Mr. Harel has more than 30 years’ experience in sales, marketing, operation and business development in the global pharmaceutical industry. He demonstrated ability to establish strategic directions, to operate teams in international environments (Europe, Asia, U.S., Latin America, and Middle East) and to accomplish challenging business objectives. Mr. Harel is the founder and president of “The Harel Group”, a business development advisory firm supporting international transactions in the global pharmaceutical industry. Prior to founding “The Harel Group”, Mr. Harel spent more than 27 years at Merck & Co., Inc. in leadership roles in sales, marketing and business development. Most recently, as Executive Director and Head of Corporate Business Development, Mr. Harel led the negotiation and execution of key enterprise transactions, including joint ventures, divestitures, commercial collaborations, licensing and distribution agreements. Mr. Harel holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics, from Haifa University, and an MBA in marketing, from Tel Aviv University, Israel.
Prof. Barenholz is a recognized expert in the field of drug delivery. Prof. Barenholz is the co-inventor of DoxilTM, a liposomal formulation of doxorubicin for cancer treatment marketed in the US by Johnson & Johnson and in Europe by Schering Plough (as Caelyx). Prof. Barenholz serves as head of the Laboratory of Membrane and Liposome Research at the Department of Biochemistry of the Hadassah Medical School at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Ms. Dikla Czaczkes Akselbrad serves as the Chief Executive Officer of PolyPid after serving as the company’s EVP and CFO since 2017, leading the company’s initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Market in June 2020. Dikla brings more than 20 years of experience leading life sciences companies through critical international strategic, financial and business transitions, including raising over $350 million in various forms in her prior executive roles. Before joining PolyPid in 2014, Dikla served as CFO of Compugen Ltd. after serving as CFO of Packet Technologies Ltd., and an audit manager at Ernst & Young Israel. She received a B.A. in accounting and economics and an MBA from Tel-Aviv University, and is a certified public accountant in Israel.
Nir Dror has served as a director since May 2020. Mr. Dror currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Aurum Ventures M.K.I. Ltd., a position he has held since 2013. He holds a B.A. and L.L.M. from Tel Aviv University and an M.B.A. from University of Michigan.
Yossi BenAmram is an experienced and accomplished Senior Pharma Executive with over 34 years of experience in both the innovative and generic Pharma Industry. He has a proven track record of crafting a compelling vision, building and leading diverse global teams, forming effective alliances and partnerships, working cross-divisionally, and delivering accelerated and profitable growth across multiple geographies.
During his tenor , Mr. BenAmram held various leadership roles at Merck & Co. Inc. in sales, marketing, and business development for over 22 years. As SVP & President of the EURAM Region, he raised Merck & Co’s rank in the region from #5 position to #1 Market Leader in Pharma sales and successfully launched Merck’s #1 Blockbuster for cancer treatment, KEYTRUDA. As SVP & President of the Diversified Brands Division, he led a portfolio of 12,000 SKUs of post-patent original products spanning 10 therapeutic areas with operational hubs in New Jersey, Lucerne, and Shanghai with multiple manufacturing sites. Mr. BenAmram successfully reduced annual sales erosion from double-digit decline to low single digit for off-patent portfolio. As VP & General Manager Emerging Markets, he reached above-market double-digit annual revenue growth, positioning Merck in the 3 fastest-growing multi-national pharmaceutical companies in the emerging markets.
Mr. BenAmram holds an MBA from Tel Aviv University, Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration, and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Management from Tel Aviv University, Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration.
Prof. (Emeritus) Itzhak Krinsky, Ph.D. has broad-based expertise in the pharmaceutical industry, years of experience in investment banking, and a distinguished academic career in finance and business economics. Prof. Krinsky developed extensive knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry during his 12 years of working at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., from which he retired a few years ago. During his tenure at Teva, Prof. Krinsky served as Executive Vice President, Corporate Business Development, a member of the Teva Executive Committee, Chairman of Teva Japan, Chairman of Teva South Korea, and Head of Business Development Asia Pacific. Prior to joining Teva, he held various senior positions in investment banks in New York City including with Bankers Trust, Deutsche Bank, and the Silverfern Group, Inc. Before his career on Wall Street, Prof. Krinsky was a Professor of Finance & Business Economics at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada. He has published more than 80 articles in leading peer reviewed academic journals. Prof. Krinsky currently serves as a director in several private and public companies including but not limited to Kamada, Globrands, Wavelength Pharmaceuticals and Noramco. In 2014, Prof. Krinsky was named by SCRIP as one of the top 100 Global Leaders in the Pharmaceutical Industry. Prof. Krinsky received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Economics from Tel Aviv University, Israel and a Ph.D. in Economics from McMaster University in Canada.
Dr. Tweezer-Zaks is an experienced healthtech, biotech and pharma executive, encompassing scientific, clinical, and commercial proficiencies across many therapeutic areas.
Dr. Tweezer-Zaks is situated at the crossroads of clinical medicine as a specialist in internal medicine and rheumatology, science as a researcher and former fellow at the NIH, and business. Nurit is the CEO of Medicane, a fully integrated global medical cannabis company. Previously, Dr. Tweezer-Zaks served in increasingly senior positions at aMOON, a leading Israel-based life sciences-focused venture capital investor. In her most recent role as Chief Medical Officer at aMOON, she managed the internal and external interfaces across the fund between investors, portfolio companies, and investment teams, and provided professional input to the investment committee. Prior to this, Dr. Tweezer-Zaks held increasingly senior positions at Sanofi. In her most recent role at Sanofi, she served as Global Established Products Medical Lead – Strategic Decision for Portfolio Enhancement. She began her career as a practicing physician at Sheba Medical Center in Israel.
Dr. Tweezer-Zaks is also an instructor at the Hebrew University Business school, a certified commercial arbitrator and a BOD member of private and public companies in Israel and USA. She holds MD and BS degrees from the Ben-Gurion University School of Medicine in Beer Sheva, Israel, and earned an MBA from the Kellogg-Recanati International Executive MBA Program.
Robert Stein is a medical scientist with over 40 years of pharmaceutical and biotech R&D leadership experience. He played a pivotal role in the discovery and development of Sustiva®, Fablyn®, Viviant®, PanRetin®, TargRetin®, Promacta® and Eliquis® and lead the discovery of over a dozen immuno-oncology-directed monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, and cell therapies progressing through clinical development. He consults broadly regarding drug discovery and development and serves on a number of Boards of Directors, both public and private. Since 2018, he has been is an Operating Partner at Samsara Biocapital and serves as acting head of R&D for MimeDx, acting CSO for MiroBio, and Scientific Advisor to Autobahn Labs, Inc. and to the Drug Development Institute at Ohio State University. Dr. Stein served as CSO and President of R&D for Agenus, Inc., a immuno-oncology company based in Lexington, MA from 2014 – 2018, and lead efforts which have advanced over a dozen clinical stage monoclonal antibodies, two of which are nearing BLA filing. He is a founder of AgenTus, a cell therapy spin-out from Agenus. Prior to joining Agenus he held a number of progressively responsible senior management positions including CSO & SVP of Research for Ligand Pharmaceuticals, EVP of Research & Preclinical Development for Dupont Merck, President and CSO for Incyte Pharmaceuticals, President of Roche Palo Alto and CEO of KineMed. From 1981 to 1990, Dr. Stein began his pharmaceutical career at Merck, Sharp and Dohme. He holds an MD and a Ph.D. in Physiology & Pharmacology from Duke University and is board-certified in anatomic and clinical pathology.