ProNAi Therapeutics, a private company dedicated to developing and commercializing a new class of therapies based on its proprietary DNAi platform, has added five seasoned executives to its senior management team.

• Dr. Angie You, chief business and strategy officer, head of commercial
• Wendy Chapman, senior vice president, clinical operations
• Chandra Lovejoy, senior vice president, global regulatory affairs and quality
• Emma McCann, vice president, program management
• James Smith, vice president, corporate affairs

You heads the newly created position of chief business and strategy officer and head of commercial, and will lead the company's strategic and transactional business and commercial efforts. Previously, You was the chief business officer of Aragon Pharmaceuticals, a private oncology drug discovery and development company, where she was responsible for finance, operations, HR and business development. She led the business development process resulting in the acquisition of Aragon Pharmaceuticals by Johnson & Johnson. She was chief business officer at companies including Synosia Therapeutics and Ren Pharmaceuticals. She also worked at Venrock Ventures and ran the BD process for Anacor Pharmaceuticals, a Venrock portfolio company, resulting in an early phase IIa licensing agreement with Schering.

Chapman heads the newly created position of senior vice president, clinical operations, with corporate accountability for the overall operational deployment of clinical studies. Prior to joining ProNAi, Chapman was the portfolio director at Parexel International. Previously, Chapman was the vice president of clinical operations at YM Biosciences, where she was responsible for the development and management of clinical operations which included project management, clinical monitoring, clinical supply management and data management of phase I-III clinical trials in myelofibrosis and various solid tumor indications. Chapman has more than 25 years of experience in clinical drug development at several pharmaceutical and CROs in Canada and the U.S., including Viventia Biotech, AAI Pharma, Bayer, AstraZeneca and MDS.

Lovejoy heads the newly created position of senior vice president, global regulatory affairs and head of quality, with more than 15 years of progressive experience in global regulatory affairs and drug development in large and small companies overseeing preclinical through post-marketing phases. Most recently, Lovejoy was the vice president of global regulatory affairs at Endocyte, and prior to that she held a leadership role in regulatory affairs at Genentech, primarily on the Avastin program. Lovejoy brings experience driving cutting-edge global regulatory strategy and leading cross-functional team activities including new IND submissions, implementation and conduct of global clinical trials, successful negotiations with both FDA and European health authorities regarding complex pivotal trials, and the submission and review of marketing applications.

McCann heads the newly created position of vice president, program management and joins ProNAi with more than 14 years of progressive experience in clinical research and program management. McCann formerly was senior director, program management at YM BioSciences, where she focused on the progression of the company's lead drug through a myelofibrosis clinical development program.

Smith heads the newly created position of vice president, corporate affairs, primarily responsible for the company's strategic investor relations and corporate communications activities. Smith was formerly vice president, corporate development at SQI Diagnostics, a public multiplex protein assay company serving global pharmaceutical companies. Previously, he was vice president, corporate affairs at YM BioSciences, a public drug development company acquired by Gilead Sciences. He also led the Healthcare practice at TMX Equicom.