Management

Julie Cherrington, PhD
President and Chief Executive Officer

Julie Cherrington joined Pathway Therapeutics as President and CEO in Oct. 2009. Previously, Dr. Cherrington was president at Phenomix Corporation with strategic and operational responsibilities for drug research and development at the discovery, pre-clinical and clinical stages, and played a leadership role in the financing, business development and corporate development functions in the company. Prior to joining Phenomix in 2003, she was vice president of preclinical and clinical research at SUGEN, a Pfizer company. SUGEN focused on the discovery and development of small molecule kinase inhibitors for cancer and was a leader in molecular profiling patient samples in concert with innovative Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trial designs with novel targeted agents. Dr. Cherrington was instrumental in the development of SUTENT and its approval for renal cell cancer and gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Prior to SUGEN, Dr. Cherrington held a range of positions of increasing responsibility at Gilead Sciences. Dr. Cherrington is currently a member of the Board of Directors at Xenome Ltd, a pain focused biotechnology company.

David Matthews, PhD
Vice President, Drug Discovery and Exploratory Development

David Matthews, Ph.D. joined Pathway Therapeutics as Vice President of Drug Discovery and Exploratory Development in July 2010. Previously, Dr. Matthews was Executive Director of oncology discovery at Exelixis Inc. In this role, his responsibilities included oversight of the preclinical drug discovery portfolio and facilitating the transition of projects from discovery into preclinical development and early clinical studies, including the PI3-kinase inhibitors XL147 and XL765. During his time at Exelixis, Dr. Matthews also managed the structural biology group and led several multidisciplinary drug discovery and development teams. Prior to joining Exelixis in 1999, Dr. Matthews led the molecular and structural biology group at MetaXen LLC and was previously a scientist at Arris Pharmaceutical Corporation, where he led protein expression, protein engineering and biochemical/cellular assay initiatives for multiple projects. Dr. Matthews obtained his Ph.D. at the University of London (Imperial College) in collaboration with Celltech Plc, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Genentech Inc. He is the co-author of Targeting Protein Kinases for Cancer Therapy (John Wiley & Sons, 2010).

Marie O’Farrell, PhD
Executive Director, Translational Medicine

Marie O'Farrell, PhD joined Pathway Therapeutics as Executive Director, Translational Medicine. Previously, Dr. O’Farrell held leadership positions at Phenomix from September 2004 (Director, Discovery Biology and Translational Medicine) until July 2010 (VP, Drug Development), including translational medicine, preclinical development, regulatory affairs and project management. Phenomix programs were focused on development of protease inhibitors for diabetes and hepatitis, and also included early stage kinase programs in inflammation and oncology. Prior to joining Phenomix, Dr. O'Farrell served as Group Leader at SUGEN, Inc., leading target modulation, translational medicine and biomarker programs in oncology which assisted in the design of early proof-of-concept trials for Sutent®. Prior to joining SUGEN in 2000, Dr. O'Farrell was employed at Systemix, Inc. from 1998 to 2000, with a focus on functional genomics and gene therapy using stem cells, and at the DNAX Research Institute from 1993 to 1998, with a focus on cytokine signal transduction. Dr. O'Farrell received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1993 from the University of Manchester, UK, and her B.Sc. in Biochemistry in 1989 from the University of Cork, Ireland.

Sanjay Lakhotia, PhD
Vice President, Corporate Development

Sanjay Lakhotia, PhD joined Pathway Therapeutics as vice president of corporate development in October 2010 with over 10 years experience in corporate development at leading biotech companies. Previously, Dr. Lakhotia was senior director of corporate development at Portola Pharmaceuticals, where his responsibilities included product licensing and program leadership of multiple drug development programs. While at Portola, Dr. Lakhotia contributed to the partnering of a significant Phase 2 asset and championed IND track pre-clinical programs. Prior to joining Portola in 2006, Dr. Lakhotia held corporate development positions of increasing responsibilities at Onyx Pharmaceuticals and MedImmune where he executed several product and technology licensing transactions. Before transitioning to corporate development, Dr. Lakhotia led process development groups at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals contributing to the development of important vaccines, Prevnar and Meningetec. Dr.Lakhotia obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering at Northwestern University and an MBA from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.