Scottsdale, Az., USA - January 8, 2010, Scottsdale, Az., USA - Apthera, Inc., a biotechnology company, announced the appointments of Mark W. Schwartz to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer and Edward L. Jacobs to the Board as an independent director.
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Dr. Schwartz has spent over 25 years in the biotechnology and life science industry, and has substantial CEO, business development and operations experience. Most recently, Dr. Schwartz was President and CEO of Bayhill Therapeutics (Bayhill) from 2004 to 2009. Under his leadership, Bayhill successfully demonstrated clinical proof of concept of the company's BHT-DNA platform's ability to induce antigen specific tolerance in two indications (multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes).
Dr. Schwartz led Bayhill's corporate partnering efforts which led to an exclusive, worldwide collaboration agreement with Genetech/Roche for the development of BHT-3021 in type 1 diabetes in June 2009. Dr. Schwartz was previously President and CEO of Calyx Therapeutics, where he successfully led a $30 million institutional round for the development of novel anti-inflammatory compounds.
Previously, he served at Trega BioSciences as Chief Commercial Officer, playing a lead role in the development of the company's iDiscovery strategy and merger of Trega with Lion Bioscience AG. Dr. Schwartz has also served in key management roles at Synteni, Incyte Genomics, and at Tripos, where he pioneered the Accelerated Discovery Services Business Unit.
Dr. Schwartz holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Arizona State University and received his BA in Chemistry from Grinnell College. He has served on the Board of the Biotechnology Industry Association, as well as the Emerging Companies Section (ECS) Governing Board, and Co-Chair of the ECS Health and Regulatory Committee within the ECSGB. Apthera also appointed Dr. Schwartz to the Board.
Mr. Jacobs has nearly three decades of executive biopharmaceutical experience. Currently, Mr. Jacobs is President and CEO of Ascalon International, Inc., an oncology development company. Previously, he was President and CEO at Semafore Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Prior to Semafore, Mr. Jacobs was at SuperGen, Inc., a publically traded cancer company. During his tenure at SuperGen, he had several executive management positions, including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Business and Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Commercial Operations. ■