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Product Advisory Board
The process by which pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device products will be developed is changing. We believe that RRD – a strategy-driven product development company – is uniquely positioned to capitalize on these changes by: (1) creating partnerships with investors and industry to enhance the value of early stage products and (2) creating development partnerships around products that we identify.
The industry needs new products; not new companies. Our business model allows investors and pharma companies with underdeveloped products to focus resources on optimizing their assets rather than building additional infrastructure. The mission of the RRD Product Advisory Board (PAB) is to provide internal advice and guidance on a variety of development-related issues as we strive to leverage marketplace opportunities.
Christopher D. Earl, PhD
Christopher D. Earl, PhD is an entrepreneur and investor with a track record of fostering company growth based on innovative products and underserved markets, both as a venture capitalist and CEO. He has broad experience as a CEO and board member of science-based, not-for-profit organizations, leading research, policy and advocacy efforts.
Most recently, Dr. Earl was the first President and CEO of BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH), a not-for-profit organization directing biotechnology industry R&D to create new medicines to treat infectious diseases of the developing world such as TB, malaria and sleeping sickness. During his tenure, BVGH defined an integral role for biotechnology sector in creating new medicines for and other neglected tropical diseases, extended its policy work into advocacy for new financial incentives for R&D, and forged new collaborations between the public and private sectors. Dr. Earl secured over $8 million of funding from foundations, corporations and individual donors, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Previously, Dr. Earl served as Managing Director of Perseus Capital, LP, and the Perseus-Soros BioPharmaceutical Fund, L.P., leading investors in later-stage life science companies, where he managed investments in biopharmaceutical companies and served as a director on portfolio company boards. Earlier in his career, Dr. Earl was President and CEO of Avitech Diagnostics, Inc., and a General Partner of Plant Resources Venture Funds.
Dr. Earl serves on the Board of Directors of the Infectious Disease Research Institute, Asuragen, Inc., Mirna Therapeutics, Inc. and the Nature Conservancy of Maryland/DC. He is a Trustee of the Committee for Economic Development. Dr. Earl received a BA in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a PhD in Cellular and Developmental Biology from Harvard University.
Eric K. Rowinsky, MD
Dr. Eric K. Rowinsky is principally focused on the comprehensive development and registration strategies of cancer therapeutics of all types. Dr. Rowinsky received his B.A. degree from New York University and his M.D. from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Following his residency in internal medicine at the University of California, he completed fellowship training in medical oncology and clinical pharmacology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. From 1987 to 1996, Dr. Rowinsky served as an Associate Professor of Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where he performed seminal clinical development and pharmacologic studies on paclitaxel, docetaxel, irinotecan, topotecan, among other agents. From 1996-2004, he served as the Director of Clinical Research and later Director of the Institute for Drug Development of the Cancer Therapy and Research Center in San Antonio where he held the SBC Endowed Chair for Early Drug Development from 1996-2005 and was a lead investigator on early developmental studies of many classes of targeted therapeutics such as erlotinib, gefitinib, panitumumab, temsirolimus, ridaforolimus, trabectedin, and many other agents. He was also Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio from 1996-2006. From 2005-2007, Dr. Rowinsky served as the Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President at ImClone Systems, responsible for clinical development and regulatory affairs at ImClone Systems. From 2007-2009, he was an Executive Vice President of ImClone Systems, which became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly after its acquisition. He is also an Adjuvant Professor of Medicine at New York University School of Medicine. Prior to joining ImClone in 2005, Dr. Rowinsky was a longstanding NCI principal investigator on U01 anticancer drug development grants and integrally involved in pivotal clinical and preclinical investigations which lead to the development of both classical chemotherapeutics and targeted therapies including a wide variety of cytotoxic and targeted anticancer therapeutics.
Dr. Rowinsky is the Editor-in-Chief of Investigational New Drugs, an Associate Editor and Editorial Board Member of Cancer Research (Associate Editor and Reviews Editor), Clinical Cancer Research, Annals of Oncology, Cancer Biology and Therapy and several other oncology journals and has published approximately 300 manuscripts in both the preclinical and clinical research fields. He has also served on the Board of Directors, Scientific Advisory Board and Project Advisory Boards of a large number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and has advised and/or presented aspects of New Drug Applications to the FDA on several occasions. Dr. Rowinsky’s honors include receipt of the career development award of the American Cancer Society and the 6th Annual Emil J. Freireich Award for outstanding achievement of a young researcher in clinical cancer therapeutics. He has also served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the NCI.
Alastair J.J. Wood M.B Ch.B.
Dr. Wood received his medical degree from St Andrew’s University and Dundee Medical School in Scotland. He joined the Faculty at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1978 where he became tenured Professor of both Medicine and Pharmacology and Attending Physician at Vanderbilt Medical School. He was Assistant Vice Chancellor for Clinical Research (1999-2004), and Associate Dean, Vanderbilt Medical School (2004-2006) before being appointed Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology in 2006. His current academic appointments are Professor of Medicine and Professor of Pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York. He is a Partner at Symphony Capital LLC, a New York based Private Equity Company managing over $300 million dedicated to investments in the clinical development of novel biopharmaceutical products.
Dr. Wood is a member of many societies and has received numerous honors, notably election to membership of The National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine, The American Association of Physicians (AAP), The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), Honorary Fellow, American Gynecological and Obstetrical Society (AGOS), Fellowship of The American College of Physicians, Fellowship of The Royal College of Physicians of London, and Fellowship of The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. He was the 2005 recipient of the Rawls-Palmer Award in recognition of “Drug investigation that brings the effects of modern drug research to the care of patients” from the American Society for Pharmacology and Therapeutics and in 2008 received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, from the University of Dundee.
Dr. Wood has served on a number of Editorial Boards. He was a member of The New England Journal of Medicine Editorial Board (2004-2006); he was the Drug Therapy Editor of The New England Journal of Medicine from 1985 to 2004, and is currently on the Editorial Board of The British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and The Scientist. He has previously served on the Editorial Boards of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics and Biopharmaceutics and Drug Disposition. He authored the Chapter in Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine on Adverse Drug Reactions from the 9th through the 15th edition.
Dr. Wood was the chairman of the FDA’s Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee until 2006, and chaired the 2005 FDA Advisory Committee on Cox-2 inhibitors. He previously served as a member of the Cardiovascular and Renal Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration, and the FDA’s Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee. Dr. Wood has also been both a member, and has chaired NIH Study Sections, and has served in a similar capacity for various philanthropic grant-giving bodies. He has served as a director of pharmaceutical companies including Antigenics (AGEN), Oxigene, Symphony Neurodevelopment, and Symphony Evolution. He has also served as a consultant to pharmaceutical companies, investors and academic institutions. He has provided Congressional testimony, and directly interacted with and advised senior White House officials, legislators, and the Secretary of Health on matters related to public health.
His research interests have been focused on understanding the mechanisms for interindividual variability in drug response, with a particular focus on the molecular genetics of adrenergic receptors, ethnic differences in drug response, vascular response, and the genetics of drug metabolism. His research has resulted in over 300 articles, reviews and editorials.