Management

Dr. Crooke is founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Isis pharmaceuticals. During his tenure at Isis, he has led the scientific development of a new platform for drug discovery, antisense technology and engineered the creation of one of the largest and more advanced development pipelines in the biotechnology industry. Currently, Isis has more than 25 drugs in development including several drugs in phase 3 and a larger number in phase 2 clinical trials.

Isis has reported broad progress in advancing the technology and has achieved commercialization of the first two antisense drugs to reach the market, Vitravene and KYNAMRO. KYNAMRO, recently approved, is the first systemically administered antisense drug to be approved and the first to be approved for lifelong treatment of a chronic disease, Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia.

Early in Dr. Crooke’s career, he led the creation of the first broad anticancer program in the industry at Bristol-Myers, bringing nine anticancer drugs to the market in the first five years of his career. He then assumed responsibility for worldwide R&D at SmithKline Beckman. While at SmithKline, he led the restructuring of the R&D organization and was involved in commercializing numerous new drugs in broad therapeutic areas. He also coordinated all research activities including, instruments and diagnostics, at SmithKline. He has led the development of more than 20 marketed drugs.

Dr. Crooke has also supported the creation and growth of a number of companies based on Isis technology including Alnylam, Regulus, Ibis, OncoGenex, ATL, and others. He led the creation of a large portfolio of strategic relationships, has served on numerous boards and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of BIO. Dr. Crooke has won a number of awards and was named by Nature Biotechnology as one of biotechnology’s most influential individuals.

Dr. Crooke received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees and house staff training at Baylor College of Medicine and has been an active scientist throughout his career. He has led the creation of antisense technology broadly with a focused scientific interest in understanding the molecular mechanisms of antisense drugs. He has published more than 450 scientific publications, edited more than 20 books, and has numerous patents.

Dr. Crooke has also been a medical educator and was a full professor of pharmacology at Baylor College of Medicine and at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. He has served as an adjunct professor at UCSD School of Medicine and SDSU.

Ms. Parshall is Director and Chief Operating Officer of Isis Pharmaceuticals. She is responsible for overseeing the operations of finance, legal, patents, manufacturing, information technology, regulatory and alliance management, health and safety, facilities, corporate communications, and business and corporate development. Ms. Parshall joined Isis in November 1991.

Previously, Ms. Parshall was a Partner with the firm of Cooley Godward LLP, now Cooley LLP, where she represented several health care companies in a general practice specializing in corporate partnering and other technology-based transactions.

Ms. Parshall received her J.D. at Stanford Law School, Stanford, California and her B.A. from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ms. Parshall is currently on the Board of Regulus Therapeutics Inc., a company co-founded by Isis, and Cytokinetics, Inc. Ms. Parshall is also a member of the Licensing Executives Society and a member of the American, California, and San Diego bar associations.

Dr. Bennett is Senior Vice President of Research at Isis Pharmaceuticals. He is responsible for preclinical antisense drug discovery and antisense technology research. Dr. Bennett is one of the founding members of the Company. He has been involved in the development of antisense oligonucleotides as therapeutic agents, including research on the application of oligonucleotides for inflammatory, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, oligonucleotide delivery and pharmacokinetics. He also runs the Company's antisense mechanism program which is focused on the development of RNase H, RNAi, micro-RNA and splicing. Dr. Bennett has published more than 150 papers in the field of antisense research and development and has more than 130 issued U.S. patents.

Prior to joining Isis, Dr. Bennett was Associate Senior Investigator in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology at SmithKline and French Laboratories, GlaxoSmithKline (currently, GlaxoSmithKline).

Dr. Bennett received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas and his B.S. degree in Pharmacy from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dr. Bennett performed his postdoctoral research in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology at SmithKline and French Laboratories, where he studied the signal transduction pathway of leukotrienes. Dr. Bennett serves on the Advisory Board for the Experimental Therapeutics Centre in Singapore and the Scientific Committee for the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy.

Dr. Geary is Senior Vice President of Development at Isis Pharmaceuticals. He is responsible for preclinical and clinical development of antisense drugs. Since joining Isis in 1995, Dr. Geary has been involved in discovery and development including the regulatory submission of more than 20 investigational new drug applications to U.S. and other regulatory agencies. During his tenure at Isis, he has authored or coauthored 10 book chapters and more than 40 peer-reviewed manuscripts, which form a body of work that fully characterize the pharmacokinetics and metabolism of antisense drugs and the relationship of drug concentrations to activity and safety.

Prior to joining Isis, Dr. Geary was Senior Research Scientist and Group Leader for the bioanalytical and preclinical pharmacokinetics group in the Applied Chemistry Department at Southwest Research Institute. Dr. Geary received his Ph.D. in Biopharmaceutics from the University of Texas, College of Pharmacy, Austin, Texas and his B.S. in Biology from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.

Dr. Monia is a founding member of Isis and Senior Vice President of Antisense Drug Discovery. Dr. Monia is also the Franchise Leader for Programs in Oncology and Rare Genetic Diseases at Isis Pharmaceuticals. As head of Drug Discovery, Dr. Monia is responsible for establishing strategic directions for preclinical drug discovery research focused on RNA-directed therapeutic platforms, establishment and supervision of early clinical development strategies through clinical proof-of-concept, and coordinating research activities with clinical investigators, consultants, and with corporate partners. His contributions include research into the medicinal chemistry and mechanisms of action of oligonucleotide-based drugs in cell culture and in animals, and in the establishment of numerous preclinical and clinical programs in various therapeutic areas, including oncology, metabolic disease, inflammation, cardiovascular disease, and rare diseases.

Programs under Dr. Monia's direct supervision have resulted in the clinical development of more than twenty antisense-based drugs to date, covering areas as diverse as cancer, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and rare genetic diseases.

Dr. Monia's publication record exceeds 150 primary research manuscripts, reviews and book chapters, and is an inventor on more than 100 issued patents. In addition, Dr. Monia serves on the editorial boards for a number of scientific journals, is a member of the American Association of Cancer Research, the American Diabetes Association, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, the American Society of Hematology, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society. Dr. Monia also holds a position as a scientific advisory board member with OncoGeneX Technologies, Inc., and is an adjunct professor of biology at San Diego State University where he lectures at the graduate level on pharmacology.

Dr. Monia received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania and B.S. degrees in Molecular Biology and Analytical Chemistry at Stockton State College, in Pomona, New Jersey.