Management Team & Key People - Ankasa Regenerative Therapeutics

Sanford J. Madigan, Ph.D.
CEO, Ankasa Regenerative Therapeutics

Dr. Roland Baron is Professor in the department of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA) and Endocrine Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Professor and Chair of the department of Oral Medicine, Infection and Immunity at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Head of the Division of Bone and Mineral Research, since January 2008. Between 1977 and 2007 Dr. Baron was a Professor in the departments of Medicine, Orthopaedics and Cell Biology at Yale University School of Medicine (New Haven, USA). He received his DMD and PhD degrees from the University of Paris, France. He is the founder and past Editor-in-Chief of Bone. Between 1994 and 2002, he also held the position of Vice-President and Head of the Bone Diseases Group at Hoechst Marion Roussel and then Aventis. In 2002 he founded ProSkelia, a small pharmaceutical company devoted to the discovery and development of new drugs for bone and hormonal dependent diseases. He held the positions of President and Chief Scientific Officer of ProSkelia and then ProStrakan, through April 2006. From 2015 to 2019, Dr. Baron was on the Board of Directors of Bone Therapeutics in Belgium, a company devoted to cell therapy for bone regeneration. From 2006 to the present, Dr. Baron has been on several scientific or global advisory boards of pharmaceutical and biotech companies, including the

SAB of Ankasa Regenerative Therapeutics since 2015. Dr. Baron has been President of the European Calcified Tissue Society (ECTS, 2007-10) and President of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR, 2014-15), and is presently co-Chair of the International Federation of Musculoskeletal Research Societies (IFMRS, since 2015). Dr. Baron has received several prestigious awards for his contributions, including the Louis Avioli Founders Award and the William F. Neuman awards from ASBMR, the Harold Copp award from the IBMS and the Excellence in Research award from the ECTS. He has published over 370 scientific papers in the field of bone biology and bone diseases.

David Lacey, MD

Dr. Lacey is a biopharmaceutical consultant at David L. Lacey LLC, where he advises academic institutions, biotechnology companies and venture capital firms, a position he has held since July 2011. He currently serves as a director of Inbiomotion SL, Atreca, Inc., Nurix, Inc and Unity, Inc. and advises other companies and his alma mater, the University of Colorado. From 1994 until his retirement in 2011, he held various positions, including Senior Vice President, head of discovery research, at Amgen Inc., where he played a fundamental scientific role in the discovery of the OPG/RANKL/RANK pathway, which led to the development of the anti-RANKL human mAb denosumab, for both osteoporosis (Prolia) and cancer-related bone diseases (XGEVA). He holds a Bachelor’s degree in biology and an M.D. from the University of Colorado, and has board certification in anatomic pathology.

Gloria Matthews, DVM, PhD, DACVS

Gloria was appointed Chief Medical Officer of Ankasa in July of 2019. She is an executive level surgeon-scientist with two decades of experience in biomedical innovation and product pipeline development and support, including programs from discovery through commercialization for biologics, devices, orthobiologics, combination products, and small molecule new chemical entities for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications.

Most recently, she served as Senior Vice President of Research and Development at MiMedx Corporation (MDXG), an Atlanta based regenerative medicine company at which she held the key role of transforming the 361HCT/P regulated manufacturer and distributor of birth tissue-based therapies to a biopharma company. Before this, Dr. Matthews served as Chief Medical Officer at Histogenics (HSGX), a Boston-based regenerative medicine company at which she had strategic oversight of both North American and global development programs. She further provided cell therapy and biologics regulatory consultation in this role, directly supported all business/corporate development efforts, and actively participated in successful corporate fundraising in the US and Asia Pacific for this publicly traded pre-revenue stage company.

Prior to Histogenics, Gloria spent 12+ years in the biopharmaceutical industry at Genzyme Corporation (GENZ) and Sanofi-Genzyme (SAN/SNY), providing Research and Development support to the Biosurgery Division. During her tenure at Genzyme, she oversaw Research & Development and post-market support of cell, gene, growth factor, small molecule and biomaterial-based products. She last served with Sanofi-Genzyme in the role of Senior Director and Global Head of Bone and Joint Disease Research and Development.

Gloria is Board Certified by the American College of Veterinary Surgeons and has nearly 15 years of experience in both academic and private equine surgical practice. She received both her DVM and PhD degrees from Cornell University, and completed her residency training in surgery at Tufts University, followed by fellowship training at Cornell.

Gloria is also the Immediate Past President of the Orthopaedic Research Society, a member of the Cornell University Biomedical Engineering Advisory Board, and serves as an independent director on the Board of Directors of Belgium-based Bone Therapeutics Corporation.

Jill A. Helms, D.D.S., Ph.D. Former CSO, currently Senior Advisor, Ankasa Regenerative Therapeutics

Jill is a co-founder and the founding CSO of Ankasa. The core technology for stabilizing WNT proteins for in vivo use was developed in her laboratory and exclusively licensed to Ankasa. She was instrumental in raising Ankasa’s $19M Series A financing to support Ankasa’s goal of bringing a WNT-based therapeutic into clinical development.

Jill is a Professor in the Department of Surgery at Stanford University’s School of Medicine. She has led the development program at Stanford to understand the role of Wnt signaling in bone repair and the seminal work directed to the use of hydrophobic WNT proteins as therapeutic agents. Both endeavors have been supported by over $10M in funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).

Jill received her DDS from the University of Minnesota and her PhD and residency certificate from the University of Connecticut Health Sciences Center. She has published over 200 scientific papers, and currently serves on several scientific and global advisory Boards. She served as the President of the Society for Craniofacial Genetics and Developmental Biology (2006-2008) and has been awarded several prestigious awards including; the International Association for Dental Research Craniofacial Biology award (2013) and the Distinguished Scientist Award – Isaac Schour Memorial Award (2016).

Philipp Leucht, MD

Associate Professor, Department Of Orthopaedic Surgery
Associate Professor, Department Of Cell Biology
New York University Langone Health, Langone Orthopedic Hospital

Dr. Leucht is an orthopedic surgeon-scientist at NYU Langone Health. He is the Director of Orthopedic Trauma Research and leads an NIH-funded lab focusing on investigating skeletal stem cell biology as it relates to aging. His clinical practice is centered around fracture care.

He received his MD at the Ruhr-University in Bochum, Germany. In 2004, he joined the lab of Dr. Jill Helms, DDS, PhD as a postdoctoral fellow studying the role of Wnt signaling in bone regeneration. After completing his residency and fellowship at Stanford University in 2014, he started his lab at NYU Langone Health in New York City.

Sanford J. Madigan, Ph.D.
CEO, Ankasa Regenerative Therapeutics

Sandy is the founding CEO of Ankasa, for which he raised a $19M financing to support the Company’s efforts to bring a recombinant WNT-based therapeutic into clinical development for various orthopedic applications. He brings over 25 years of industry experience to this role and is experienced in venture financings, licensing founding and value-added technologies, and negotiating strategic partnerships and corporate acquisitions.

Sandy was the transacting CEO of Calporta Therapeutics which was acquired by Merck in November, 2019 for up to $576M including an upfront payment and contingent milestone payments. In addition to Calporta, Sandy has been a founder and senior manager in various venture-backed organizations including Anexigen, Inc. (partnered with major pharma), Sova Pharmaceuticals, Strategic Enzyme Applications (partnered with Monsanto), Ambit Biosciences (IPO, acquired by Daiichi Sankyo), Xenopharm (acquired by Deltagen), X-Ceptor Therapeutics (acquired by Exelixis), and SIBIA Neurosciences (acquired by Merck).

Sandy performed his post-doctoral training at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He received his Ph.D. in Genetics and his B.S. in Biochemistry from The State University of New York at Stony Brook where, as a graduate student, he was awarded the Abrahams Memorial Award for outstanding potential for basic research.