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The Next-Generation of GPCR-Targeted Drugs
Orion Biotechnology is unlocking the therapeutic potential of previously undruggable G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) with a novel drug modality, proven discovery platform and best-in-class molecules.
The company is advancing a diversified pipeline of potential first-in-class/best-in-class antagonist and agonist therapies against high-value GPCR targets in obesity and metabolic diseases.
Orion is led by a highly experienced team with world leading expertise in GPCR pharmacology and peptide/protein engineering.
Leadership Team
Orion has assembled a team of world-renowned experts in their respective fields. Our team’s expertise in GPCR pharmacology, protein engineering and drug development is complimented by our experience in corporate management, biotech financing, and strategic operations.
Management
Praveen Tyle, PhD
CEO
Praveen Tyle, PhD
CEO
Prior to assuming the role of Interim CEO at Orion Biotechnology, Praveen was the founder of Potens Pharmaceuticals and has over 40 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry experience . Until April 2023, Dr. Tyle was the President, CEO and Board member of Invectys, Inc, an immuno-oncology company spun out of the world-renowned Pasteur Institute, Paris. Prior to joining Invectys, Inc in 2021, he was Executive Vice President of Research & Development at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals. Until February 2016, Dr. Tyle was President, Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of Directors of Osmotica Pharmaceutical Corp. He led the merger of Osmotica with two other companies in 2016. He previously served as global Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer and Managing Director of Osmotica Pharmaceutical Corp.’s Marietta, Georgia site. Prior to joining Osmotica, Dr. Tyle served as Executive Vice President and Chief Science Officer for the United States Pharmacopeia (USP). Prior to joining USP, Dr. Tyle served as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Business Development and Licensing at Novartis OTC, as well as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Research and Development. Previously he served in a variety of senior pharmaceutical executive roles around the globe. Dr. Tyle holds a doctorate in pharmaceutics and pharmaceutical chemistry from the Ohio State University and a Bachelor in Pharmacy (honors) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University in India.
Anatole Klepatsky, MBA
Chief Operating Officer
Anatole Klepatsky, MBA
Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Klepatsky is the Chief Operating Officer and a member of the Orion Biotechnology Board of Directors. A senior executive with over 20 years of corporate management experience, Mr. Klepatsky has established success in corporate management, operations, and international business. Prior to joining Orion Biotechnology, he was a co-founder and Managing Partner of Altius, a leading Eastern European M&A firm with strong track record in healthcare, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. He has also served as Director of several private and public corporations in Eastern Europe and Canada. As the Chief Operating Officer at Orion, Mr. Klepatsky leads business operations.
Jarret Engstrom, MBA/PMP
Director of Portfolio Management
Jarret Engstrom, MBA/PMP
Director of Portfolio Management
Mr. Engstrom is the Director of Clinical Operations at Orion Biotechnology responsible for design and implementation of the company’s early clinical development platform. Mr. Engstrom has extensive experience spanning preclinical strategy and operations, CRO/CMO oversight, translational research and FDA regulated Investigational New Drug (IND) programs. Mr. Engstrom started his career as a Clinical Research Assistant and quickly advanced through increasingly senior positions to Director of Clinical Operations. He has worked with a variety of health organizations including the University of Pittsburgh Magee Women’s Research Institute, NASORCAP Medical, and ARGEN Health. In his previous roles, Mr. Engstrom was principally responsible for operational oversight, management, and delivery of complex translational research protocols as well as managing the critical relationship between laboratories and clinical research centers. In his role at Orion, he provides leadership and operational management for preclinical & clinical activities, with the goal of rapidly bringing our novel therapies to market.
Oliver Hartley, PhD
Vice President, Drug Discovery
Oliver Hartley, PhD
Vice President, Drug Discovery
Oliver Hartley is VP for Drug Discovery at Orion. He is the inventor of OB-002 as well as the key technology underlying Orion’s discovery platform. Trained as a biochemist, he completed a PhD in protein engineering (Cambridge, UK) with Sir Gregory Winter (Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 2018). Since then Oliver has worked at the University of Geneva, where his research on peptide engineering and GPCR pharmacology has led to a series of high-profile publications and new intellectual property, and at the Mintaka Foundation for Medical Research with a role as co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer.
John Jussup, LLB
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
John Jussup, LLB
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Mr. Jussup is the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Orion Biotechnology. Mr Jussup brings a background of broad experience in international business, intellectual property, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions and securities law to his role at Orion Biotechnology. He received the Canadian General Counsel of the Year award, sponsored by The National Post and ZSA, in 2005, and holds the ICD.D designation from the Canadian Institute of Corporate Directors With over 30 years experience in both the public markets and government sectors, he has been a corporate legal executive to leading technology companies as well as private and public sector institutions. Mr. Jussup was Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer & Secretary of Cognos Inc, Canada’s largest software company from 1993 until its acquisition by IBM in 2008. He later served as General Counsel & Secretary of the Bank of Canada from 2009 until 2012. He served as Chair of the Board of Keek Inc from 2013 until 2016 (listed on the TSX:V) and currently sits on the advisory board of PBC Real Estate Advisors, an Ottawa-based real estate investment fund. John Jussup has been a member of the Law Society of Ontario since 1977.
Jason Burke, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
Jason Burke, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Burke is the Chief Financial Officer for Orion Biotechnology. He has over 20 years of experience providing operational and financial expertise to rapidly growing companies. Jason has previously served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Conversant Intellectual Property Management (formerly MOSAID). In these roles, Mr. Burke oversaw a fundamental reorganization of the company following a $560m leverage take private transaction by Sterling Partners, out of Chicago. Prior to Conversant, Jason served as Vice President Finance and Principal Accounting Officer of Massachusetts based AVID Technologies – a publicly traded audio and video solutions provider with $680m in annual revenues. Jason has also served as Chief Financial Officer of IBM Software Group, Business Analytics Division (Cognos and IBM Company) where he oversaw the integration of major portions of Cognos into IBM, as part of a $5 Billion acquisition. For all of his achievements, Jason was recognized by Treasury and Risk Magazine as one of the top Global 40 under 40 finance professionals in 2010.
Erik Heegard, MD/PhD
Medical Director
Erik Heegard, MD/PhD
Medical Director
Erik Heegaard is a medical specialist, PhD, DMSc, and holds experience as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at multiple leading pharmaceutical companies. As CMO of the oral GLP-1 project at Novo Nordisk, he successfully completed phase I and II trials, and served as chief architect of the global phase III clinical development program. Similarly, in his role as CMO at Evaxion, he was responsible for strategic development and tactical implementation of the clinical studies for the company's research programs. This required Erik to provide direct medical/physician oversight for phase I/II and proof of concept clinical trials, and clinical input into all aspects of discovery and preclinical development, from target selection to preclinical and regulatory strategy, and tactics. Furthermore, Erik's expertise in late-stage clinical development and commercialization supported his position in oncology medical affairs at Novartis and Seagen.
Jim McGuire, PhD
Director of Pharmacology
Jim McGuire, PhD
Director of Pharmacology
Jim has two decades of extensive experience in pharma and biotech across Europe and the US, with a notable 15-year tenure at Novo Nordisk specializing in biotherapeutics for cardiometabolic conditions. He contributed to 13 projects that went into development including work on semaglutide for diabetes and obesity treatment. Additional work included a variety of approaches to facilitate weight loss through central and peripheral manipulation of additive mechanisms together with GLP-1R agonism. He led early discovery programs at Catalyst Biosciences that resulted in asset sales to Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Board of Directors
Praveen Tyle, PhD
CEO
Praveen Tyle, PhD
CEO
Prior to assuming the role of Interim CEO at Orion Biotechnology, Praveen was the founder of Potens Pharmaceuticals and has over 40 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry experience . Until April 2023, Dr. Tyle was the President, CEO and Board member of Invectys, Inc, an immuno-oncology company spun out of the world-renowned Pasteur Institute, Paris. Prior to joining Invectys, Inc in 2021, he was Executive Vice President of Research & Development at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals. Until February 2016, Dr. Tyle was President, Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of Directors of Osmotica Pharmaceutical Corp. He led the merger of Osmotica with two other companies in 2016. He previously served as global Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer and Managing Director of Osmotica Pharmaceutical Corp.’s Marietta, Georgia site. Prior to joining Osmotica, Dr. Tyle served as Executive Vice President and Chief Science Officer for the United States Pharmacopeia (USP). Prior to joining USP, Dr. Tyle served as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Business Development and Licensing at Novartis OTC, as well as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Research and Development. Previously he served in a variety of senior pharmaceutical executive roles around the globe. Dr. Tyle holds a doctorate in pharmaceutics and pharmaceutical chemistry from the Ohio State University and a Bachelor in Pharmacy (honors) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University in India.
Jean Forcione
Chairman of the Board
Jean Forcione
Chairman of the Board
Mr. Forcione’s 33 year career has been devoted to the healthcare industry, including prescription pharmaceuticals, consumer healthcare, diagnostics and medical devices. Jean has held senior executive and board positions at both privately held and publicly traded organizations, which has included Aventis, Pharmacia, Pfizer, Johnson&Johnson, Phadia, ThermoFisher Scientific and BBI Group. Jean is recognized for his general management, commercialization and M&A expertise in the life sciences sector. Mr. Forcione has worked in, and been responsible for businesses around the globe and most recently has been focused on private equity backed businesses, first as an investor / executive and in the last 6 years as an investor, non-executive director and chairman. During this period, Jean has been closely involved with exits totaling 2.9B €, delivering outstanding value creation for shareholders.
Mark Groper
Board Member
Mark Groper
Board Member
Mr. Groper was the founding Chief Executive Officer and is a member of the Orion Biotechnology Board of Directors. He has more than 30 years of business and entrepreneurial experience in the Health Industry including founder and senior executive positions at both private and public sector organizations. Mr. Groper is a health industry expert with a proven track record of successfully building companies from start-up through to large scale commercial operations. He has held senior positions with Accenture, Telus Health, Emergis and DINMAR – a health care business he founded, operated, and grew to become a highly successful international business. Known as a results-oriented entrepreneur, with a demonstrated track record of success, Mr Groper provides leadership in strategic planning, and business development, while maintaining a keen focus on operational management. Mark has also built a strong reputation for innovation leadership, judgement and integrity, and understands what it takes to drive health care technologies into successful products.
Anatole Klepatsky, MBA
Chief Operating Officer
Anatole Klepatsky, MBA
Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Klepatsky is the Chief Operating Officer and a member of the Orion Biotechnology Board of Directors. A senior executive with over 20 years of corporate management experience, Mr. Klepatsky has established success in corporate management, operations, and international business. Prior to joining Orion Biotechnology, he was a co-founder and Managing Partner of Altius, a leading Eastern European M&A firm with strong track record in healthcare, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. He has also served as Director of several private and public corporations in Eastern Europe and Canada. As the Chief Operating Officer at Orion, Mr. Klepatsky will lead business operations.
Theresa Firestone
Board Member
Theresa Firestone
Board Member
Theresa is a senior healthcare executive with over 35 years of experience in pharmaceuticals, health & wellness, health retail and government affairs. Theresa is an accomplished business leader and has held senior leadership positions in Canada, Europe, and Asia, leading teams in 15 different countries. Theresa currently provides support to senior business leaders including mentoring and coaching with a focus on driving business results, building strong teams and managing in challenging environments. Prior to retirement in 2021, Theresa was Senior Vice President, Health and Wellness at Shoppers Drug Mart, Canada’s largest retail pharmacy chain. Theresa was responsible for launching the company’s new health and wellness initiatives and for managing several healthcare businesses owned and operated by Shoppers. Theresa has extensive P&L, strategy development and operations experience. Prior to joining Shoppers Drug Mart, she was Regional President of Emerging Markets Asia with Pfizer Inc. and held a number of progressive international roles with Pfizer in Canada and Europe. Theresa is currently a board member with several public and private companies and chairs four Human Resources and Compensation Committees with those boards.
Brad Smith, MBA
Board Member
Brad Smith, MBA
Board Member
Mr. Smith has more than 30 years of experience leading business and financial operations for public & private companies in the biotech and medtech industry. He was the CFO of Homology Medicines from April 2017 to February 2022 and was the CFO and CBO from February 2022 through November 2023 and a consultant from November 2023 through March 2024 with the closing of a merger with Q32 Bio. During his career, Brad has been instrumental in raising over $1 billion in private and public financing, has played a key role in business development and strategic planning, and has successfully guided four companies through the IPO process. Mr. Smith was on a team that led the merger with Q32 Bio in March 2024. He led Homology’s IPO in 2018 with $166 million in gross proceeds and a follow-on financing with $144 million in gross proceeds one year after the IPO. Mr. Smith also negotiated a $60 million equity investment with Pfizer in 2020. More recently, Mr. Smith played a key role in closing a JV with Oxford Biomedica with $130 million in up-front non-dilutive capital and an ownership position in a newly established company focused on AAV manufacturing and process development services to biotech and pharma companies. Homology recently closed a merger with Q32 Bio in which Mr. Smith played a key role in the strategic process leading to this transaction. Prior to joining Homology, Mr. Smith served as Chief Financial Officer of Ocular Therapeutix where he led the company’s strategic financings, including an IPO and subsequent follow-on offerings, and completed a strategic partnership with a major biopharmaceutical company. Previously, Mr. Smith, served as CFO of several other life sciences companies including OmniGuide Surgical, a commercial stage MIT spin-out company, NeuroMetrix, a commercial stage company in neuro therapeutics and diagnostics, SYNARC, a CRO which was acquired by a private equity firm, and PatientKeeper, which was acquired by HCA. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Lyra Therapeutics, and eGenesis.
Advisors
Sir Gregory Winter, FRS/FMedSci
Advisory Board Chair, 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Successful biotech entrepreneur who developed the technology leading to the creation of Humira
Sir Gregory Winter, FRS/FMedSci
Advisory Board Chair, 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Successful biotech entrepreneur who developed the technology leading to the creation of Humira
Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD/FACP
Associate Director GI Oncology division at USC, Co-Director Colorectal Cancer at USC
Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD/FACP
Associate Director GI Oncology division at USC, Co-Director Colorectal Cancer at USC
Christian Heinis, PhD
Scientific co-founder of Bicycle Therapeutics, Associate Professor at EPFL
Christian Heinis, PhD
Scientific co-founder of Bicycle Therapeutics, Associate Professor at EPFL
Laurent Jespers, PhD
Former Head of Discovery Research, Cell & Gene Therapy Platform GSK
Laurent Jespers, PhD
Former Head of Discovery Research, Cell & Gene Therapy Platform GSK
Oliver Distler, MD
Director of Rheumatology, University of Zurich, World Authority in Systemic Sclerosis