TEAM

Allan Cochrane

Co-Founder | President

Mr. Cochrane has 40 years of experience as a diagnostic, biotechnology and pharmaceutical development professional. The majority of his time has been spent in senior leadership roles as CEO, President and Board of Directors roles in both public and private companies. He has extensive experience in early stage growth companies and in particular has participated directly or advised a number of companies on financing strategies from seed stage rounds to public offerings on NASDAQ. As Co-founder and President of Cascade Prodrug, he is focused on all aspects of the business strategy as it relates to strategic planning, finance, corporate partnering, and administration. In this regard, Al has previous experience in both the research and development of drug candidates and the preclinical and clinical drug development pathway for these candidates. He is well known for fostering entrepreneurship in Oregon and currently sits on four boards and mentors early stage entrepreneurs by providing leadership training, strategic planning and financial strategy for companies.

Manny Litchman, MD

Capital Strategy | Chair

Since April 2017, Dr. Litchman has served as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Mustang Bio, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on translating today’s medical breakthroughs in cell therapies into potential cures for difficult-to-treat cancers. Previously he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Arvinas, Inc., and earlier he held senior leadership positions at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, including Senior Vice President and Executive Global Program Head for CTL019 (now Kymriah) and Vice President and Head of Oncology Business Development & Licensing. He brings more than three decades of biopharmaceutical leadership experience spanning preclinical and clinical drug development, business development, and corporate financing.

Dr. Litchman earned his M.D. from Yale University School of Medicine and completed his internal medicine residency and hematology-oncology fellowship at New York-Presbyterian Hospital /Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Andres A. Gutierrez, MD, PHD

Scientific and medical Strategy | Board Member

Dr. Gutierrez is an executive clinical scientist with deep oncology expertise, known for driving global and U.S. clinical development and cross-functional execution for more than 20 years. He has built agile, high-performing teams across clinical development and operations, regulatory affairs, biometrics, marketing, strategy and fundraising activities to deliver integrated brand success. His work spans from small molecules (e.g., GSIs, carfilzomib, talazoparib, etc) to antibodies (e.g., anti-PD-1, LAG-3, CXCR4, bispecifics) and biologic agents (e.g., oncolytic viruses, neoantigen immunotherapies) in phase 1-4 trials. For the past 10 years, he has served as Chief Medical Officer at Ayala, Advaxis, Oncolytics Biotech and Sellas Life Sciences.

Dr. Gutierrez earned his M.D. and Ph.D. and completed his internal medicine residency at National University of Mexico-IMSS and completed a fellowship in Clinical Oncology Research at Hammersmith Hospital, London UK.

Kenneth Mandell, MD, PhD

Board Member | Ophthalmology Expert

Kenneth Mandell M.D., Ph.D. is a Harvard-trained ophthalmologist and biotechnology entrepreneur with extensive experience developing innovative therapeutics and medical devices for ophthalmic diseases. He is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of LayerBio, Inc., an MIT spinout developing sustained-release drug delivery technologies for ocular and systemic diseases. He serves on the Boards of Proteris Biotech and the Usher III Initiative and previously was Chief Medical Officer at Aramis Biosciences, Intergalactic Therapeutics, Neurotech Pharmaceuticals and Noveome Biotherapeutics. Dr. Mandell has contributed to more than a dozen IND applications and directed multiple Phase 1–3 clinical trials. He is an inventor on more than 15 issued U.S. patents and co-inventor of TYRVAYA®, the first FDA-approved nasal spray for dry eye disease.

Dr. Mandell received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Tufts University and his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Emory University. He completed his ophthalmology residency training at Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School.

Eric Malek

COrporate Development | Board Member

Mr. Malek brings 20 years of biotech corporate development experience to Cascade and has been a corporate development consultant since 2018. Previously Mr. Malek was Senior Vice President, Corporate Development at Threshold Pharmaceuticals where he led negotiations for their $550M co-development/co-promotion partnership with Merck KgAa for the hypoxia activated prodrug Evofosfamide. Before Threshold, Mr. Malek held corporate development positions at Allos Therapeutics, BiPar Sciences, Gilead Sciences, NeXstar Pharmaceuticals and Ilex Oncology as well as research positions at Janssen Pharmaceutica, the University of Arizona and University of Michigan.

Mr. Malek received a B.A. in Biochemistry from the University of Arizona and an M.B.A in Finance & Corporate Strategy from University of Michigan.

Thomas K. Wuest MD, MMM

Secretary | Board Advisor

Thomas is currently CEO of Ulcer Solutions. He was previously President of Slocum Orthopedics, PC, where he led the design, construction, and completion of an 80,000sq.ft. musculoskeletal center. During his leadership he doubled the group’s gross annual revenue and completed negotiations/implementation of a regional Orthopedic Trauma Service with a referral population of over 500,000 patients. Prior to Slocum, Thomas led Agate Resources through a $146M acquisition by Centene Corporation and served for 3-1/2 years as the Chief Medical Officer for the Oregon Market for Centene, managing the Medical Directors, Quality Program, and physician outreach for over 200,000 members.

Dr. Wuest completed his residency at the Univ. of Iowa Department of Orthopedic Surgery and a fellowship in the U.K. prior to beginning a 25-year career as an orthopedic trauma surgeon. He also has a Business Masters in Medical Management from USC’s Marshall School of Business.

John Nepute

FinancE

Mr. Nepute comes to Cascade Prodrug with significant experience in financial and business development roles. Most notably, Mr. Nepute was the President of Monaco Coach Corporation where he led investor relations, M&A, operations, and ultimately grew the company from sales of $17 million and 75 employees to peak of $1.4 billion in sales and 6800 employees. Most recently, he has been a fractional CFO to companies seeking financial and accounting expertise. Mr. Nepute sits on the Advisory Board for Bit Cork, an artisan wine distributer, and on the Board of Directors for Oakshire Brewing, a community-inspired, small batch brewing company.

Mr. Nepute received his Bachelors Degree from Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA from the University of Oregon.