPharm Technologies in Maryland and Vice President of Business Development at Carmel Containers in Israel. Amos holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MSc in organic chemistry and hormone research from the Weizmann Institute, and a BSc cum laude in biology from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Peter Ringrose, MA PhD
Peter Ringrose was Chief Scientific Officer of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and President of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute where he was responsible for the discovery, preclinical and clinical development of pharmaceutical products worldwide. Previously he was Senior Vice President and Head of Pfizer Central Research Europe. Prior to this he held positions at Sandoz Research Institute and Roche. He is Chair of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and a member of the Board of Governors of the New York Academy of Sciences. He is currently a non-executive director of Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. and a Pitt Fellow of Pembroke College Cambridge.
Jon S Saxe, BSChE JD LLM
Jon S Saxe was President of Protein Design Labs Inc until May 1999, prior to which he served as President and CEO of Synergen Inc. Mr Saxe worked for nearly 30 years at Hoffman-La Roche in a number of senior roles including VP, Licensing and Corporate Development, and Head, Patent Law. Mr Saxe currently serves as a Non-Executive Director on a number of Boards of leading US and Canadian biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies including Protein Design Labs Inc, First Horizon Pharmaceuticals Inc, Durect Corporation, SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Inc., InSite Vision Inc., Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and ID Biomedical Corporation.
Patrick Van Beneden, MSci
Patrick Van Beneden is Executive Vice-President Life Sciences at GIMV. Mr Van Beneden has 20 years experience with GIMV, and is responsible for GIMV's investment portfolio in life sciences and for managing the Biotech Fund Flanders. Current board positions include Devgen, Crop Design, Astex Technology, Avalon Pharmaceuticals, Pamgene, Xantos Biomedicine and TorreyPines Therapeutics. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of Oxford Biosciences Partners and Sofinnova SA. Mr Van Beneden obtained his degree in Financial Sciences from Vlekho, Brussels.