The people behind
the science.
Our team was built around a rare combination of talents in clinical science, operational execution, and partnering leadership.
Co-Founders & Executives
Diode Bio was founded by physician-scientists and industry leaders with complementary APAC deal-making, venture, clinical development, and business development track records.
Dr. Alessandro (Alex) Falcone is a life sciences executive with over 15 years of experience spanning oncology clinical development, strategic partnerships, and biotech innovation. As Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Diode Bio, he leads the company’s clinical development, partnering, and asset strategy initiatives focused on advancing oncology and immunology programs through technology-enabled execution models.
Previously,
Alex led APAC (ex-China, ex-Korea) sourcing and deal-making for Johnson &
Johnson Innovation, partnering with emerging biotech companies across Asia
Pacific. Prior to this, at AstraZeneca, he led development programs for major
oncology assets including Enhertu, Dato-DXd, and late-stage Lynparza. Earlier,
he managed a US$150M innovation and technology partnership fund at GSK focused
on AI, genomics, manufacturing technologies, and clinical enablement platforms.
He began his career in healthcare strategy consulting at L.E.K. Consulting and IQVIA.
Alex has held several board and advisory roles including as a Trustee for the
Hadassah Medical Organization, a Board Role at MediSieve and also advisor for
Lindus Health CRO.
Alex trained as a medical doctor at UCL, has a first class business degree from Imperial College London and holds a Master’s with distinction in Experimental & Translational Therapeutics from the University of Oxford.
Dr.
John Choi is a physician-scientist, entrepreneur, and biotech investor with
over 25 years of experience building and scaling healthcare companies across
Asia and the United States.
John
earned his PhD from Harvard University and trained as a medical doctor at
Cornell. He previously co-founded Hua Medicine (SEHK: 2552) and Imvaq
Therapeutics, and held investment roles at Venrock, Fidelity, and Fidelity Asia
Ventures in the US and China. He most recently was the Regional Head of
J&J's early stage incubator in Korea.
His expertise spans translational medicine, venture creation, cross-border healthcare investing, and co-development partnering across Asia and the United States. John brings deep networks across top-tier academic medical centres, KOLs in oncology and immunology, and institutional investors in both regions.
Dr. Chris Britten is a pharmaceutical and biotechnology executive with more than 30 years of experience across licensing, M&A, and global business development. At Diode Bio, he leads strategic transactions, pharmaceutical partnerships, and global asset acquisition initiatives supporting the company’s clinical development platform.
Formerly
CBO at Clinical Co-Development company Klar Therapeutics, SVP Global Business
Development at Grünenthal and Managing Director at Torreya Partners, Chris has
also held senior leadership roles at Sanofi, Novartis (Sandoz), Neuraxpharm,
and Advanz Pharma. He began his career in drug discovery at GSK before
transitioning into international partnering and corporate development
leadership roles. Across his career, he has executed transactions exceeding
US$3 billion across oncology, immunology, and specialty pharma.
Chris currently serves as Non-Executive Chairman of Thalia Therapeutics and advises companies ranging from early-stage biopharma to private equity-backed healthcare platforms.
The Core Team
A cross-functional team spanning clinical operations, regulatory affairs, compliance, and finance — each with deep APAC and global pharma backgrounds.
Dr. Nazrin Azli brings more than 25 years of global clinical operations and drug development experience across oncology, immunology, neuroscience, vaccines, and cardiovascular disease. At Diode Bio, he leads clinical execution strategy and operational delivery across the company’s international development portfolio.
Most
recently, Nazrin served as VP and Head of Global Clinical Operations, Asia
Pacific at Johnson & Johnson/Janssen, overseeing multinational trial
execution across China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, and Southeast
Asia. Prior to J&J, he spent over a decade at MSD (Merck & Co.) in
senior clinical development and medical leadership roles. Earlier in his
career, he held medical leadership positions at SmithKline Beecham across
Southeast Asia.
Nazrin specializes in global trial execution, operational scaling, and strategic clinical delivery across complex therapeutic programs.
Shun
Jin is a senior regulatory affairs executive with more than 30 years of
experience supporting pharmaceutical development and approvals across Asia
Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. At Diode Bio, he leads global regulatory
strategy and health authority engagement across oncology, immunology,
biosimilars, and advanced therapies.
Formerly
Head of Regulatory Competency Center APMA at Sandoz, he oversaw regional
regulatory strategy across multiple international markets. Earlier in his
career, he held leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson, Takeda, AbbVie,
Parexel, and GE Healthcare.
He brings deep expertise in accelerated approvals, emerging market regulatory pathways, and global development strategy.
Gustavo Rodriguez Gonzalez is a global ethics, compliance, and governance leader with more than 15 years of experience across the biopharmaceutical industry. He currently serves as Senior Director, Global Ethics & Compliance Operations and Ethics & Compliance Lead for Partner and Emerging Markets at argenx, overseeing global compliance operations and supporting business growth across international markets. Previously, he held senior leadership roles at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, Sandoz, Teva Pharmaceuticals, GE Healthcare, and MSD. His expertise spans corporate governance, compliance strategy, business integrity, third-party risk management, data privacy, investigations, and AI governance. Gustavo has advised senior executives on regulatory risk, governance, and scalable compliance frameworks that enable responsible growth and has also served as an adjunct professor teaching compliance and corporate governance.
At Diode Bio, he advises on global governance, compliance strategy, partner due diligence, and regulatory risk management.
Svai
Sandford is a seasoned life sciences finance executive with more than 25 years
of experience across biotech, public markets, and strategic drug development
financing. At Diode Bio, he advises on capital strategy, financing structures,
public market readiness, and operational scaling. Svai has operated the buy-back model in Blackstone Life Sciences owned SFJ Pharmaceuticals.
As
former CFO of SFJ Pharmaceuticals, he led financial strategy and partnership
structures for late-stage global drug development programs. He later served as
CFO and Chief Accounting Officer of VIVUS Inc., helping lead the company
through its IPO and transition into a commercial-stage biopharma company. Most
recently, he served as CFO of Rani Therapeutics, leading the company through
its NASDAQ IPO and multiple financing rounds.
He brings deep expertise in biotech financing, IPO execution, strategic partnerships, and capital markets.
Johann
Noor Mohamed is a finance executive with more than 20 years of leadership
experience spanning pharmaceuticals, software, and semiconductor industries. At
Diode Bio, he advises on strategic financial planning, international tax
structures, operational scaling, and financial governance.
He
has held senior finance leadership roles at SFJ Pharmaceuticals, Launch
Therapeutics, Vivus, Symantec, and Aurascape, supporting high-growth and
development-stage organizations through complex operational and financing
environments. Johann began his career at Ernst & Young and holds ACCA
qualifications and an MBA from Babson College.
His expertise spans financial optimization, tax strategy, operational efficiency, and cross-border corporate structuring.
Strategic Advisors
Global pharmaceutical executives, venture investors, R&D leaders, and CRO operators who advise on deal strategy, clinical operations, regulatory navigation, and commercial execution.
Dr. Jacopo Andreose is a biopharma executive and board director with more than 30 years of experience leading innovation, strategy, business development, and commercial transformation across Europe, the U.S., Asia Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, and other international markets. He currently serves on the Boards of GRIN Therapeutics, a U.S.-based biotechnology company focused on rare neurological diseases, and Angelini Industries, a diversified industrial and healthcare group.
Most recently, as CEO of Angelini Pharma, he led the company’s transformation into a focused, innovation-driven CNS organization, overseeing R&D, business development, M&A, and commercialization. Previously, he held senior leadership positions at Gilead Sciences, GSK, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Abbott, managing multi-billion-dollar portfolios and commercial operations across more than 100 countries. He has extensive experience evaluating product opportunities, shaping global and regional commercial strategies, market access planning, lifecycle management, and launch readiness across oncology, immunology, virology, neuroscience, and rare diseases.
At Diode Bio, Dr. Andreose advises on pharmaceutical partnering, portfolio strategy, commercial assessment, and international market opportunities, helping maximize the value and positioning of innovative oncology and immunology assets.
Tobias Hestler is an experienced FTSE 100 CFO and board director with over 25 years of international leadership across consumer health, generics, biosimilars, and pharmaceuticals. As Group CFO of Haleon, he led the landmark spin-off from GSK and Pfizer and its FTSE 100 listing. Previously, he served as CFO of GSK Consumer Healthcare and Global CFO of Sandoz (Novartis). Tobias currently serves as Treasurer and Trustee of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Chair of the Audit Committee at Alliance Pharmaceuticals, Advisory Board Member at Aristo Pharma, and Advisor to Bain & Company. At Diode Bio, he advises on corporate strategy, M&A, financial governance, complex pharmaceutical accounting, transaction structuring, and long-term value creation
Dr. Jim Glasheen is a biotech entrepreneur, venture investor, and commercialization leader with more than 25 years of experience translating breakthrough science into venture-backed healthcare companies. He currently leads Cambridge Enterprise, the commercialization arm of the University of Cambridge, supporting the creation and scaling of innovative technology and life sciences ventures.
Previously, he co-founded Atalanta Therapeutics and Clade Therapeutics and served as a General Partner at Technology Partners focused on life sciences investing. Jim brings deep expertise in translational innovation, company creation, and emerging therapeutic platforms including RNA and cell-based technologies.
At Diode Bio, he advises on innovation strategy, venture creation, and scientific commercialization as well as clinical trial enabling technology.
Scientific Advisory Board
World-class academic physicians and translational scientists advising on asset evaluation, clinical design, biomarker strategy, and translational science across the portfolio.
Professor Peter Taylor is one of the world’s leading experts in inflammatory arthritis and translational immunology, with more than 30 years of experience leading global clinical trials in autoimmune disease. Widely recognized as a pioneer in modern inflammatory disease therapeutics, he helped shape the development of anti-TNF, anti-IL-6 receptor, and JAK inhibitor therapies that transformed treatment paradigms in rheumatology.
Formerly
the Norman Collisson Chair of Musculoskeletal Sciences at Oxford, his expertise
spans immunopathology, biomarker-driven development, translational medicine,
and next-generation immune therapeutics.
At Diode Bio, he advises on immunology strategy and innovative inflammatory disease programs.
AI & Clinical Statistics
Stephen Pyke is a global clinical data, AI, and development operations leader with nearly 30 years of experience across pharma, CROs, and digital clinical development. At Diode Bio, he advises on AI-enabled development strategy, biostatistics, clinical analytics, and technology-driven trial optimization.
As
former Chief Data Officer at Parexel, Stephen led enterprise-wide patient data,
AI, and analytics strategies supporting global clinical trial execution and
operational optimization across one of the world’s leading CROs. Prior to this,
at GSK, he served as SVP leading Quantitative Sciences, Clinical Operations,
and Development Digital Data & Analytics initiatives across large global
development organizations. Earlier at Pfizer, he held VP leadership roles
overseeing statistics and related development functions.
Stephen is widely recognized for his expertise in AI-enabled clinical development, biostatistics, risk management, digital transformation, and operational strategy. He has also held multiple industry board and governance positions, including Chair of the AI/ML Committee at ACRO and Chair of CDISC, helping shape industry standards in clinical data and technology innovation.
