Corporate Fact Sheet
TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a private, fast growing company developing next-generation targeted therapies for cancer and related diseases, established in early 2005 in New York City. Dr. Bert Liang was named President and CEO in April 2005, and the company relocated to San Diego, CA. Dr. Charles P. Theuer was appointed President and CEO in July 2006 with Dr. Liang remaining as Board Chairman. The TRACON name represents the company’s targeted approach to controlling cancer and related diseases (TaRgeted Approach and Control in Oncology and Neovascularization). Our focus is on developing novel, targeted treatments for particular unmet medical needs in cancer and related diseases. The vision of TRACON is to become the premier targeted therapeutics company in cancer and related diseases. Our mission is to develop and commercialize products in underserved indications, to maximize patient benefit and to enhance shareholder value.
Management
TRACON’s management team has an extensive track record in product development, clinical trials, regulatory navigation and portfolio management, and a wealth of experience in both early and mature companies.
Charles P. Theuer, M.D., Ph.D.
President and CEO
Dr. Charles P. Theuer is President and Chief Executive Officer of TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Theuer previously was Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Clinical Development at TargeGen Inc., where he led the development of small molecule kinase inhibitors in oncology, ophthalmology and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Theuer joined TargeGen from Pfizer where he led the clinical development of Sutent® (sunitinib maleate) in kidney cancer; Sutent® was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January, 2006 for treatment of advanced kidney cancer. Dr. Theuer also held senior positions at IDEC Pharmaceuticals and the National Cancer Institute developing other agents, including small molecules and monoclonal antibody therapies.
Dr. Theuer holds a B.S. degree from MIT, M.D. degree from UC San Francisco and Ph.D. degree from UC Irvine. He completed a residency in general surgery at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Theuer held academic positions at the National Cancer Institute and at the University of California, Irvine, where he was a member of the Division of Surgical Oncology. His previous research involved immunotoxin and cancer vaccine development, translational work in cancer patients as well as cancer epidemiology.
Bertrand C. Liang, M.D.
Board Chairman
Dr. Bertrand C. Liang is Board Chairman of TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Vice Chairman of Paramount BioSciences. He previously held several posts with Biogen and IDEC, including Vice President of New Ventures and Site Head of development in San Diego, as well as Vice President of Development, managing the hematology and oncology portfolio. Dr. Liang was also at Amgen, where he led the development of various cytokines in the hematology/oncology franchise, including the clinical development of Neulasta (pegfilgrastim), whose sales have reached over $1B since introduction to the market in 2002.
Dr. Liang served as study section member as well as section chair of a NCI Organizational Review Group, which evaluated all programs within the NCI and set recommendations for future direction of resource allocation for the institute. Dr. Liang serves on the Board of Directors for several companies, including Balboa Biosciences, Sirius Medicine and TRF Technologies.
Dr. Liang received his M.D. from Northwestern University Medical School and his MBA from Regis University, and completed his clinical training in Internal Medicine, Neurology and Oncology at Brown University and the University of Michigan. His post-doctoral work in molecular genetics was conducted at the University of Michigan and the National Center for Human Genome Research/NIH, with molecular pharmacology work at the NCI. Dr. Liang has held academic positions at the NCI, University of Colorado and University of Vermont, where he led the Human Medical Genetics Division. His previous research involved the role of mitochondria and the mitochondrial genome in human cancers, translational research in cancer patients, and patented platform technology work in genomics discovery.
Sharon Real, Ph.D.
Vice President, Product Development
Dr. Sharon Real is the Vice President, Product Development of TRACON. Dr. Real previously was Director of Regulatory Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC) at Pfizer, Inc. in La Jolla, California. At Pfizer, in addition to her role as department head, she led the Macugen® CMC activities, culminating in the global regulatory approvals of this product. Prior to Pfizer, Dr. Real held positions at Ligand Pharmaceuticals and Agouron Pharmaceuticals where she held key roles in the development and commercialization of Viracept® Tablets, Targretin® Gel and Targretin Capsules. She began her pharmaceutical career at Bristol-Myers Squibb in Chemical Process Research. Dr. Real’s responsibilities have included leading chemical and pharmaceutical development teams from compound identification through commercialization.
Dr. Real earned her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles and a B.S. in Chemistry from Stanford University.
Bonne Adams, M.B.A.
Vice President, Clinical Operations
Ms. Bonne Adams is the Vice President, Clinical Operations of TRACON. Ms. Adams has held senior positions in clinical operations, clinical development and data management with Pfizer, BiogenIDEC and Quintiles. Immediately prior to joining TRACON, Ms. Adams managed trials that contributed to the January, 2006 approval of Sutent® in Renal Cell Carcinoma and GastroIntestinal Stromal Tumors. At BiogenIDEC, she managed studies that fulfilled post-approval commitments for the Zevalin® and Rituxan® programs. Ms. Adams has managed both early and late-stage oncology studies of small molecules as well as biologics in the areas of lymphoma and lung, colorectal and breast cancer. She also has managed non-oncology studies in the areas of allergy, pulmonary disease and depression.
Ms. Adams received her B.S. from the University of Colorado and M.B.A. from The University of Phoenix.
Financial and Infrastructure Support
TRACON is an affiliate of Paramount BioSciences, a leading drug development and merchant banking firm. Established in 1991, Paramount has founded more than two dozen public and private life sciences companies, many of which have achieved market capitalizations exceeding hundreds of millions of dollars. Paramount and its affiliated companies have been involved in the clinical development of several dozen therapeutic compounds. Paramount founded TRACON in early 2005 with the goal of establishing a premier oncology development company, and is committed to providing TRACON the financial and infrastructure support necessary to gain the company access to and success in the public markets.
Paramount is unique in that, in addition to providing operating capital, its fifty internal professionals assist portfolio companies in a variety of different functions, including legal, intellectual property, business development, accounting, finance and human resources services. Paramount also can provide, as necessary, other support services for its portfolio companies, including in the areas of clinical, regulatory, manufacturing and business development. Paramount seeks to benefit its portfolio companies by leveraging its extensive relationships with life sciences and financial institutions. The Paramount model is designed to empower entrepreneurs—to allow accomplished CEO’s and members of senior management to concentrate their time and resources in their respective areas of expertise, viz. product and clinical development, rather than building infrastructure. In all of these ways, Paramount aligns the interests of management and investors to build sustainable companies through the development of assets poised to effect step-ups in valuation at key inflection points in the life cycles of products and companies.
In the case of TRACON, core functional area expertise is maintained internally in order to centralize strategic and tactical planning for product candidates and the portfolio. This approach leverages the best individuals and groups within TRACON to develop compounds. With judicious use of tactical outsourcing as well as the staff functions and expertise provided by Paramount, TRACON will be able simultaneously to develop multiple assets at different stages of development with significantly fewer resources than a fully-burdened operational team would require. This approach also allows TRACON significant flexibility in adjusting product priorities in deference to factors such as clinical trial results and the in-licensing of later stage assets to maximize portfolio value. By utilizing TRACON’s development expertise, bolstered by the infrastructure support of Paramount, TRACON is able to execute product development with the experience of an established pharmaceutical company, but with the efficiency and flexibility of a nimble biotech concern.
TRACON’s Product Portfolio
TRC093
TRC093 is a first-in-class monoclonal antibody that inhibits angiogenesis and tumor cell growth by binding cleaved collagen, a component of the extracellular matrix of tumors that serves as the scaffold for new blood vessel growth. TRC093 will be developed to prevent the angiogenesis associated with tumor growth and Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD). An investigational new drug (IND) application has been accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for clinical testing of TRC093 in cancer patients.
TRC105
TRC105 is a first in class monoclonal antibody that prevents angiogenesis by binding to CD105 to prevent endothelial cell proliferation. TRC105 is expected to prevent the angiogenesis associated with tumor growth and Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD). TRC105 is expected to complement treatments that target the VEGF pathway.
We anticipate filing an IND and initiating a Phase I clinical trial in the second half of 2007.
TRC102
TRC102 is a first in class small molecule inhibitor of the base excision repair pathway of chemotherapy resistance. Pre-clinical data indicate that TRC102 reverses resistance to both alkylating and non-alkylating chemotherapeutics. The Case Cancer Center (Cleveland, OH) has filed an IND to initiate a phase 1 trial combining TRC102 with Temodar® in cancer patients.
TRC101
TRACON has in-licensed a nanoliposome embedded with a fragment of the cancer cell death inducer ceramide, to be developed as a therapeutic drug delivery platform that will be loaded with Taxotere®.
Board of Directors
The TRACON Board consists of individuals with extensive experience in various areas of the biotechnology environment.
Bertrand C. Liang, M.D.
Vice Chairman
Paramount BioSciences, LLC
Board Chairman
TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Dr. Bertrand C. Liang is Board Chairman of TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Vice Chairman of Paramount BioSciences. He previously held several posts with Biogen and IDEC, including Vice President of New Ventures and Site Head of development in San Diego, as well as Vice President of Development, managing the hematology and oncology portfolio. Dr. Liang was also at Amgen, where he led the development of various cytokines in the hematology/oncology franchise, including the clinical development of Neulasta® (pegfilgrastim), whose sales have reached over $1B since introduction to the market in 2002.
Dr. Liang served as study section member as well as section chair of a NCI Organizational Review Group, which evaluated all programs within the NCI and set recommendations for future direction of resource allocation for the institute. Dr. Liang serves on the Board of Directors for several companies, including Balboa Biosciences, Sirius Medicine and TRF Technologies.
Dr. Liang received his M.D. from Northwestern University Medical School and his MBA from Regis University, and completed his clinical training in Internal Medicine, Neurology and Oncology at Brown University and the University of Michigan. His post-doctoral work in molecular genetics was conducted at the University of Michigan and the National Center for Human Genome Research/NIH, with molecular pharmacology work at the NCI. Dr. Liang has held academic positions at the NCI, University of Colorado and University of Vermont, where he led the Human Medical Genetics Division. His previous research involved the role of mitochondria and the mitochondrial genome in human cancers, translational research in cancer patients, and patented platform technology work in genomics discovery.
J. Jay Lobell, J.D.
President and Chief Operating Officer
Paramount Biosciences, LLC
J. Jay Lobell is President and Chief Operating Officer of Paramount Biosciences, LLC. From 1996 through 2005, he was a partner in the international law firm Covington & Burling, where he advised companies and individuals as a member of the firm’s Securities Litigation and White Collar Defense practice group.
Mr. Lobell received his B.A. (summa cum laude, Phi Betta Kappa) from the City University of New York and his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was senior editor of the Yale Law Journal.
William T. Comer, Ph.D.
Director
Dr. William Comer was co-founder and Chairman of Neurogenetics, Inc. (re-named Torrey Pines Therapeutics in 2005), serving as interim CEO until April, 2002 and Chairman until 2005; he remains a Director of the Board. From April, 1991 until November, 1999, he was President and CEO of SIBIA Neurosciences, Inc. which became publicly traded in May, 1996 and was acquired by Merck in November, 1999. From 1961-1991 he was employed by Mead Johnson & Co. which was acquired by Bristol-Myers; he was responsible for discovery and worldwide clinical development of pharmaceutical agents and was President of Pharmaceutical Research and Licensing until the merger in 1989 to become Bristol-Myers Squibb, when he was Senior Vice President of Strategic Management.
Dr. Comer has served as Board Director for Trega Biosciences (formerly Houghten Pharmaceuticals) 1993-1996, Epimmune (formerly Cytel Corp.) 1994-2005, Board Chairman of Prescient Neuropharma 2000-2002, and Tetragenex Pharmaceuticals (formerly Innapharma) February, 2001-present. He also serves on the Boards of the UCSD Foundation 2000-2006, UCSD Cancer Center 1992-present, UCSD Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 1992-present, Dean’s Advisory Board for UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy, La Jolla Institute of Molecular Medicine 2000-present, and has served the California Governor’s Council on Biotechnology, California Breast Cancer Research Council, BIOCOM Board, and several national and divisional offices of the American Chemical Society. He received his B.A. in Chemistry from Carlton College in 1957 (Alumni Achievement Award 1997) and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry and Pharmacology from the University of Iowa in 1961.
Charles P. Theuer, M.D., Ph.D.
President and CEO
TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Dr. Theuer previously was Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Clinical Development at TargeGen Inc, where he led the development of small molecule kinase inhibitors in oncology, ophthalmology and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Theuer joined TargeGen from Pfizer where he led the clinical development of Sutent® (sunitinib maleate) in kidney cancer; Sutent® was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January, 2006 for treating advanced kidney cancer. Dr. Theuer also held senior positions at IDEC Pharmaceuticals and the National Cancer Institute developing other agents, including small molecules and monoclonal antibody therapies.
Dr. Theuer holds a B.S. degree from MIT, M.D. degree from UC San Francisco and Ph.D. degree from UC Irvine. He completed a residency in general surgery at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Theuer held academic positions at the National Cancer Institute and at the University of California, Irvine, where he was a member of the Division of Surgical Oncology. His previous research involved immunotoxin and cancer vaccine development, translational work in cancer patients as well as cancer epidemiology.
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