Managing the Partnership Between Big and Small Pharma

Eric Crombez, MD has extensive experience and expertise in the development and execution of clinical development programs for rare genetic disorders. Dr Crombez currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Ultragenyx Gene Therapy and Inborn Errors of Metabolism and has been in this role since the acquisition of Dimension Therapeutics in November 2017. Dr Crombez joined Dimension Therapeutics, a liver directed AAV gene therapy company, as Chief Medical Officer in November 2014. During this time, Dr Crombez led the clinical development efforts for 4 clinical stage gene therapy programs including for hemophilia B, hemophilia A (in partnership with Bayer), ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency and glycogen storage disorder type Ia (GSDIa). Dr Crombez is also serving as an Industry Representative on the FDA Cellular, Tissue, and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee.                           Prior to this work in gene therapy, Dr Crombez worked at Shire in their Human Genetics Therapy business unit for nearly 8 years. Before joining industry, Dr Crombez was Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Medical Genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr Crombez is a board-certified clinical geneticist and completed residencies in pediatrics and medical genetics and a fellowship in clinical biochemical genetics at the UCLA School of Medicine. Dr Crombez has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed articles, book chapter and presentation abstracts. Dr Crombez obtained his BS degree in biology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his MD degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit. 

Dr Thomas Davis is Chief Medical Officer at Genocea Biosciences, where he oversees the clinical development of personalized neoantigen therapies. With 20+ years of academic and industry experience in immuno-oncology, Dr Davis has served as CMO at Gadeta, Celldex and GenVec, and as Head of Clinical at Medarex. Dr Davis was integrally involved in the successful development of Yervoy® and Rituxan®. Prior to joining industry, Dr Davis supervised adult hematologic malignancies and a portfolio of over 20 antibodies and vaccines at the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), including Avastin and Herceptin. He trained in Internal Medicine at Georgetown University Medical School, and completed a fellowship in Medical Oncology at Stanford University working with Dr Ronald Levy.

Joanne Lager is a biopharma executive with more than 20 years of leadership in Oncology drug development.  Jo recently joined NiKang Therapeutics to lead the development of clinical programs targeting HIF2α and CDK2. Jo was previously the Chief Medical Officer at iTeos Therapeutics, the Head of Development for Oncology at Sanofi Genzyme and a Medical Director and Project Leader at GlaxoSmithKline where she contributed to the registration of Sarclisa (isatuximab), Libtayo (cemiplimab) and Votrient (pazopanib). Jo earned her medical degree from Duke University, her fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Duke University, and a joint fellowship in Oncology Drug Development between Duke University and GlaxoSmithKline.

Milan Zdravkovic is a seasoned pharma executive with experience from senior R&D positions supporting approval of a number of therapies across different therapeutic areas. He is currently Chief Medical Officer and Head of R&D at SNIPR Biome, a Danish CRISPR and microbiome gene therapy biotech company, as well as board member in two biotech companies.Prior to this, he was CMO and Head of R&D at Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB, where he oversaw a significant expansion of the R&D portfolio within hematology and immunology. He joined the pharmaceutical industry in 1998 and worked 18 years at Novo Nordisk, ending up as Corporate Vice President heading up therapeutic areas such as GLP-1, insulin, obesity, growth hormone and inflammation.Dr Zdravkovic holds an MD and PhD from the University of Aarhus, Denmark, and an MSc in Pharmaceutical Medicine from the University of Surrey, UK. In addition, he has received training in management and strategy from Harvard University and INSEAD.