Ronald M.B.S. Demuth, President
Tel: 858.357.7623 ext. 321
E-mail: rdemuth@torreypinesinv.com
Mr. Demuth is the founding President of Torrey Pines Investment, responsible for the company’s strategic investments. Prior to his work at Torrey Pines, he worked as a business consultant to biotech startups, as General Manager of Integrated Genomics, and in several roles at The University of Chicago, including work as an Administrator and as a technology advisor to the Arch Venture corporation. Mr. Demuth has 30 years of research and management experience in the international life science industry and academia.
Nikolay Savchuk, Ph.D.,Managing Director
Tel: 858.794.4860 ext. 310
E-mail: nsavchuk@torreypinesinv.com
Nikolay Savchuk is President and CEO at ChemDiv, Inc. (San Diego CA), Chairman of Viriom Ltd, NewVac Ltd, TeaRx Ltd and Chemical Diversity Research Institute in Moscow Russia; serves on the board of ChemRar Hi Tech Center (Moscow, Russia). He has led the TPI bisiness team since 2002. Savchuk is a founder of the Inel Group of IT and media companies in Singapore and Russia, and was an industry representative to the Russian government’s Pharma 2020 initiative. Nikolay is an advisor and expert of the Agency Of Strategic Initiatives of the Russian government. Holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology..
Dr. Uwe Peukert MD-PhD, MBA,SVP Strategic Investment Initiative
Tel: 858 722-3295
E-mail: upeukert@torreypinesinv.com
Uwe Peukert providing over 25 years hands-on experience in the medical field of which he was practicing medicine and medical science for 14 years and he is in his 12th year working within the field of biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. Uwe has joined the management team of Torrey Pines Investment, Inc. as a€?SVP Strategic Investment Initiativesa€? and he continues to be the CEO and President of PharmaSearchEval LLC. He is a highly experienced medical doctor (Board eligible in US for Pediatrics, Neonatology/Intensive Care and Pediatric Cardiology, Board certified in Germany), with a deep scientific foundation (PhD in Pharmacology/Toxicology of Medical School Hannover, Germany). During the past decade he established a highly successful record of accomplishment in several business development roles serving large and mid-size pharmaceutical companies.
Previously, Uwe was Senior Director at Onyx Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for the search and evaluation function within the business development department. He initiated and lead the technical evaluation/DD resulting in the acquisition of Proteolix Inc (2009, South San Francisco) and the out-licensing of Japanese rights to Carfilzomib to Ono Pharmaceuticals (2010, Osaka/Japan).
Before joining Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Uwe held a number of senior business development positions, until 2009 at Lilly & Co, where he was the head of scouting and evaluation for the oncology franchise. In this role Uwe was a regular member of the oncology drug hunting, business and strategy teams. He triggered and completed the evaluation and acquisition of Imclone ($6.3 billion deal value, 2008) as well as numerous other M&As, collaborations, licensing and co-marketing transactions in the field of hematology/oncology. Prior to joining Lilly in 2004, Uwe has been the leader of business evaluation within Pharma Partnering at Hoffman La Roche in Basel and Nutley/NJ focusing on the CV/metabolism and the oncology franchises. In this role he was fully accountable for the opt-in business case and decision for Avastin from Genentech to Roche in 2003. In the meantime, numerous projects that Uwe has scouted, evaluated and partnered have made significant progress in clinical development or have generated or exceeded the expected and forecasted revenues in the oncology market. Utilizing the combination of 14 years in applied medical sciences on the basis of a life sciences (pharmacology/toxicology) PhD and 11+ years in pharmaceutical drug development and business transactions Uwe established himself as a highly utilized and trusted resource for pipeline, drug development and strategic investment projects within the pharmaceutical, biotech and investment communities.
Michael G. Palfreyman, Ph.D., DSc, R&D Diligence
Tel: 617-314-6439
Cell: 978-884-4861
E-mail: mpalfreyman@torreypinesinv.com
Michael G. Palfreyman is a seasoned leader in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries with over 35 years experience. He has been an invited speaker and chairperson for a number of international and national conferences, is co-inventor on 35 issued US patents, 3 pending patents and co-author of over 150 scientific articles and book chapters. Dr. Palfreyman is currently Head, Translational R&D at ChemDiv, Inc. as well as Senior Scientific Advisor for Vitruvean, Inc.
Previously, Michael was VP, Program Management & Product Development at EnVivo Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for the late stage discovery and preclinical development of two CNS drugs now demonstrating efficacy in clinical testing. As a co-founder NOVACE Corporation, Michael worked closely with Investors and Biotechnology Companies to bring products from discovery through to the value point of clinical validation.
Before joining NOVACE, Michael held a number of executive positions at Psychiatric Genomics, Scriptgen (Anadys) Pharmaceuticals as well as Marion Merrell Dow Research Institute (Sanofi-Aventis). In addition to overseeing research programs in Psychiatric, Neurological, Cardiovascular, Cancer, Infectious, Metabolic and Respiratory Disorders, Dr. Palfreyman’s own research included discovery and development of a number of psychotherapeutic compounds for treatment of psychosis, depression, stroke, epilepsy, emesis, Parkinsons, and Alzheimers diseases. Many of these compounds have entered clinical development and a number have reached the marketplace.
Ian Wisenberg, M.B.A., Venture Adviser
Tel: 858 722-2552
E-mail: iwisenberg@torreypinesinv.com
Ian Wisenberg has more than 25 years experience in international business with an emphasis in finance, capital formation, business development and administration. He is founder and managing partner of BioGlobal Consulting Group (BGCG). Prior to founding BioGlobal Consulting Group, he served as the Senior Vice President of Business Development and CFO of BIOCOM – the world’s largest regional life science trade organization.
Bringing a broad portfolio of expertise, Ian has a solid track record in capital development initiatives aimed at establishing strategic financial partnerships with local, national and international financing institutions. He was also responsible for establishing the VC incubator in San Diego. Of equal significance is his ability to foster international relations with government agencies and private institutions.
Mr. Wisenberg also serves on the Board of Directors for two San Diego biotech companies and is treasurer for the San Diego Venture Group. Prior to BIOCOM, he was Vice President of Finance and Administration, as well as Interim President, Secretary and Treasurer of Aerocast, Inc., a secured broadband media streaming company. Mr. Wisenberg holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in accounting from Cape Town University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Christopher J. Cummings, Ph.D., M.B.A., Scouting Project Management
Cell: 
415-225-8622
E-mail: ccummings@torreypinesinv.com
Chris was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Bay Partners for the last three years. Chris joined Bay after 10 years in start-up and mid-size biotechnology. Most recently he was co-founder of EnVivo Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering and developing drugs for central nervous system disorders. Prior, Chris held research and project leadership positions at AGY Therapeutics and Genencor International.
Nicholas A. Saccomano, Ph.D.,Venture Adviser
Tel: 303-625-9036
Cell: 541-550-0614
E-mail: nsaccomano@torreypinesinv.com
Nick Saccomano has worked in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries for the past 25 years. In that time he has managed drug discovery and development programs as well as the multi-disciplinary core technology departments which support the R and D process. Nick began his career at Pfizer in 1984 as part of CNS drug discovery. During his time in this group, he had the good fortune to be part of teams that brought important new compounds to and through development in areas of great medical need like depression, anxiety, psychosis and Alzheimera€™s disease. In 1998 Nick was promoted to vice president in charge of discovery technology developing and managing a broad array of scientific disciplines including computational sciences, genomics, proteomics and high-throughput chemistry and biology. In 2004 was promoted to senior vice president at Pfizer in charge Strategic Alliances/Business development. In 2008 Nick joined Bend Research, a drug formulation and delivery company, as CSO and in 2010 he moved to SomaLogic, a proteomic-based diagnostic discovery and development organization as CTO. He remains an active advisor an/or board member to many organizations and institutions including Bend Research, Sea Lane Biotechnologies, Chemdiv, Colorado Bioscience Association and Northwestern University.
Nick graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1980 with a B.S. in chemistry and subsequently from Columbia University in 1984 with Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry under the guidance of Professor Gilbert Stork.
