Synageva is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing and commercializing novel, next generation and follow on protein therapeutics that leverage the unique competitive advantages of their proprietary Synageva Expression Platform (SEPTM).
Sanj Patel was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer and to the Company’s Board of Directors in June 2008. Sanj brings 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. He joins Synageva from Genzyme Corporation (1999 to 2008) where most recently he was Head of US Sales, Marketing and Commercial Operations for Genzyme Therapeutics and led the US launch for Myozyme. Previously, Sanj held several cross-functional senior leadership roles at Genzyme including Vice President, Clinical Research and Head of the Global Clinical Research Operations Council. He was responsible for clinical operations and development for all cross-business Genzyme products and was instrumental in the path to commercialization for several treatments. Notably, Sanj led the Fabrazyme clinical operations team and development program to FDA approval in April 2003.
John Taylor is responsible for corporate and business development at Synageva. John has over 15 years of business and deal experience in business development and corporate leadership roles. John joined Synageva in September 2009 from Javelin Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Hospira) where he was Vice President, Business Development and responsible for the companys business development and licensing functions and leading the global partnering efforts for Javelins portfolio of products. These efforts resulted in the successful out-licensing of Javelins lead product, Dyloject, in Europe, and the divestiture of Javelins UK subsidiary. Prior to Javelin, John was a senior business development executive at Eurand, Inc., a GI specialty pharmaceutical and drug delivery company (acquired by Axcan Pharma). During his tenure at Eurand, John closed a number of major transactions.
Anthony Quinn is responsible for Synageva’s research and development including its clinical programs and strategies, and biomedical and regulatory affairs. He joins Synageva from Roche where, most recently, he was Vice President and Global Head of Clinical Research & Exploratory Development for Inflammation. While at Roche, Anthony managed programs in rheumatology and respiratory indications in exploratory development, and biomarker and translational medicine activities in the late clinical and registration phase for MabThera/Rituxan, Actemra and ocrelizumab. Dr. Quinn joined Roche Palo Alto in 2005 to build the translational medicine and exploratory development capacity at the site across a broad range of therapeutic areas including CNS, virology and inflammation. Prior to joining Roche he was Director of Experimental Medicine at AstraZeneca, Charnwood in the UK, and before that he was Professor of Dermatology at Barts & The London School of Medicine, London, England.
Srini Akkaraju has over 16 years of investment and operational experience in the life sciences sector. He joined Sofinnova in 2013 as a General Partner, and concentrates on biopharmaceuticals investments. Srinis board memberships have included Piramed (acquired by Roche), Eyetech Pharmaceuticals (EYET), Synageva BioPharma (GEVA), Seattle Genetics (SGEN) and Intercept Pharmaceuticals (ICPT).
Most recently, Srini was a Managing Director at New Leaf Venture Partners. Prior to NLVP, he was a co-founder and Managing Director at Panorama Capital. Before forming Panorama, he served as Partner of J.P. Morgan Partners.
Eric Grinstead is responsible for commercial and business operations at Synageva. Eric brings over twenty years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry with responsibilities spanning operations, market access, sales, marketing, reimbursement, government affairs at companies including Alexion, Genzyme, Amgen and GSK. More specifically, his experience includes: pricing, health economics, distribution, payor segments, channel segments, specialty networks, policy, patient and alliance management, patient assistance programs and commercial operations for rare and ultra-rare diseases in both the United States as well as ex-US regions. Eric was most recently a member of Alexions management team as Vice President of Government Affairs and Market Access, where his efforts with the commercial functions helped to support the highly successful launch of Soliris.
Stephen R. Biggar, M.D., Ph.D. has served as a director of ACADIA since January 2013.
Dr. Biggar is a Partner at Baker Brothers Investments, a fund management company focused on long-term investments in life-sciences companies. From April 2002 to October 2006, he served as a Principal with Baker Brothers Investments, which he had joined as an Associate in April 2000. Dr. Biggar also serves as a director for Synageva BioPharma Corp., a publicly traded biotechnology company.
Prior to joining Baker Brothers, Dr. Biggar received an M.D. and a Ph.D. in Immunology from Stanford University and received a B.S. in Genetics from the University of Rochester.