Melior Discovery management team

Andrew G. Reaume, PhD, MBA
President and CEO, Co-Founder

Dr. Reaume was previously a Senior Business Analyst at Pfizer, Inc. in the department of Genomics and Proteomic Sciences. There he spearheaded an initiative to create a platform for comprehensively characterizing (phenotyping) genetically modified mice and ran the collaboration involving a third party partnership to build it. This effort involved working closely with scientists throughout the global Pfizer organization, business development professionals, information technology specialists as well as the scientists and business development professionals at the partner company.

From 1993 to 1999, Dr. Reaume worked as a research scientist at Cephalon where he was principally involved in creating animal models of neurodegenerative disease. During this time Dr. Reaume worked closely on a number of projects with Dr. Saporito, co-founder of Melior. In addition to Dr. Reaume's research activities at Cephalon, he identified and helped coordinate three in-licensing opportunities.

In 2003, he received his MBA from the Wharton School where he graduated with honors in Entrepreneurial Management. He received his PhD in genetics from the University of Connecticut in 1990.



Michael S. Saporito, PhD
Vice President of Research, Co-Founder

Dr. Saporito has spent the last 15 years in positions of increasing responsibility in the pharmaceutical industry. From 1991 to 2002, Dr. Saporito was Scientist at Cephalon Inc. in the Departments of Neurobiology and Pharmacology. At Cephalon, Dr. Saporito was the lead pharmacologist in the discovery of CEP-1347, a neuroprotective kinase inhibitor that reached Phase III clinical trials for Parkinson's disease. While at Cephalon, Dr. Saporito and Dr. Reaume collaborated on a number of projects involving molecular and cellular mechanisms of neurodegeneration.

From 2002 to 2004, Dr. Saporito was Group Leader in Biology at Locus Pharmaceuticals, a computational drug design company. In this role he led various preclinical programs targeting oncological, inflammatory and neurological therapeutic endpoints. Dr. Saporito has extensive experience with a wide variety of animal models of diseases encompassing inflammation, metabolic disease, neurological disorders and cancer.

Dr. Saporito received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science (currently The University of Sciences of Philadelphia) and continued his postdoctoral studies at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School under the direction of Dr. Richard Heikkila.



Jeffrey Handler, PhD, DABT, MBA
Vice President of Development

Dr. Handler was previously the Vice President of Research and Development for Dermik Laboratories, the dermatology unit of Sanofi-Aventis Pharmaceuticals. In this role he was responsible for all aspects of drug identification and development for dermatological use, including oversight of early compound assessment, analytical and formulation work, preclinical and clinical studies, regulatory activities and technical support of marketed products. Dr. Handler has over 18 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry in positions of increasing responsibility in SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline), DuPont Pharmaceuticals (now Bristol-Myers Squibb), Ono Pharma USA and Dermik Laboratories/Sanofi-Aventis Pharmaceuticals. He has worked in a variety of therapeutic areas, including inflammatory diseases, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, incontinence, acne and aesthetic dermatology.

Dr. Handler received his PhD in pharmacology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1987, and an MBA from Villanova University in 2005. He is also a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology.



Zahed Subhan, PhD, JD, MBA
Business Development Consultant

Dr. Subhan has 24 years experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries spanning roles in research, clinical development, sales, marketing and business development, including managerial positions with Sanofi-Synthelabo, Glaxo Wellcome, Merck, the Dupont-Merck Pharmaceutical Company (now part of Bristol-Myers Squibb), Gemini Genomics and Locus Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Subhan was also previously Chief Executive Officer of Nuevolution A/S based in Copenhagen, Denmark and is a co-founder of Marillion Pharmaceuticals Inc.

During his career, Dr. Subhan has been instrumental in establishing more than 40 collaborations and co-operative agreements with major pharmaceutical and biotech companies, including licensing, co-marketing, co-promotion and acquisition transactions valued in excess of $600MM. He has also been responsible for the successful launches of flagship drugs, including Imitrex®, Celexa®, Prinivil®/Zestril®, Sinemet CR® and Viazem®/Tiazac®, in major markets.

Dr. Subhan holds a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Leeds, an MBA from the University of Bradford and a Law degree from the University of London.



SENIOR STAFF

Heather Hain, PhD
Director of Scientific Operations

Dr. Hain was previously a Senior Scientist at Xenogen Biosciences in Cranbury, New Jersey. There she supervised CNS and pain assays for the phenotyping group and assisted in the establishing Xenogen's internal phenotyping program. From 1999 to 2001, Dr. Hain was a postdoctoral fellow in the CNS group at Pfizer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. There she worked on developing a high-throughput drug screen assay for operant behavior in mice.

Dr. Hain received her PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience in 1999 from Oregon Health Sciences University. She is a member of the Society for Neuroscience and the International Behavioral and Neural Genetics Society.

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