Pacylex Pharmaceuticals to Present at Biotech Showcase™ 2023

Dr. Weickert has been developing drugs at public and private companies for over 30 years. He has been CEO of Fe Pharmaceuticals, illumiSonics, Sonescence, and SEA Medical Systems, CBO of Strategent Life Sciences, Corium, and Therashock, COO of Greenfire Bio and Ohm Oncology, VP of development at SciDose and Auspex, and Senior Program Executive or Manager at Nektar and Ligand. Michael has driven oncology product development including Phase III/NDA for Targretin for Cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma, and business planning for drug delivery versions of the cancer drugs Leuprolide, Paclitaxel and Irinotecan. He obtained Orphan Drug and Fast Track designations for oncology-related products in the US and EU. Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, he was at the National Cancer Institute at NIH. He has a PhD in Genetics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Luc is a professor of cell biology at University of Alberta with 28 years of experience studying protein fatty acylation. He received his PhD from the Université de Sherbrooke and completed his Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre. He has more than 40 publications and 3 patents published or pending. Luc is also the founder and president of Eusera, an antibody manufacturing company in Edmonton, AB, which produces and markets many commercially successful antibodies.

Michele brings more than 35 years of experience in strategy, preclinical research, clinical development and commercialization of small molecules, large molecules, drug device combinations and gene therapies. Most recently she was SVP of Program Strategy Leadership at Gilead Sciences, where she built a new function of cross-functional leaders accountable for overall program strategy. Prior to Gilead, Michele was CEO of Proneurotech, Inc. (now Nura Bio) a biopharmaceutical start-up focused on discovering and developing neuroprotective drugs. Michele spent 12 years at Genentech/Roche leading neurology, ophthalmology and immunology product strategy and global commercialization. In these roles, she oversaw the successful development and commercialization of a number of innovative flagship products, including OCREVUS®, LUCENTIS® and Rituxan®. Prior to joining Genentech, she held global clinical development leadership positions with Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where she developed TYSABRI® and spent several years working in start-up companies Somatix Therapy Corporation developing gene and cell therapy applications for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, and Transcept Pharmaceuticals, heading the clinical development of Intermezzo®. Michele started the first ten years of her career working in neurology and psychiatric small molecule preclinical research and clinical development at Schering-Plough Research Institute. Michele has a B.A. in Experimental Psychology (now known as Neuroscience) from Rutgers University and M.S. in Pharmacology from New York Medical College.

John is a medical oncologist and Professor of Oncology, University of Alberta, and Chair of the Alberta Pre-Phase I Cancer Program (www.prephaseone.com). As the former Director of Clinical Trials at the Cross Cancer Institute, and the former Executive Director of Translational Research In Oncology (TRIO), a global clinical trial company with its head office in Edmonton, he has experience with clinical trial operations to expedite the clinical evaluation of Pacylex diagnostics and therapeutics.

Annette joined Pacylex as Vice President, Clinical Operations after more than 30 years in senior clinical operations and development roles, leading large-scale clinical programs in complicated and novel therapeutic areas. Prior to Pacylex, she served as Vice-President of Clinical Affairs at Neurogastrx, where she successfully progressed the NG101 program in Gastroparesis. Prior to Neurogastrx, she served as Vice-President of Clinical Operations at Aimmune, where she was a key figure in designing the clinical development program and implemented and managed the studies leading to the approval of the first-in-class peanut allergy treatment Palforzia™. At prior companies, she has been a key participant in the filings of several US and EU marketing applications and has held key leadership positions in programs that have directly contributed to successful product approvals and label expansions for multiple drugs and biologics. Over the past two decades, Annette has also provided consulting support to numerous bio-pharmaceutical companies to support their development programs, and in one case served as a client's regulatory representative to the FDA. Annette received her Bachelor's degree from Loyola-Marymount University.

Ryan has a background in research, technology commercialization, business development, and financing early stage companies. Ryan has provided business planning and company development for many early-stage, technology-based ventures in health-related fields in his previous positions as the Director of the Merck Invention Accelerator, with the University of Alberta, TEC Edmonton, and as an independent consultant. He also has nearly a decade of experience in the angel investing space as a Co-Founder and investor in Valhalla Private Capital. He holds a Masters in Experimental Oncology and an MBA from the University of Alberta.