Leadership Team

Raphael Ribeiro-Pinaud, Ph.D. MBA

Chairman & CEO

Dr. Raphael Ribeiro-Pinaud founded Antharis Therapeutics in 2020 where he serves as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of the Board of Directors. His expertise in the biotech/biopharma sector resides at the intersection of science, regulatory affairs, finance and business management.

During his tenure at Antharis, the company has been utilizing cutting-edge scientific approaches to build a one-of-a-kind portfolio of therapeutically-efficacious monoclonal antibodies directed at devastating diseases, including multiple cancer types. Dr. Ribeiro-Pinaud led the successful M&A of Antharis and Cassyni Biopharma in one of the largest pre-clinical private transactions in the USA in the first half of 2022. Since the completion of this transaction, Antharis has grown significantly, more than doubled its portfolio of assets and expanded its strategic interests into other disease domains. In mid-2023, Dr. Ribeiro-Pinaud also led Antharis through the successfully acquisition of Galileo Biotech, a move that brought GMP capacity, cost savings, enhanced productivity, in-vitro diagnostics capabilities, and further strategic advantages to Antharis. This M&A also officially turned Antharis into a multi-national company and moved it one step closer to the clinic.

Prior to founding Antharis, Dr. Ribeiro-Pinaud was the founder, President and CEO of GB, an in-vitro diagnostics company with offices in the USA and Brazil. Under his leadership, the company became the first GMP-certified facility in Latin America authorized to develop, locally produce and commercialize immunochemical diagnostic kits for the human health, agrivet and food safety markets.

Dr. Ribeiro-Pinaud was also a partner of Leste Global Investments, where he ran an event-driven portfolio of global biotech/pharma equities and derivatives for the company’s hedge fund. In the Leste Group, he was also responsible for venture capital and private equity investments in the healthcare and biotech sectors. Prior to moving into financial markets and business management, Dr. Ribeiro-Pinaud was an academic scientist and Professor, as well as an invited expert for multiple governmental agencies in the US and abroad. Dr. Ribeiro-Pinaud obtained a Ph.D. degree in Neuroscience (OHSU; USA), carried out Post-Doctoral training in Bioengineering/Proteomics (Duke; USA), earned an MBA in Economics and Strategic Business Management (FGV; Brazil), and is a graduate of the Finance Leadership program (Harvard; USA).

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Daniel Yazbeck, M.Sc.

Head of Corporate Strategy

Mr. Yazbeck, in his capacity, advises and reports to Dr. Ribeiro-Pinaud regarding corporate strategy, business development, administrative and commercial efforts of the company. In addition, he plans, executes and provides oversight to corporate strategic projects of high relevance.

Prior to joining Antharis as its head of corporate strategy, Daniel was the Founder and CEO of MyDx, a diagnostics company that he took public.  Prior to this, he spent nearly 15 years as a director of new product, market and business development for the healthcare division of Panasonic as well as a scientist for Pfizer.

His multidisciplinary background has enabled him to build strong teams across multiple departments, executing strategic partnerships with key market players and successfully launching products from concepts to profitable businesses.

Mr. Yazbeck earned both his B.Sc. in Biochemistry and Marketing, and his M.Sc. in Medicinal Chemistry, from McGill University in Canada.

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Eric Sjoberg, Ph.D.

Vice President of Research and Product Development

Dr. Eric Sjoberg has more than 25 years of experience in biotechnology, 15 of which were spent in the area of biologics, including antibodies, soluble receptors and lysosomal enzymes. He has expertise in pharmacology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and assay development. As a Director of Research and Development in Antharis, Dr. Sjoberg is responsible for antibody discovery, development and pre-clinical programs within the company’s pipeline of novel drug targets with demonstrated unmet medical needs.

Prior to joining Antharis Therapeutics he co-founded Mablytics Inc. where he served as the company’s Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). Mablytics focused on the pre-clinical development of antibodies directed at a novel target for blood-borne cancers and solid tumors. Dr. Sjoberg also co-founded OrPhi Therapeutics, a pharmacological chaperone company focused on rare diseases, where he served as Vice President of Pre-Clinical Development. Prior to OrPhi Therapeutics, Dr. Sjoberg held positions of increasing responsibility, including Director of Pre-Clinical Biology at Amicus Therapeutics, where he helped establish a new laboratory focused on the development of production cell lines for lysosomal storage disorders. He also led downstream processing efforts and established assays for key biochemical attributes associated with disorders of interest.

Dr. Sjoberg has published numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles, has been the Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on 8 SBIR and private foundation grants, and is the inventor on 7 issued patents.

Dr. Sjoberg received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology (UCSD; USA), and did his post-doctoral research at Cytel Corporation (USA) under the guidance of James Paulson.

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Jim Xia, Ph.D.

Vice President of Scientific Research

Jim (Jinming) Xia, Ph.D., is the Vice President of Scientific Research at Antharis Therapeutics, where he leads a team of talented scientists towards the development of biotherapeutic monoclonal antibodies for oncological and immuno-oncological applications. He has more than 20 years of expertise working on antibodies. In particular, he has extensive experience in antibody generation, antibody characterization, target identification and validation, drug discovery, pre-clinical and clinical development applied to oncology. Dr. Xia also has significant experience working with bispecific antibodies and antibody drug conjugates (ADCs). He has led multiple projects from conception and antibody discovery to lead optimization, and has made key contributions to four clinical stage ADCs.

Before joining Antharis Therapeutics, Dr. Xia was a Principal Scientist at Tanabe Research Labs USA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp, for six years. Prior to this role, he worked for five years as a Senior Scientist at Ambrx Biopharma Inc., a publicly-listed biopharmaceutical company, where he developed therapeutic proteins, bispecific antibodies and ADCs. Dr. Xia obtained his Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Sciences (Peking University Health Sciences Center; China), conducted post-doctoral work in biochemistry (Missouri-Columbia; USA), and was a Research Associate in immunology (Stanford; USA).

Dr. Xia obtained his Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Sciences (Peking University Health Sciences Center; China), conducted post-doctoral work in biochemistry (Missouri-Columbia; USA), and was a Research Associate in immunology (Stanford; USA)

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Cass Morrison

Director of Operations

Cass Morrison serves as the Director of Operations at Antharis Therapeutics, overseeing the day-to-day functions of the company under the guidance of CEO Dr. Raphael Ribeiro-Pinaud.

Before joining Antharis Therapeutics, Cass Morrison held the position of Senior Manager of Commercial Operations & Business Analysis at G&L Health Advisors for 4 years. In this role, he successfully led the development of KPIs and conducted financial forecasting for the company. Prior to that, he served as the Special Projects General Manager at Symbotic for 4 years, where he played a key role in developing crucial processes and protocols that the company continues to implement today. Additionally, he led several Kaizen events to stabilize the company's initial beta system. Cass Morrison's dedication to the industry is evident through his active membership in esteemed organizations such as the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS) and the Drug Information Association (DIA).

Cass Morrison obtained his Business Degree at MiraCosta College and has obtained several certifications, including PMP (Project Management Professional), Scrum Master, and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

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