Management
Robert Alonso, Founder & CEO – has 25 years of experience with both large pharmaceutical companies (Merck, Roche) and small biotech companies (Ceptaris). Most recently Mr Alonso successfully founded Ceptaris Therapeutics, where he raised over $40 million in venture capital, steered the lead program through phase III testing and filing of an NDA (Approval was received in 2013). Ceptaris was sold in 2013 to Actellion Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Alonso is a seasoned executive who has completed numerous licensing and other business transactions, including raising venture capital and negotiating transactions worth over $500 million. He has brought several drugs through the Investigational New Drug (IND) process and one through a successful completion of a New Drug Application (NDA). Mr. Alonso is the inventor on 9 issued patents. Mr Alonso has a BS from Boston College and MBA in Entrepreneurship from Babson College.
John G. Geisler, PhD, Founder & Chief Scientific Officer – Dr. Geisler comes with 25+ years of research experience with a consistent pharmacological focus of trying to work at the root of problems; 15-years focused on metabolic drug discovery for Pfizer, Ionis, and Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development (J&J PRD). Dr. Geisler has expertise in mitochondrial energy expenditure from years of attempting to partition lipids to restore insulin sensitivity and reduce the comorbidities associated with the “over-nutritional phenotype” (Geisler, J.G. Diabetologia 2011). From this work, stemmed a broader understanding of new mitochondrial targeted applications, and significant gaps of pharmacological interventions for insidious movement disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Geisler is the author of over 50 papers & abstracts, and the co-inventor on a number of patents. Dr. Geisler holds a Ph.D. in Mammalian Genetics from University of Tennessee, conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL), with a dissertation on the characterization of a novel muscle protein with dystrophin-like characteristics. His fellowship at Yale University, focused on the protective effects of E2 related to diabetic sexual dimorphism, by studying islet biology, physiology and whole-body flux.
Marcus Keep MD, Acting Chief Medical Officer – Dr. Keep has 20 years of entrepreneurial biopharmaceutical activity, and been involved in many aspects of basic and translational research, writing patents, orphan drug designation, and IND application, grant-getting and fundraising. He is CEO of a small private pharma, Maas Biolab, and was member of the board until 2018 of public Swedish company NeuroVive Pharmaceutical. Dr. Keep is a diplomat of the American Board of Neurological Surgery, and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada, completing a neurosurgery residency at the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University. Dr. Keep earned his MD at the Medical University of South Carolina. As part of his neurosurgery residency, Dr. Keep was research fellow at INSERM U106 at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France in cerebellar restorative neural transplantation. After residency, he was two years on research fellowship at Lund University Hospital, Sweden at the Section for Restorative Neurology in neural transplantation, epilepsy and neuroprotection. Marcus Keep MD is a practicing neurosurgeon at a level 1 trauma center.
Eve Damiano, MS, Consultant Regulatory Affairs and Compliance – Ms. Damiano is an independent Professional Consultant and has over 35 years experience in the Biotechnology Sector (Sr. Associate Regulatory Affairs at Centocor, MedImmune, Protarga, OraSure Technologies, Vicuron Pharmaceuticals, (subsidiary of Pfizer) and now Mitochon). Services are focused on matters relating to regulatory affairs, GxP compliance and quality. She actively assists Biotech companies in strategic planning and execution of development programs, including manufacturing, preclinical and clinical projects, writing and review of respective documentation for submission to FDA, and regulatory application review management. Ms. Damiano holds a BS in Biology from California University of Pennsylvania, California, PA and MS in Immunology from Drexel College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, and certifications as US Regulatory Affairs Certification (RAC), administrated by the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society (RAPS) (2006).