2025 PJT Partners Biopharma Innovators Summit

Marcello Agosti

Global Business Development Officer, Takeda

Marcello Agosti is the global business development officer for Takeda and is responsible for Takeda’s business development activities, including M&A and Corporate Development.

Marcello led the Shire acquisition and several other strategic acquisitions for Takeda, including ARIAD Pharmaceuticals and TiGenix as well asset acquisitions such as TAK-279 from Nimbus Therapeutics and fruquintinib from HUTCHMED. He also spearheaded a number of strategic divestments of non-core assets as part of Takeda’s commitment after the Shire acquisition. Marcello and his group continue to be active on inbound transactions in Takeda’s core therapy areas.

Prior to joining Takeda, Marcello worked in business development at Novartis in the U.K. and Switzerland. Before joining the pharmaceutical industry, he was a consultant at McKinsey & Company.

He holds an MBA from the University of Oxford and a business administration degree from Bocconi University, Milan.

Marcello is based in Boston.

Cole Brauer

Cole Brauer is the first American woman to sail solo around the Globe unassisted. Despite being the youngest competitor and only female sailor in the inaugural Global Solo Challenge race, she finished in second place after 130 days alone at sea. During her voyage, she had to fix mechanical issues, contend with extreme weather, and tend to her own injuries, all the while battling the mental challenge of not seeing another person for over four months.

Cole is a fierce advocate for women in the sport of sailing, and through her grit, charisma, and positive attitude gained half a million followers on social media during her time at sea, telling the story of an offshore race like never before.

Cole grew up on Long Island before attending the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, where she learned to sail. After graduation, she moved to Maine and began taking work delivering boats, ultimately becoming the captain of a Class40. When the boat was sold and renamed First Light, the new owners offered to let Cole race it. She became the first woman to win the Bermuda One Two during the summer of 2023 and then headed around the world.

Fred Chereau

SVP, Strategy and Business Development, Alexion Pharmaceuticals

Fred brings close to 30 years of biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical device experience to Alexion, where he oversees strategy and business development activities. Prior to joining Alexion, he served as president and chief executive officer of LogicBio. Previously, Fred served as the president and chief operating officer of aTyr Pharma Inc. He also served as president and chief executive officer of Pervasis Therapeutics until its acquisition by Shire Pharmaceuticals where he had a critical impact on the development of the hereditary angioedema (HAE) franchise. Earlier in his career, for nearly a decade, Fred served in various roles at Genzyme including vice president and general manager of the Cardiovascular Business Unit, and held sales and marketing roles with a medical device company in France. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for Coave Therapeutics. Fred holds a B.S. in physics from Paris University, a M.S. from ESC La Rochelle and an MBA from INSEAD.

Enoch Kariuki

President, Endeavor Biomedicines

Dr. Enoch Kariuki is President of Endeavor BioMedicines. He is an accomplished life sciences executive with extensive strategic, operational, and financial experience. Dr. Kariuki has completed strategic financings and acquisitions for life sciences companies with an aggregate transaction value of over $10 billion. Most recently, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Lengo Therapeutics (acquired by Blueprint Medicines). Previously, Dr. Kariuki served as the Chief Financial Officer of VelosBio (acquired by Merck), where he led all finance-related and investor relations functions. Prior to joining VelosBio, he served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, at Synthorx, where he led the company’s IPO, managed relationships with bankers, sell-side equity analysts and investors, and headed the business development process that concluded with the acquisition of Synthorx by Sanofi.

Dr. Kariuki currently serves as Board Director and Chairman of the Audit Committees of Pheon Therapeutics and Zentalis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ZNTL). He previously served as a Board Director of Endeavor until March 2024, when he transitioned to the role of President. He has also previously served as Board Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Imago Biosciences until it was acquired by Merck, and Board Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee of ProfoundBio until its acquisition by Genmab.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Kariuki was Vice President at H.I.G. Capital, a $60 billion+ private equity firm, where he invested in and served on the boards of multiple life sciences companies. Dr. Kariuki earned his PharmD from Texas Southern University, his MBA from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in R&D Strategy and Analytics at Bristol Myers Squibb. .

Jeb Keiper

Former CEO, Nimbus Therapeutics

Jeb Keiper, M.S., M.B.A., served as Nimbus Therapeutics’ President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of our board of directors since 2018, transitioning the role to his successor, Abbas Kazimi, in March of 2025. Mr. Keiper joined Nimbus as Chief Business Officer in November 2014, became Chief Financial Officer in February 2017, an appointed CEO in October 2018. While at Nimbus, Mr. Keiper has overseen the discovery and development of four programs into clinical testing across a range of indications, raised over $650M in equity funding, executed deals worth over $7B, and returned over $4.1B in gains back to equity holders.

Currently, Mr. Keiper serves as a member of the board of directors at private biotechnology companies Cardurion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (since 2018), and ROME Therapeutics, Inc. (since 2019), he also serves on the philanthropic board of managers for Life Science Cares in Boston (since 2023).

Prior to joining Nimbus, Mr. Keiper served as the Vice President of Business Development at GSK Oncology (a subsidiary of GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK)) from March 2011 to October 2014, where he was responsible for identifying and concluding several critical collaborations for GSK in Oncology, including the Novartis-GSK Oncology integration, and spent a decade at GSK in various business development leadership roles. Prior to GSK, Mr. Keiper was a consultant at McKinsey & Company starting in September 2000-2002 then September 2004 to 2005, after having started his career as a pharmaceutical chemist at Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) in 1998.

Mr. Keiper received two B.S. degrees, one in Chemistry and one in Chemical Engineering, as well as an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management with joint program in Biomedical Enterprises with the Harvard Medical School.

Andrew Lam

Managing Director, Head of Biotech Private Equity, Ally Bride Group

Andrew Lam is Managing Director and Head of Biotech Private Equity at Ally Bridge Group, a global healthcare investment management firm focused on high-impact life science innovation, where he leads therapeutic investments in private biotech companies. His investments include CG Oncology, Endeavor Bio, Epicrispr Biotechnologies, ProfoundBio, RayzeBio, SonomaBio and Whitehawk Therapeutics. Andrew has over two decades of biopharma-focused experience spanning operating roles within the industry, sellside roles in equity research and investment banking, in addition to his current role as an investor. Andrew holds a Pharm.D. from Long Island University and MBA from Drexel University.

Bruce Leuchter

CEO, Neurvati Neurosciences

Dr. Bruce Leuchter is President, CEO, and board member of Neurvati Neurosciences and GRIN Therapeutics. A physician by training and neuropsychiatrist by specialty, he brings deep expertise in clinical research, patient care, and the development of novel therapies for neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Prior to his work as a biotech executive, Dr. Leuchter held senior roles for over a decade in biotechnology equity research at Goldman Sachs, healthcare investment banking at Credit Suisse, and mergers and acquisitions at PJT Partners, where he provided strategic and capital markets advisory to leading biopharmaceutical companies.

Dr. Leuchter served as the Director of Clinical Neuropsychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, where he currently holds a voluntary faculty appointment. He is the founding neuropsychiatrist of Click Therapeutics. He serves on the board of Arrivo BioVentures, is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Daedalus Fund for Innovation at Weill Cornell, and sits on the Life Sciences Institute Leadership Council at the University of Michigan.

David Meek

Chairman, Sobi, uniQure

David Meek is a seasoned executive with over three decades of leadership experience in the global biopharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. He has held multiple C-suite and board-level roles across both public and private companies, guiding organizations through pivotal phases of growth, commercialization, and strategic transformation.

Mr. Meek currently serves as Chairman of the Board at Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi), a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company focused on rare and debilitating diseases, and as Chairman of the Board at uniQure N.V., a public gene therapy biotech firm. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for Cullinan Therapeutics, a publicly listed biotechnology company developing modality-agnostic targeted therapies.

From September 2021 to August 2023, Mr. Meek served as Chief Executive Officer and a board member of Mirati Therapeutics, Inc., a commercial-stage oncology biotech company. Prior to that, he was CEO and board member of FerGene, Inc., a private biotechnology company, from January 2020 to March 2021. Between July 2016 and January 2020, he served as CEO and board member of Ipsen S.A., a global public biopharmaceutical company headquartered in France.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Meek held prominent executive roles, including Executive Vice President and President of Oncology at Baxalta Incorporated, where he played a key leadership role during its acquisition by Shire plc. He was also Chief Commercial Officer at Endocyte, Inc. He also spent seven years with Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation and Novartis Oncology in various leadership capacities, after beginning his pharmaceutical career with Johnson & Johnson, Inc. and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Mr. Meek has also contributed extensively to industry advocacy and policy. He served on the boards of both the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).

His board experience includes previous directorships at Fusion Pharmaceuticals Inc., until its acquisition by AstraZeneca plc, and Entasis Therapeutics Inc., acquired by Innoviva, Inc. He is also a current member of the Board of Councilors for the University of Southern California Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Before entering the biopharmaceutical industry, Mr. Meek served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Cincinnati.

Tony Rosenberg

Chairman, Oculis SA, Cullinan Therapeutics, Nuclidium AG
Vice Chairman, argenx BV. Senior Advisor, PJT Partners

Prior to joining PJT Partners in 2016, Mr. Rosenberg served as Global Head, M&A and Licensing at Novartis. In this role, he managed the Novartis portfolio transformation transactions, such as forming Consumer Health JV with GSK, acquiring GSK Oncology business, selling Vaccines to GSK and CSL, selling Animal Health to Eli Lilly and Diagnostics to Grifols. Mr. Rosenberg joined Novartis via predecessor company Sandoz. He first joined Sandoz in the UK in 1980 where he held various leadership positions in sales and marketing, business development and strategic planning. In 2000, he was named Global Head of the Transplant and Immunology Business Unit, and in 2005 he was appointed Global Head Business Development & Licensing (Pharma). In this role, Mr. Rosenberg managed major in-licensing transactions in the cardiovascular, CNS, respiratory, infectious disease and oncology areas, as well as divestitures, mergers, and acquisitions.

Mr. Rosenberg is currently Chairman at Oculis SA, Cullinan Therapeutics and Nuclidium AG and Vice Chairman at argenx BV. He is also a former Board member at Idenix, Clinical Ink, Radius and TriNetX.

Mr. Rosenberg received a BSc (Biological Sciences) University of Leicester, and an M.Sc (Physiology) University of London.

Dr. Chris Sheldon

SVP & Global Head of Business Development, GSK

Chris is currently Senior Vice President & Global Head of Business Development R&D for GSK based in the UK. Chris and his team are responsible for all of GSK's business development activities globally covering the scouting & evaluating, transacting and alliance management of all new investment opportunities.

Chris and his team led the recent $1B acquisition of IDrX for a highly selective KIT tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) designed to treat gastrointestinal stromal tumours. Other deals at GSK include the $2B acquisition of Bellus Health for phase-III camlipixant in refractory chronic cough and the $1.6B acquisition of Aiolos Bio for IO-001, a phase II-ready, long-acting antibody targeting the clinically validated TSLP pathway for asthma both adding to GSK’s respiratory medicines portfolio. In addition, two licensing deals were struck with Hansoh Pharma for novel antibody-drug conjugates & a third with WuXi Biologics for bi- & multi-specific T cell engagers in oncology. Finally in the area of infectious disease, a peer licensing deal with Janssen for a phase II-ready siRNA for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B.

Prior to this Chris worked in the UK at AstraZeneca (AZ) for over 19 years. Chris held the roles of Vice President & Head of Oncology Business Development in Oncology Research & Development as well as Vice President & Head of Investor Relations.

Chris and his team led the evaluation and investment cases for AZ’s major $6.9B and $6B clinical stage co-development/co-promotion deals with Daiichi-Sankyo for Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan) and DS-1062 (datopotomab deruxtecan), both novel antibody drug conjugates (ADCs). Chris also led AZ’s $6.4B acquisition of Acerta Pharma for Calquence (acalabrutinib), a best-in-class BTK inhibitor in haematology.

Before his business development career, Chris worked in discovery research at AZ as a Senior Research Chemist. He also holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Bristol, UK and a first class honours degree from the University of Sheffield, UK.

David Southwell

Executive Chair, Immvue Therapeutics, Revolo Therapeutics

David currently serves as Executive Chair of Immvue Therapeutics and Revolo Therapeutics. In addition, he is on the boards of PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ: PTCT), Rocket Pharmaceuticals (BASDAQ: RCKT) and Sensorium Therapeutics. Mr Southwell most recently served as the Chief Executive Officer of TScan Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: TCRX), leaqding the company from Series A through its IPO. Prior to TScan David was President and Chief Executive Officer of Inotek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITEK) from its IPO to the merger with Rocket Pharmaceuticals in 2018. Previously he was Chief Financial Officer of Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) through to its merger with Glaxo Smithkline, and served for fifteen years as Chief Financial Officer of Sepracor, Inc. (NASDAQ: SEPR) prior to its merger with Dainippon Sumitomo to form Sunovion. Mr. Southwell started his career as an investment banker with Lehman Brothers. David has previously served on the boards of Spero Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRO), InVentiv Health, Inc., THL Credit (NASDAQ: TCRD) and Biosphere Medical as Chairman (NASDAQ: BSMD). He received a B.A. from Rice University and an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Separately, David ocean races his 40 foot sailboat, and has raced or cruised to or from Bermuda more than 20 times. Most recently, last year David won the Original Singlehanded Transatlantic Race (OSTAR), a solo race from Plymouth in the UK to Newport RI across the Atlantic, against the prevailing winds. His elapsed time was 21 days.

Monika Vnuk

Global Head of Partnering and Business Development, Sanofi

Monika has over 20 years of experience as an innovation and growth enabler and strategic thought partner. She is passionate about developing talent, shaping business strategy, and advancing innovation and growth through partnering and collaborations that benefit patients.

Monika joined Sanofi from Blackstone Life Sciences and prior to that from Pfizer, where she worked for 13 years in business development moving through roles of increased responsibility and leadership, including most recently as Vice President of Worldwide Business Development for R&D. In that role she led a team responsible for all preclinical Business Development transactions for Pfizer. While in that role Monika negotiated the Pfizer-BioNTech collaboration that resulted in the successful development of a vaccine against COVID-19.

During her time in Pfizer, Monika partnered with senior leadership to shape strategy and lead deal making internationally, across many therapeutic areas, treatment modalities, and deal types. Before joining Pfizer Monika worked in investment banking at Bank of America and at Oxford Bioscience Partners, a life sciences venture capital firm.

Monika holds an M.D. degree from the Boston University School of Medicine and a B.A. from Boston University in mathematics and philosophy.

Graham Walmsley

Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Logos Capital

Dr. Walmsley serves as General Partner of Logos Capital and co-manages the firm’s private and structured public investment efforts.

Prior to co-founding Logos, Dr. Walmsley was a Principal and Portfolio Manager of the Vantage crossover fund at Versant Ventures where he invested in biotechnology companies across multiple funds totaling over $1.5 billion in AUM. While at Versant, Dr. Walmsley served as a board director while building and launching multiple companies, including BlueRock Therapeutics (acquired by Bayer AG) and Akero Therapeutics. He was also the head of business development for Jecure Therapeutics through its acquisition by Genentech, a subsidiary of Roche.

Dr. Walmsley has authored more than 60 scientific publications and holds an MD and PhD from Stanford University School of Medicine.

Dr. Walmsley currently serves on the board of Akero Therapeutics (NASDAQ: AKRO) and Olema Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: OLMA).

Cameron Wheeler

Partner, Deerfield

Cameron Wheeler, Ph.D., is a Partner on the Therapeutics team and joined the Firm in 2014. Prior to Deerfield, Dr. Wheeler worked for and on behalf of Eleven Biotherapeutics, Inc. as a Director since 2009. Previous to that, he was Manager of the Business Development and Operations team at Constellation Pharmaceuticals and a Senior Associate at Third Rock Ventures. Dr. Wheeler holds a Ph.D. and S.M. in Biological Engineering and an S.B. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Arsani William

Co-Founder & CEO, MoonLake Immunotherapeutics

Arsani William is a co-Founder of MoonLake and has served as the Chief Executive Officer of MoonLake since July 2021, being also a Director of the Board. Prior to MoonLake, he was at McKinsey & Company, Inc. from September 2007 to June 2021, where he was a Senior Partner and led the Pharmaceutical & Medical Products Practice, the Biotech group and the Biosimilars group and advised international biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies on corporate and business-unit strategy, commercial operating models, R&D, organizational design, M&A and joint ventures. Dr. Santos da William was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY (USA) and holds a Ph.D. in Neuronal Cell Biology from the University of Turin (Italy) and a MSc in Molecular Biology from the University of Glasgow — Institute of Biological and Life Sciences (United Kingdom) and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg (Germany). He is also a professor and Board Advisor at the School of Medicine at the Minho University in Portugal.

ABOUT

Join us this year as we convene to explore emerging trends within the global healthcare industry, facilitate networking and build on dynamic discussions with fellow biopharma thought leaders. The PJT Partners Biopharma Innovators Summit is hosted by the global Healthcare Partners of PJT. We look forward to seeing you there.

SPEAKERS

Marcello Agosti

Global Business Development Officer,
Takeda

PJT PartnersBiopharma Innovators Summit

PJT Partners
Biopharma Innovators Summit