Board of Directors

John W. Kozarich, PhD - Chairman

John W. Kozarich, PhD, has served as a director since March, 2003. Dr. Kozarich is Chairman and President, and a Director of ActivX Biosciences. From 1992 to 2001, Dr. Kozarich was vice president at Merck Research Laboratories, where he was responsible for a number of research programs. Dr. Kozarich is also a biotechnology professor at the Scripps Research Institute, and previously held faculty positions at the University of Maryland and Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Kozarich earned his BS in chemistry from Boston College, his PhD in biological chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard.

Jason M. Aryeh

Jason M. Aryeh has served as a member of our board of directors since September 2006. He is the founder and managing general partner of JALAA Equities, LP, a private hedge fund focused on the biotechnology and specialty pharmaceutical sector, and has served in such capacity since 1997. Mr. Aryeh also serves on the board of directors of public biotech companies, Nabi Biopharmaceuticals and Myrexis, Inc. as wells as CorMatrix Cardiovascular, a medical device company and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Therapeutics Board (CFFT). Mr. Aryeh earned an A.B. in economics, with honors, from Colgate University, and is a member of the Omnicron Delta Epsilon Honor Society in economics.

Todd C. Davis

Todd C. Davis is a Managing Director of Cowen and a Principal and Founder of Cowen Healthcare Royalty Partners (CHRP). Previously, Mr. Davis was a Partner at Paul Capital Partners, where he oversaw investments for the Paul Royalty Funds. Prior to that, Mr. Davis was a Partner at Apax Partners. Mr. Davis has extensive healthcare operating experience, having worked in business development and general management at Elan Pharmaceuticals, and in sales and marketing at Abbott Laboratories. He is a former U.S. naval officer and holds a BS in mathematics from the U.S. Naval Academy, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

John Higgins

John Higgins is President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. Prior to joining Ligand, Mr. Higgins served as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Finance and Administration and Corporate Development, of Connetics Corporation, a specialty pharmaceutical company acquired by Stiefel Laboratories in December 2006. Before joining Connetics, he was a member of the executive management team at BioCryst Pharmaceuticals. Currently, he is a Director on the Boards of Techne Corporation, CoMentis and BioCryst and serves as Chairperson on the BioCryst Audit Committee. Prior to BioCryst, Mr. Higgins was a member of the healthcare banking team of Dillon, Read & Co. Inc., an investment banking firm. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Colgate University with an AB in economics.

David M. Knott

David M. Knott is Chief Investment Manager of Knott Partners Management and Dorset Management. Mr. Knott has more than three decades of experience in investing. He began his career at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, where he became a Vice President in their retail/small institution division. He left in 1983 to join Mandrakos Associates as a General Partner and Analyst with responsibility for the firm's investments in the energy and financial services industries. Mr. Knott was also in charge of most of the firm's short selling activities. In late January of 1987, he founded Knott Partners. Mr. Knott has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from the Wharton School.

John L. LaMattina, PhD

Dr. LaMattina spent 30 years at Pfizer Inc. beginning as a medicinal chemist in 1977. During his career, he was appointed to various positions of increasing responsibility for Pfizer Central Research, including Vice President of U.S. Discovery Operations in 1993, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Discovery Operations in 1998 and Senior Vice President of Worldwide Development in 1999. Dr. LaMattina graduated with cum laude honors from Boston College with a B.S. in Chemistry. He received a Ph.D. from the University of New Hampshire in Organic Chemistry and subsequently was at Princeton University in the National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellowship program. Dr. LaMattina is currently a senior partner at PureTech, a venture capital firm focusing on biotech investments, and serves on several boards, including the Board of Human Genome Science, Inc., the Board of Trustees of Boston College and the Scientific Advisory Board for Trevena Pharmaceuticals.

Sunil Patel

Mr. Patel has more than 17 years of senior management and R&D experience in the biotechnology industry and is currently Senior Vice President of Corporate Development for OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, a development-stage company focused on therapeutics targeting cancer stem cells. Mr. Patel has held senior management positions in corporate development, marketing, and strategy with BiPar Sciences, Allos Therapeutics, Connetics, Abgenix and Gilead Sciences. Mr. Patel also worked at McKinsey & Company serving biotech and pharmaceutical clients and has held scientific research positions at ZymoGenetics and ProCyte. Mr. Patel received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, and master's degree in Molecular Bioengineering/Biotechnology at the University of Washington.

Stephen L. Sabba, MD

Dr. Sabba has been a leading Research Analyst and Bio Fund Manager for Knott Partners Management, an investment fund company, since November, 2006. Previously he was a Partner and Director of Research with Kilkenny Capital Management, a Chicago-based hedge fund. Prior to that, Dr. Sabba was Director of Research at Sturza's Medical Research, and previously was a gastroenterologist and internist in private practice at Phelps Memorial Hospital in North Tarrytown, New York. He received his medical degree from the New York University School of Medicine, and completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in gastroenterology at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in New York City. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree with honors at Cornell University.