Board of Directors

Keith G McCullagh is chairman of Xention’s Board of Directors. Dr McCullagh is an experienced bioscience entrepreneur, having built three previous companies in the life science industry. From 2003 to 2008 he was Chief Executive of Santaris Pharma A/S, an RNA medicines company and since 2000 he has served as Non-Executive Chairman of Pharmacy 2U Ltd, the UK’s largest warehouse pharmacy, which is pioneering e-prescription transfer and fulfilment. From 1986 to 1998 Dr McCullagh was Chief Executive of British Biotech plc, a company he built into one of Europe’s leading biopharmaceutical businesses. Prior to founding British Biotech, he was UK Research Director for GD Searle & Co, Inc, an international pharmaceutical business now part of Pfizer/Pharmacia. Dr McCullagh is also chairman of Affitech AS, a Scandinavian antibody therapeutics company. He has a professional qualification in veterinary medicine from the University of Bristol and obtained his PhD in pathology from the University of Cambridge.

Kenneth T Cunningham is Chief Executive at SkyePharma plc. He was most recently Chief Executive of Arakis Ltd and was previously Vice President of European Affairs at Alza International Inc, and Vice President of Clinical Development and Medical Director at Sequus Pharmaceuticals Inc. Before moving to Sequus, he was Medical Director at Glaxo Wellcome. He received medical training at St Mary’s Medical School and is a Member of the Royal College of Physicians and a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Physicians.

Wolfgang Hartwig was most recently Executive Vice President and Head of Global Pharmaceuticals Research and Development at Bayer Healthcare. He previously held a variety of positions within the Bayer Healthcare organisation including Head of Global Pharmaceuticals Research and Head of Global Diagnostics. He has served on numerous management and advisory boards including the Senatausschuss of the Helmholtz Association, the National Genome Research Initiative, and boards of Onyx Pharmaceuticals and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. He holds a doctoral degree in organic chemistry from the University of Göttingen and is Honorary Professor at the Westfälische Wilhelms-University of Münster.

J Mark Treherne was a founder and Chief Executive of Cambridge Drug Discovery Ltd. and subsequently the Commercial Director of BioFocus plc which acquired Cambridge Drug Discovery in 2001. Previously, he was responsible for neuroscience research at Pfizer, UK. He holds a PhD in receptor neuropharmacology from Cambridge University where he subsequently worked  on neuronal ion channel biophysics. He later held a senior faculty position at the Biozentrum in Basel, Switzerland. Dr Treherne is Chairman of NeuroDiscovery Ltd., Bioceros BV and Cyclofluidic Ltd and is a Non-Executive Director of Senexis Ltd, Population Genetics Technology Ltd and Domain Therapeutics SA.

Philippe Guinot is a Senior Partner at Crédit Agricole Private Equity where he manages biotechnology and life sciences investments. Dr Guinot trained as a medical doctor with specialisation in anaesthesiology and also holds a PhD in life sciences. From 1977 to 1994, he pursued a career in various management roles in the pharmaceutical industry in business and drug development, working in Switzerland, France, Germany and the UK and subsequently acting as Chief Executive of three biotechnology companies. He was Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Davis from 1992 to 1996.

Alexander Pasteur is a Principal at MVM Life Science Partners LLP. Prior to joining MVM in 2005, Dr Pasteur was a member of the life sciences investment team at the Cambridge Gateway Fund. He was previously a consultant with OC&C Strategy Consultants Ltd in London and holds a PhD in chemistry from Cambridge University. Dr Pasteur is also a director of Vantia Therapeutics Ltd.

Sander Slootweg is a Managing Partner at Forbion Capital Partners, a Netherlands based venture capital firm which was spun out of ABN AMRO Capital in 2006. He holds a degree in Business Administration from Nijenrode University and Business Economics from the Free University of Amsterdam. Before joining ABN AMRO Capital in 1999, he gained broad experience as an investment banker at ABN AMRO in both Europe and the US. Mr Slootweg currently serves on the boards of Argenta Discovery Ltd, Biovex Inc, Fovea Pharmaceuticals and AMT N.V.

Jonathan Gee is responsible for healthcare and life sciences investment activities at Spark Ventures (formerly Quester). He has over twenty years experience working with high growth technology companies as an investor, board member and chief executive. He has made investments in drug discovery, diagnostics, medical imaging and analytical instrumentation, and manages a portfolio in these areas. He led the investment by Quester in GlycArt Biotechnology, acquired by Roche in July 2005. He is responsible for two of Quester’s university-linked funds, Lachesis, and the Isis College Fund. Prior to joining Quester, as Chief Executive of Imperial College Innovations, he was responsible for spinning out over 30 new start-up companies and served on the board of eight of these, including Microscience Ltd, recently acquired by Emergent Technologies and now NYSE quoted. He has an operational background in marketing in the diagnostics industry where he was International Product Group Manager for Unilever’s successful OTC testing company, Unipath. He gained his management training in Unilever, which he joined following a PhD in cancer research at Oxford University.

Tim Brears, PhD is Xention’s Chief Executive. Previously he was a Founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Gendaq Ltd., a spin-out of the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology, and after the acquisition of Gendaq by Sangamo BioSciences, Inc, became Vice President for Business Development at Sangamo. From 1993 to 1999 he was Director of Licensing/Business Development at Novartis Inc. (formerly Ciba-Geigy Corporation) in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. He holds a PhD in molecular biology from Cambridge University, and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. In addition, he is a Registered United States Patent Agent.