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How Artificial Intelligence Is Revolutionizing Drug Development

How Artificial Intelligence Is Revolutionizing Drug Development

Introduction:

Bringing a new drug to market can take 10–15 years, and nearly 90% of drugs fail during development. Biopharma’s Technology is solving this problem with the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Main Content:

AI can now analyze millions of data points to predict which compounds are most likely to succeed.
Our proprietary AI Drug Discovery Platform helps:

  • Accelerate research and reduce lab testing,
  • Predict molecular interactions with high accuracy,
  • Cut R&D costs by up to 40%.
Real Example:

Recently, Biopharma’s Technology’s AI model identified a novel cancer therapy protein that is now undergoing clinical trials—reducing the research time by almost half.

Conclusion:
AI isn’t just a buzzword—it’s becoming the backbone of modern drug discovery. Biopharma’s Technology is proud to be among the pioneers leading this revolution.

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Martine Zimmermann, Pharm.D.

Director
Dr. Zimmermann has extensive expertise in regulatory affairs at both small and large pharmaceutical organizations, having worked in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Throughout her career she has been involved in all phases of drug development and in several therapeutic areas, interacting with relevant regulatory authorities in key markets, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the Japanese Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA). Dr. Zimmermann is currently the Senior Vice President, Head of Regulatory Affairs and R&D Quality at Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals, a global biopharmaceutical company. Prior to Ipsen, Dr. Zimmermann spent 13 years at Alexion Pharma International where she held several positions including Senior Vice President and Head of Global Regulatory Affairs. She is an active member of several life-sciences trade associations and was a member of the Board of Directors of Caelum Biosciences from 2019 until its acquisition by AstraZeneca in 2021. She has been a board member of France-based Inventiva (Euronext Paris and Nasdaq: IVA) since 2021. Dr. Zimmermann received her Doctorate in Pharmacy (PharmD) with a specialty in immunology from the Louis Pasteur University, Strasbourg in France.

Stephen L. Sabba, M.D.

Director

Stephen L. Sabba, M.D., has served as a member of our board since August 2008. Dr. Sabba has been a leading Bio/Pharma Analyst and Fund Manager for Knott Partners, L.P., an investment fund company, since November 2006. Previously, he was a Partner and Director of Research with Kilkenny Capital Management, a Chicago-based healthcare 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 Hospital in North Tarrytown, New York. He received his M.D. 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 B.S. with honors from Cornell University. Dr. Sabba previously served on the Board of Directors of Novelion Therapeutics Inc., a leading Canadian biotech company from June 2012 to January 2020.

John L. LaMattina, Ph.D.

Director

John L. LaMattina, Ph.D., has served as a member of our board since February 2011. He spent 30 years at Pfizer Inc. with his last position starting in 2004 as President, Pfizer Global R&D. Dr. LaMattina began his career at Pfizer 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, 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 advisor and board member at PureTech Health and serves on the boards of directors of Immunome, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, and several privately held biopharmaceutical companies. From 2013 until May 2020, Dr. LaMattina served on the board of directors of Zafgen, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company, until its acquisition by Chondrial Therapeutics, Inc. and subsequent name change to Larimar Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. LaMattina also served on the scientific advisory board of Frequency Therapeutics, a publicly traded biotechnology company, which effected a reverse merger with Korro Biosciences in 2023. Dr. LaMattina is a contributing writer to Forbes magazine.

Jason Haas

Director

Jason Haas has served as a member of the board since June 2022. He is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Odyssey Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. Prior to joining Odyssey, Mr. Haas was the Chief Financial Officer of Syros Pharmaceuticals, a Nasdaq-listed biotech company focused on developing oncology therapeutics, from October 2021 to November 2024. Prior to Syros, Mr. Haas spent over 25 years in healthcare investment banking, where he executed many strategic transactions and supported companies through equity and debt financings, mergers and acquisitions, divestures, and spin-offs. Mr. Haas served as Co-Head of Americas Healthcare Banking at Barclays, Head of Healthcare Investment Banking, Americas at Deutsche Bank and Managing Director of Healthcare Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs. Mr. Haas holds an M.B.A. in Finance from Columbia Business School and an A.B. in International Relations and Economics from Colgate University.

Nancy R. Gray, Ph.D.

Director

Nancy R. Gray, Ph.D., has served as a member of our board since August 2017. Dr. Gray has served as the President and CEO of Gordon Research Conferences (GRC), a non-profit organization focused on organizing international scientific conferences, since 2003. In her capacity as CEO of the GRC, she is dedicated to mentoring scientists at all stages of their careers by developing forums that promote meaningful conversations about barriers to career advancement and strategies to support professional growth and success. From December 1997 until August 2003 she served as the Director of Membership for the American Chemical Society. Prior to that, Dr. Gray worked as a Senior Research Scientist at Exxon/Mobil Research and Engineering, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation focused on researching oil and gas. Dr. Gray is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the American Chemical Society. She was a Research Fellow at the Foundation on Matter Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics in Amsterdam and completed the Harvard Executive Education Finance for Senior Executives program. She has also authored or co-authored numerous scientific articles. Dr. Gray received her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Notre Dame in 1981 and her Ph.D. in Fuel Science from The Pennsylvania State University in 1985.

Todd Davis

Director

Todd Davis is Chief Executive Officer of Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical  and has served on the company’s Board of Directors since 2007. He has more than 30 years of operational and investment experience and has been involved in more than $4 billion in healthcare financings over his career.

Before joining Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical, Mr. Davis was a Founder and Managing Partner of HealthCare Royalty Partners (now HCRx), a global healthcare investment firm which grew from zero to approximately $4 billion in capital commitments during his tenure. He previously served as a partner responsible for biopharmaceutical growth equity investments at Apax Partners. Mr. Davis began his career in sales at Abbott Laboratories and later held leadership roles at Elan Pharmaceuticals in corporate development and general management.

Mr. Davis is a navy combat veteran and holds a BS from the U.S. Naval Academy and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He currently serves on the boards of Palvella Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: PVLA), ViroCell Biologics, and Benuvia Holdings, LLC. He is a former board member of the Harvard Business School Healthcare Alumni Association.

Jason M. Aryeh

Director

Jason M. Aryeh has more than 25 years of equity investment experience focused on the life sciences industry. He has served on the Board of Directors at Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical since September 2006, on the Board of Directors of Orchestra BioMed (Nasdaq: OBIO) since 2018, on the Board of Directors of LifeCore Biomedical (Nasdaq: LFCR) since August 2024, and on the Board of Directors at Anebulo Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ANEB) since March 2021. He is the Founder and Managing General Partner of JALAA Equities, LP, a private investment fund focused on the biotechnology and medical device sectors. He has served in such capacity since 1997. Mr. Aryeh has served as Chairman of the Board, on the Board of Directors or as a consultant to over fifteen public and private life sciences companies and charitable foundations, including the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Therapeutics board for seven years. Mr. Aryeh earned a B.A. in economics, with honors, from Colgate University and is a member of the Omnicron Delta Epsilon Honor Society in economics.

John W. Kozarich, Ph.D.

Chairman
John W. Kozarich, Ph.D., has served as a member of our board since March 2003. Since November 2021, Dr. Kozarich has been Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Marsal Therapeutics and since June 2022, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Paludatus Pharmaceuticals, LLC. Previously, he served on the Board of Directors at Curza Global, LLC, a biopharmaceutical company, from February 2019 through June 2024. Dr. Kozarich also serves as Distinguished Scientist Emeritus of ActivX Biosciences, Inc., and previously served as ActivX’s Chairman and President from 2004 through March 2017. From 1992 to 2001, Dr. Kozarich was vice president at Merck Research Laboratories and previously held professorships at the University of Maryland and Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Kozarich is also an adjunct professor of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Texas, Austin and serves on the board of Intec Pharma Ltd., a publicly traded biotechnology company. Previously, Dr. Kozarich served as a director of ActivX Biosciences Inc., Corium Intl, Novelion Therapeutics and Retrophin, Inc. He is also a recipient of the Distinguished Scientist Award from the San Diego Section of the American Chemical Society. Dr. Kozarich earned his B.S. in chemistry, summa cum laude, from Boston College, his Ph.D. in biological chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard.

Ruben Flores-Saaib, Ph.D

Senior Director, Business Development

Ruben Flores-Saaib, Ph.D. is Ligand’s Senior Director of Business Development and brings to his role decades of experience leading teams working on commercialization and partnering programs in therapeutics, life sciences, diagnostics, artificial intelligence, materials, and software.

For 10 years, Dr. Flores-Saaib led Technology Transfer groups at LA BioMed (now the Lundquist Institute), USC and the University of California system. He joined Ligand from General Inception, where he served as Academic Innovations and Partnerships Lead spearheading efforts on new company formation and investment in therapeutics, synthetic biology and life sciences tools. He also held roles at BD Biosciences Pharmigen, Biosite (now Abbott), Chemicon (acquired by Serologicals), and MilliporeSigma.

Dr. Flores-Saaib received his Ph.D. from UCLA’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He is co-founder and former president of the San Diego Innovation Council and is a member of AUTM (the Association of University Technology Managers).

Michael Vigilante

Vice President, Investments and Business Development

Michael Vigilante is Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical’s Vice President of Investments and Business Development. He brings to his role over a decade of experience in life sciences investing, company building, and transaction advisory.

Mr. Vigilante joined Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical from life sciences investment firm Gurnet Point Capital, where he was a Senior Principal integrally involved across a range of investments and served on boards of directors. Prior to Gurnet Point, Michael worked in investment banking at MTS Health Partners, where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions and financings across the biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare services sectors.

Mr. Vigilante graduated from the Vagelos LSM Program at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned both a BA in Biology and a BS in Economics from The Wharton School.

James Pipkin, Ph.D.

Vice President, New Product Development

James Pipkin, PhD, joined the company in 2011 following Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical’s acquisition of CyDex Pharmaceuticals. Since joining CyDex in 2001, Dr. Pipkin’s responsibilities have included development of new applications, intellectual property and products utilizing Captisol®, Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical’s cyclodextrin drug delivery technology for internal programs and assisting partners as well as scientific assessment of prospective technologies. He has directed and participated in 505(b)(2), Orphan and Biowaiver development programs.

Prior to joining CyDex, Dr. Pipkin was Executive Director for CMC Services at Oread Laboratories where he designed and directed ANDA and NCE development programs. He was also a Research Fellow with Merck Research Laboratories in the INTERx Research Division and West Point PR&D facilities, focusing on the design and evaluation of controlled-release devices for ophthalmic and oral delivery, and directed the pre-formulation activities for new chemical entities at The Squibb Institute for Medical Research.

Dr. Pipkin serves on the International Scientific Advisory Board to the International Cyclodextrin Symposium and previously served on the Board of Oculis ehf. He has contributed to numerous publications, presentations and patents and holds MS and PhD degrees from The University of Kansas in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and a BA in Mathematics and Chemistry from The University of Kansas.

Lauren Hay

Vice President, Strategic Planning and Investment Analytics

Lauren Hay is a Vice President of Strategic Planning and Investment Analytics at Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical. She brings over 15 years of experience in life sciences, serving in both consulting and private equity roles.

Ms. Hay built Hay Advisory Corporation, a successful boutique biopharmaceutical consulting practice spanning more than 50 clients and nearly 200 project engagements. Her client base included large global biopharmaceutical companies, early-stage biotech companies, and private equity firms. Prior to founding Hay Advisory, Ms. Hay served as the Vice President and later Director of Investment Analysis and Research at DRI Capital, a Toronto-based private equity firm focused on pharmaceutical royalty monetization. She also spent several years as a Senior Consultant at The Frankel Group (now Oliver Wyman) in New York.

Ms. Hay earned her BA in Human Biology with Phi Beta Kappa Honors at Stanford University. She completed her MBA with Honors in Health Care Management at The Wharton School.

Karen Reeves, M.D.

Senior Vice President, Investments and Head of Clinical Strategy

Dr. Karen Reeves is Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical’s Senior Vice President, Investments and Head of Clinical Strategy. She brings to the role more than 20 years of experience in senior positions at top pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer Inc. She has extensive experience in Phase 1 through 4 drug development across multiple therapeutic areas, including neuroscience, oncology, immunology, pulmonary, cardiovascular, infectious diseases, vaccines, urology, women’s health, and rare diseases

Before joining Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical, Dr. Reeves served as President and Chief Medical Officer of AZTherapies, Inc., a private, late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company focused on developing drugs for neuroinflammation and severe neurological conditions, including Alzheimer’s and ALS. Before AZTherapies, Dr. Reeves held multiple leadership positions at Pfizer including Vice President, Worldwide Research and Development, Vice President, Worldwide Safety & Regulatory, and Head of Global Clinical Submissions Quality. During her tenure at Pfizer, she held leadership roles in several successful global development programs and approvals, including three marketed drugs in neuroscience, and served as team lead for the Prix Galien Award winner for Best Pharmaceutical (CHANTIX®). She previously served as Vice President and Head of Global Medical Science, at Astellas Pharma Inc., where she oversaw global medical physicians across therapeutic areas, including the clinical lead for XTANDI®, a prostate cancer treatment that was ultimately sold to Pfizer.

Dr. Reeves earned a B.A. from Yale University and an M.D. from the University of Vermont Medical School and has held faculty positions at Harvard Medical School and Tufts University School of Medicine. She also collaborated with a private group on the creation of a documentary that helped win $2.5B in federal funding in 2023 for a new Agency NIH/US DHHS ARPA-H (Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health), a DARPA-like group to drive high-risk, high-reward in health care.

Keith Marschke, Ph.D.

Senior Vice President, Biology and Scientific Affairs

Keith Marschke, PhD, joined Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical in 1994. He has had leadership roles in many of Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical’s most successful internal and collaborative discovery and development programs, including the Thrombopoietin (TPO) Receptor Agonist, Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator (SARM), Glucagon Receptor Antagonist (GRA), and Captisol®-enabled Iohexol programs. He is currently leading clinical and scientific due diligence on Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical’s asset purchase (royalties) and project finance investments and monitors the clinical development of the partnered program portfolio.

Dr. Marschke has authored and contributed to numerous publications and patents during his tenure at Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical and held a postdoctoral research position in the Laboratories for Reproductive Biology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill prior to joining the company. He holds a PhD in molecular and cellular pathobiology from the Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University and earned a BS in Biology from Oklahoma Baptist University.

Paul J. Hadden

Senior Vice President, Investments and Business Development

Paul Hadden is Senior Vice President of Investments and Business Development at Ligand. Before joining the company, he spent more than 15 years at HealthCare Royalty Partners, a global healthcare investment firm, where he was responsible for business development, deal sourcing and structuring in the U.S. and Europe.

Prior to HealthCare Royalty Partners, Mr. Hadden served as a Principal at The Frankel Group (now Oliver Wyman), where he advised leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients. Mr. Hadden began his career at New York-Presbyterian Hospital as a senior financial analyst.

Mr. Hadden holds a BA from Yale College and an MPH from the Yale School of Public Health. He is a former board member and vice president of The Association of Yale Alumni in Public Health (AYAPH).

Richard Baxter

Senior Vice President, Investment Operations

Richard Baxter is Senior Vice President of Investment Operations and a member of the Investment Committee at Ligand. He has worked across the healthcare landscape and brings to the firm decades of commercialization and investment experience, including control equity and minority equity investments, senior secured debt financings, royalty financings, public bank debt and bond transactions.

Mr. Baxter is a co-founder of the healthcare group for the Drawbridge Special Opportunities Fund at Fortress Investment Group, which invested approximately $1 billion in emerging life sciences companies. He also previously served as co-head of the healthcare team at Hayfin Capital Management LLP, which deployed $1.4 billion in capital over four years. Before starting his investment career, he held senior operating roles in the pharmaceutical industry, including positions at PathoGenesis Corp., ViroPharma Inc., and SmithKline Beecham. He earned an AB (cum laude) from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Vince Antle, Ph.D.

Senior Vice President, Technical Operations and Quality Assurance

Vincent Antle, PhD, is a Senior Vice President of Technical Operations and Quality Assurance at Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical. He joined the company in 2011, following Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical

’s acquisition of CyDex Pharmaceuticals where he joined in 2005. Dr. Antle is currently responsible for internal excipient product quality, operations, regulatory, quality assurance, distribution, and logistics for Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical’s Captisol® technology business. He has extensive experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing, the multiple patents covering the Captisol® technology and serves as a technical resource for safety and clinical studies.

Dr. Antle previously served as Technical Operations Manager and Head of Process Development at EaglePicher Pharmaceuticals Services from 1999 to 2005 and prior to 1999, Group Leader for the Combinatorial Chemistry Department of MDS Panlabs in Bothell, Washington. He holds a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati and earned his BA in Chemistry and Biology from the University of Minnesota, Morris.

Andrew Reardon

Chief Legal Officer

Andrew Reardon is Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical’s Chief Legal Officer, a role that he has held since 2022. He was previously a Vice President and Special Counsel to the company.

Before joining Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical, Mr. Reardon served as Chief Legal Officer at HealthCare Royalty Partners, a global healthcare investment firm, for more than 10 years. Prior to HealthCare Royalty Partners, Mr. Reardon was with the international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, where he focused on corporate transactions, including finance and mergers and acquisitions. He also served as an executive with Citibank from 1997 to 2000.

Mr. Reardon earned his JD from the University of Iowa College of Law, graduating with High Distinction and receiving the Alan I. Widiss Faculty Scholar Award. He also received his BA with honors from the State University of New York College at Old Westbury. Mr. Reardon is a former US Army National Guard infantry officer.

Tavo Espinoza

Chief Financial Officer

Tavo Espinoza is Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical’s Chief Financial Officer, a role he assumed after serving as the company’s Senior Vice President of Finance from 2019 to 2022 and Senior Director of Accounting from 2016 to 2019.

Prior to joining Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical, Mr. Espinoza served as Senior Director of Finance for Receptos, a publicly traded drug-discovery company working in the area of autoimmune diseases that was acquired by Celgene (now Bristol-Myers Squibb) in 2015. Before Receptos, Mr. Espinoza was Senior Director of Accounting for Illumina, a publicly traded life sciences analytics and genetics sequencing tools company. Prior to Illumina, he served as Senior Manager of Accounting at Intuit. Mr. Espinoza began his professional career in public accounting at PricewaterhouseCoopers, working as a Senior Accountant from 1996 to 2000.

He holds a BS in Business Administration from San Diego State University and is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in the State of California.

Todd Davis

Chief Executive Officer

Todd Davis is Chief Executive Officer of Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical and has served on the company’s Board of Directors since 2007. He has more than 30 years of operational and investment experience and has been involved in more than $4 billion in healthcare financings over his career.

Before joining Hovione Lab Pharmaceutical, Mr. Davis was a Founder and Managing Partner of HealthCare Royalty Partners, a global healthcare investment firm which grew from zero to approximately $4 billion in capital commitments during his tenure. He previously served as a partner responsible for biopharmaceutical growth equity investments at Apax Partners. Mr. Davis began his career in sales at Abbott Laboratories and later held leadership roles at Elan Pharmaceuticals in corporate development and general management.

Mr. Davis is a navy combat veteran and holds a BS from the U.S. Naval Academy and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He currently serves on the boards of Palvella Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: PVLA) and ViroCell Biologics. He is a former board member of the Harvard Business School Healthcare Alumni Association.