About
Directors
Meet our Team
Gabriele Cerrone
Non-Executive Chairman
Mr Cerrone has a successful track record and extensive experience in the financing and restructuring of micro-cap biotechnology companies. He has founded ten biotechnology companies in oncology, infectious diseases and molecular diagnostics, and has taken seven of these companies to the NASDAQ Market and two to the Main Market and AIM Market in London. Mr Cerrone is Executive Chairman of Tiziana Life Sciences plc. Mr Cerrone co-founded Cardiff Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRDF), an oncology company and served as its Co-Chairman; he was a co-founder and served as Chairman of both Synergy Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SGYP) and Callisto Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCMKTS: CLSP), and was a Director of and led the restructuring of Siga Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SIGA). Mr Cerrone also co-founded FermaVir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and served as Chairman of the Board until its merger in September 2007 with Inhibitex, Inc. Mr Cerrone served as a director of Inhibitex, Inc. until its US$2.5bn sale to Bristol Myers Squibb Co in 2012.
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Mr Cerrone is the Chairman and Founder of Tiziana Life Sciences plc (NASDAQ:TLSA) a Neuroinflammatory focused therapeutics company; Chairman and Co-Founder of Rasna Therapeutics Limited (OTCMKTS: RASP), a company focused on the development of therapeutics for leukaemias; Co-Founder of Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: HEPA); Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Gensignia Life Sciences, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company focused on oncology using microRNA technology; and Executive Chairman and founder of Accustem Sciences plc; and founder of BioVitas Capital Ltd.
Robert Dempsey
Chief Executive Officer/Director
Mr. Dempsey brings more than two decades of domestic and global experience in the ophthalmic space driving successful drug development, business transactions and commercialization. Robert’s CEO and Board Director experience spans extensive transaction and portfolio expertise across venture capital, investment banking, and strategics to successfully secure funding and advance M&A opportunities for multiple companies. His professional network in the eye care community is broad and well-established serving as an Independent Director on multiple ophthalmic Boards.
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His philanthropic leadership as a Board Member and Co-Founder of the Holland Foundation for Sight Restoration, alongside world-renowned corneal surgeon Edward J. Holland, M.D., is dedicated to transforming the lives of individuals affected by severe ocular surface disease, including limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD), a rare and devastating condition that can result in chronic pain, profound vision loss, and blindness
Robert formerly served as the Group Vice President and Head of Global Ophthalmology at Shire, which was acquired by Takeda, and was responsible for closing one of only 3 Ophthalmology transactions with >$1B upfront in the last 2 decades for Xiidra® that transacted again 4 years later for $1.7B to Bausch & Lomb. Xiidra was divested to Novartis in 2019 for $3.4 billion upfront and up to an additional $1.9 billion in potential milestone payments. At Shire, he swiftly established a highly regarded reputation for Shire as new company in the Ophthalmology and Optometry markets. Leading the commercialization strategy that resulted in an industry leading launch, while overseeing the acquisition of four companies that contributed to the franchise pipeline of innovative candidates aimed at improving vision-related quality, was an accomplishment about which he is most proud. He is a seasoned ophthalmology executive who successfully launched two category-defining dry eye therapies, Xiidra® (lifitegrast ophthalmic solution) 5% and Restasis® (cyclosporine ophthalmic emulsion) 0.05%. Previously Robert has held CEO roles across ophthalmic companies, where he progressed clinical-stage programs, led capital formation efforts, and consistently delivered value inflection points.
Robert holds a Master’s and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.
Gary Jacob, PhD
Chief Development Officer/Director
Dr. Jacob has over 35 years of extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries across multiple disciplines, including research and development, operations, business development, capital financing activities and senior management expertise. He has developed broad and influential contacts throughout the biopharmaceutical, financial, banking and investor communities.
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Dr. Jacob is the Co-Founder and former CEO and Chairman of Synergy Pharmaceuticals. During his time at Synergy, he served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman, and is the co-inventor of Synergy’s FDA-approved drug Trulance® which is currently marketed in the U.S. by Bausch Health, Inc. to treat functional GI disorders. Dr. Jacob is also the former CEO and Managing Director of Immuron Inc., an Australian biotechnology company dual-listed on the Australian ASX exchange and on NASDAQ. Dr. Jacob is the former Chairman of the Board of Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a public NASDAQ listed company with a drug in clinical development to treat nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and is also on the Board of Directors of Cardiff Oncology, Inc., a NASDAQ listed public oncology company. He served as Chief Executive Officer and Director of Callisto Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from May 2003 until January 2013.
Prior to his involvement with Callisto and Synergy, Dr. Jacob was at Monsanto/G.D. Searle, where he was Director of Glycobiology and a Monsanto Science Fellow, specializing in the field of Glycobiology and drug discovery. Dr. Jacob holds over 30 patents and is the co-inventor of two pharmaceutical drugs which are FDA approved. Dr. Jacob earned a B.S. cum laude in Chemistry from the University of Missouri, St. Louis and holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Willy Simon
Non-Executive Director
Willy Jules Simon is a banker and worked at Kredietbank N.V. and Citibank London before serving as an executive member of the Board of Generale Bank NL from 1997 to 1999 and as the chief executive of Fortis Investment Management from 1999 to 2002. He acted as chairman of Bank Oyens & van Eeghen from 2002 to 2004. Willy Simon has been the chairman of Bever Holdings, a company listed in Amsterdam, since 2006 and Chairman of Ducat Maritime since 2015. He is also a non-executive director of Tiziana Life Sciences plc.
John Brancaccio
Non-Executive Director
Mr. Brancaccio, retired CPA, is a financial executive with extensive international and domestic experience in pharmaceutical and biotechnology for privately and publicly held companies. From 2000 to 2002, Mr. Brancaccio was the Chief Financial Officer/Chief Operating Officer of Eline Group, an entertainment and media company. From May 2002 until March 2004, Mr. Brancaccio was the Chief Financial Officer of Memory Pharmaceuticals Corp., a biotechnology company. From April 2004 until May 2017, Mr. Brancaccio was the Chief Financial Officer of Accelerated Technologies, Inc., an incubator for medical device companies. Mr. Brancaccio is currently a director of Cardiff Oncology, Inc., Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Rasna Therapeutics, Inc., and Tiziana Life Sciences plc.
Bernard Denoyer
Non-Executive Director
Bernard F. Denoyer has 49 years of financial management experience including his service as Senior Vice President, Finance and Secretary of development stage Synergy Pharmaceuticals, Inc, from July 2008 until FDA approval and his retirement in June 2017. Between 2004 and January 2013 Mr. Denoyer concurrently served as Principal Financial Officer of Synergy’s former parent company, Callisto Pharmaceuticals, Inc. From October 2000 to December 2003, Mr. Denoyer was an independent consultant. Prior to this, Mr. Denoyer served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of META Group, Inc. Mr. Denoyer earned his CPA with Ernst & Young in 1975. He received a Masters Certificate of Accounting from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1974, an MBA in Finance with honours from Columbia Business School in 1972 and a BA in Economics from Fairfield University in 1969. Mr. Denoyer is fluent in French and studied in Paris at l’Istitut d’Etude Politique et Economique in 1968. He is currently serving on the Board of Trustees for two not-for-profits, St. Edmunds Retreat, Inc. and Midwestern Connecticut Council on Alcoholism, Inc.