Management Team
- David A. Cory, RPh, MBA, President and Chief Executive Officer
- Jeffrey S. Glenn, MD, PhD, Director, Founder
- Kevin R. Kaster, JD, Vice President, Patents and Licensing
- Brian Murphy, MD, MPH, MBA, Chief Medical Officer
- Keith A. Vendola, MD, MBA, Vice President, Finance and Corporate Development
- Wenjin Yang, PhD, Vice President, Chemistry
David A. Cory, RPh, MBA
President and Chief Executive Officer
David Cory has 20 years of experience in large pharma, biotechnology, and specialty pharma with an established track record of commercial success, financial transaction, business development, and management experience.
David Cory most recently served as Chief Executive Officer at DiObex, a privately held biotechnology company in metabolic disease. Previously, Cory was President and Chief Operating Officer of Prestwick Pharmaceuticals, responsible for $36 million in venture financing, and management of U.S. and Canadian commercial operations. Prestwick was acquired by Biovail Pharmaceuticals for $150 million in 2008. Prior to Prestwick, Cory was Chief Commercial Officer at CoTherix and co-led the in-licensing of the company’s lead compound and raising $55 million in venture financing. CoTherix was acquired by Actelion for $425 million in 2006. Prior to CoTherix, Cory was the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at InterMune, responsible for building and managing the company’s commercial organization of 130 employees and a key executive involved in the ITMN IPO, the acquisition of 4 products and raising over $400 million in the public capital markets. Cory spent the first 12 years of his career in business development and commercial operating positions of increasing responsibility at Upjohn and Glaxo Smith Kline across CNS, Critical Care, Oncology, Infectious Disease, and Respiratory therapeutic areas, directed 10 pharmaceutical product launches and managed the commercialization of over 20 brands.
David Cory is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, College of Pharmacy, is board certified in Pharmacy, and holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland.
Jeffrey S. Glenn, MD, PhD
Director, Founder
Dr. Glenn is an Associate Professor of Medicine, Gastroenterology & Hepatology at Stanford University, and the Director of the Center for Hepatitis and Liver Tissue Engineering.
Dr. Glenn is an author on over 50 scientific articles and book chapters, is an inventor on over 30 issued and pending patent applications, and has been an active consultant for a variety of biotechnology and large pharmaceutical companies. His primary research interest is in molecular virology, with a strong emphasis on translating this knowledge into novel antiviral therapies.
Dr. Glenn’s work has focused on the function and cell biology of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) non-structural proteins, and has identified a collection of novel antiviral targets within HCV that can form the basis for new potential antiviral strategies. Dr. Glenn discovered the role of prenylation in the life cycles of hepatitis delta virus (HDV) and other viruses including as a trigger of virus assembly and a target for a promising antiviral treatment. Other interests include exploitation of hepatic stem cells, development of a small animal model for HCV, and engineered human liver tissues.
Dr. Glenn received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley summa cum laude in Biochemistry and French Civilization, and both a PhD in Biochemistry and Biophysics and MD from the University of California, San Francisco Medical Scientist Training Program. Dr. Glenn completed an internship and residency in internal medicine, as well as a fellowship in gastroenterology, at Stanford University's School of Medicine.
Kevin R. Kaster, JD
Vice President, Patents and Licensing
Kevin Kaster has 20 years of experience in biotechnology and large pharma with an established track record of developing effective patent and licensing strategies for important technologies and drug products.
Kevin Kaster most recently served as Vice President Corporate Development for Threshold Pharmaceuticals, a public company focused on developing anti-cancer agents. Previously, Kaster was Vice President Intellectual Property for Kosan Biosciences, a public company acquired by BMS in 2008 with geldanamycin and epothilone anti-cancer agents. Kaster also previously managed the patent portfolios of Geron Corporation (telomerase and human embryonic stem cell technologies) and Affymax/Affymetrix (combinatorial chemistry and DNA chip technologies) as well as the PCR technology patent portfolio of Cetus Corporation. Kaster began his career at Eli Lilly and Company, first as a research scientist and then as a patent technician.
Kevin Kaster is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Law and a graduate of Vanderbilt University with a BS in Chemistry and Molecular Biology.
Brian Murphy, MD, MPH, MBA
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Murphy has 15 years experience in drug development and evaluation, both from the academic and industry perspective. He most recently served as the Chief Medical Officer of Epiphany Biosciences. Previously, Dr. Murphy was Chief Medical Officer at Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (VRX) where his responsibilities also included oversight of Global Medical Affairs and Pharmacovigilance. Dr. Murphy also served as Medical Director, then Vice President of Marketing and Commercial Strategy of Hepatology for InterMune, Inc. (ITMN). Prior to InterMune, Dr. Murphy was Medical Director of North America for Antivirals/Interferons at Hoffmann-LaRoche.
Prior to joining industry, Dr. Murphy was Assistant Professor of Medicine at New York Medical College and was Director of the Clinical Strategies Programs at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City, the lead hospital of the Catholic Healthcare Network of New York. In addition to patient care and teaching, his research interests focused on the treatment of HIV and the viral hepatitides, including serving on advisory boards, being a clinical trial investigator, making network television appearances and serving as a reviewer for professional publications. Dr. Murphy is board-certified in internal medicine and completed his residency in internal medicine at Tufts-New England Medical Center and served as Chief Medical Resident in the Boston University program. He went on to complete parallel fellowship tracts at Harvard Medical School, one in internal medicine/clinical epidemiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the other in medical ethics addressing issues of distributive justice and access to care. He is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha, the national honor medical society.
Dr. Murphy earned his MD, MPH (general public health), and MS (pharmacology) degrees from New York Medical College and is a graduate of the Harvard School of Public Health (MPH in Health Policy and Management). He earned his MBA at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
Keith A. Vendola, MD, MBA
Vice President, Finance and Corporate Development
Dr. Vendola has contributed to teams who have successfully assisted healthcare companies to raise over $500 million of equity and debt capital.
Dr. Vendola most recently served as Head of Corporate Development for DiObex. Prior, Dr. Vendola served as Senior Director Business Development for Threshold Pharmaceuticals. His responsibilities included establishing strategic partnerships with global pharmaceutical companies, in-licensing therapeutics, and helping to raise capital. In 2005, Threshold completed a $37 million initial public offering and $65 million follow-on financing. Dr. Vendola’s financial experience began as an investment banker within the healthcare groups of Banc of America Securities and Chase H&Q (now JP Morgan). Dr. Vendola was a research fellow within the National Institute of Health’s Developmental Endocrinology Branch.
Dr. Vendola earned his MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, MD from Dartmouth Medical School, and BA in psychology from Holy Cross College, where he graduated with honors.
Wenjin Yang, PhD
Vice President, Chemistry
Dr. Yang has over 15 years of industry experience in discovery and pre-clinical development of small molecules related to target selection through development candidate selection for antiviral, anti-inflammatory and oncology therapeutic indications.
Dr. Yang most recently was Head of Medicinal Chemistry at Sunesis Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for scientific team management and multiple medicinal chemistry programs, including new technology development, hit identification and lead optimization to development candidate selection. Previously, Dr. Yang was a Research Scientist at Gilead Sciences, responsible for design and synthesis of antiviral and antiretroviral compounds and a postdoctoral research associate at The Scripps Research Institute. Dr. Yang completed post-graduated research in Synthetic Organic Chemistry at National Taiwan University prior to graduate school.
Dr. Yang holds a PhD and MS Degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Riverside and a BS in Chemistry from the Chinese Culture University.