George P. Vlasuk

Dendreon Corp. discovers, develops and commercializes novel products for the treatment of cancer. The company applies its expertise in antigen identification, engineering and cell processing to produce active cellular immunotherapy ACI product candidates designed to stimulate an immune response in a variety of tumor types. It is an exploring the application of additional ACI product candidates and small molecules for the potential treatment of a variety of cancers. Dendreon was founded by Christopher S. Henney, Edgar G. Engleman and Samuel Strober in 1992 and is headquartered in Seattle, WA.

Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a GSK company, is developing small molecule drugs that target the sirtuins, a family of seven enzymes associated with diseases of aging. Modulation of these enzymes offers the promise of drug discovery in multiple therapeutic areas. Sirtris was one of the pharmaceutical companies focused on the sirtuin platform and remains the innovative drug discovery. Preclinical research indicates that the sirtuins play important roles in pathways for multiple diseases of aging, including Type 2 Diabetes, as well as neurodegenerative, cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases. Sirtris researchers are working to translate this research into a potential new class of pharmaceuticals to treat diseases of aging, offering the ability for people to live longer, healthier lives. Sirtris has focused on developing many novel small molecule activators of SIRT1, the most studied member of the sirtuin family. These new chemical entities or NCEs are novel compounds that are chemically unrelated to resveratrol, a naturally occurring compound that was used as an early proof-of-concept for SIRT1 activation. Besides being structurally differentiated from resveratrol, the NCEs are more specific for the target SIRT1 and have improved drug-like properties. The company has completed several early stage translational clinical studies with the first generation NCEs and has several active clinical trials under way. Sirtris operates as an independent Discovery Performance Unit (DPU) within GSK and is located in Technology Square, Cambridge, Mass. Sirtris' culture mixes scientific curiosity with a dynamic, fast-paced environment, resembling its biotech roots while harnessing all of GSK's broad discovery, development, and commercialization capabilities. The company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Cambridge, MA.

Wyeth LLC develops, manufactures, and distributes pharmaceuticals and biological substances. The company was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Madison, NJ.

Navitor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. develops medicine for age-related diseases. Its drug discovery platform targets mTORC1, which responds to and integrates the cell’s response to nutrient availability and plays a key role in protein synthesis and cellular growth. The company was founded by Alan L. Crane, David Sabatini and David Goldfarb and is headquartered in Cambridge, MA.

Nimbus Therapeutics LLC provides drug discovery research services. It is a computational technology-driven paradigm to rapidly advance a diverse pipeline of novel small molecule product candidates into clinical development. The company was founded by Bruce Lee Booth in 2009 and is headquartered in Cambridge, MA.

Nimbus Apollo, Inc. provides drug discovery research services. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, MA.

Atlas Venture Advisors Inc (Atlas Venture Advisors) is a venture capital firm founded in 1980 by Christopher Julian Spray. The firm is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.