Charles (Charlie) McDermott has more than 25 years of experience in the life sciences industry and has held roles of increasing responsibility in drug discovery, regulatory affairs, corporate development, commercial planning, and executive management. Most recently Mr. McDermott was President, Chief Business Officer, and a member of the board of directors of Impact Biomedicines, Inc. While at Impact, Mr. McDermott raised more than $110 million in private equity and royalty financing to fully fund the development and commercialization of fedratinib for the treatment of serious hematological malignancies. Impact was acquired by Celgene in 2018 for $1.1 billion upfront and up to $7 billion overall, if all contingent payments are realized. Prior to joining Impact, Mr. McDermott was President and Chief Business Officer of Kala Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. McDermott helped lead the transformation of Kala from a private pre-clinical stage company to a pre-commercial stage public company. To this end, Mr. McDermott helped raise ~$190 million via private equity, debt, and an initial public offering. In August of 2018, Kala received NDA approval for Inveltys™, an internally developed drug for ocular indications. Before Joining Kala, Mr. McDermott worked at Allergan as Vice President, Global Business Development for the Eye Care and Drug Delivery business units. At Allergan, Mr. McDermott led efforts to license and acquire a variety of technologies and therapeutics including Lastacaft™, Acuvail™, Restasis® MultiDose™, Latisse™, and Abicipar. Before Joining Allergan, Mr. McDermott was Associate Director of Business Development at deCODE genetics (and before that he worked at Pfizer/Agouron in drug discovery and regulatory affairs. Mr. McDermott currently serves on the Board of Directors for Equillium Bio and is Chairman of the Board of Directors for Anavo Therapeutics.  Mr. McDermott has a B.A. in biochemistry and molecular biology from UC Santa Cruz, a M.A. in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology from UC Santa Barbara, and an MBA from the University of San Diego.

James (Jim) Appleman, Ph.D., is Chief Scientific Officer, Senior Vice President of R&D, and a cofounder of Primmune Therapeutics. He has more than 30 years of experience in building successful drug discovery organizations and has been an advisor to biotech, hi-tech, and diagnostic firms. Dr. Appleman is the principal scientific innovator behind Primmune’s lead asset, PRTX007, and other immunostimulatory agents in the company’s portfolio. In addition to traditional discovery and nonclinical development, he is responsible for translational sciences essential for PRTX007’s continued progress in clinical development. Dr. Appleman’s entire career has been devoted to the creation of new medicines for the treatment of patients with cancer and serious viral diseases. During the last two decades, much of this effort has been spent in finding ways to engage the innate immune system for therapeutic benefit. As part of this journey, he discovered an unexpectedly complex set of features – almost all counter-intuitive – that must be incorporated into small-molecule agonists of toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) if they are to be used for chronic therapy, particularly in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. These understandings have been rendered into practice, culminating in the discovery and development of PRTX007. Before founding Primmune, Dr. Appleman was a cofounder of eFFECTOR Therapeutics, where he established both the technology base and bioinformatics infrastructure to support eFFECTOR’s unique programs targeting dysregulated mRNA translation. He previously served as Senior Vice President, Research and Chief Scientific Officer at Anadys Pharmaceuticals, where he played a pivotal role in the business process culminating in the acquisition of Anadys by Roche Pharma and in the invention, characterization, and clinical development of the company's internally discovered drug candidates, setrobuvir and ANA773. ANA773 is a novel TLR7 agonist originally intended for the treatment of cancer and hepatic viral diseases. Prior to joining Anadys, Dr. Appleman held positions at Gensia and its subsidiary Metabasis Therapeutics and was a faculty member at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Oklahoma State University and completed his postdoctoral training at Dartmouth Medical School. He has authored more than 70 scientific publications, reviews and book chapters. He is an inventor of proprietary technology and a holder of numerous patents.

Dr. Andrew Sharabi is a Physician, Scientist, and Entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in translational cancer research. He is a Professor and Endowed Chair in the Department of Radiation Medicine and Applied Sciences and also serves as Director of the Center for Precision Radiation Medicine at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). He is internationally recognized as an expert on the effects of radiation on the immune system and has given numerous national and international talks and Plenary presentations. His research laboratory focuses on development of novel immunotherapies and strategies to combine radiation with novel targeted agents in cancer patients. As a board-certified Radiation Oncologist he sees and treats cancer patients with radiation therapy and published one of the first studies combining radiation therapy with anti-PD-1 checkpoint blockade immunotherapy in melanoma. He has translated multiple lab-based findings into patients and is the principal investigator of Phase I and Phase II immuno-oncology clinical trials. Research samples from these clinical trials are being analyzed in Dr. Sharabi’s lab to identify predictors of response, mechanisms of resistance, and next generation of treatments for cancer patients. Dr. Sharabi graduated Summa Cum Laude from UCSD with a B.S. in Bioengineering. He then received his MD and PhD in Immunology from Baylor College of Medicine in 2010 and completed his residency training in radiation oncology at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2015. While at Johns Hopkins, he was awarded the prestigious John G. Rangos Medal of Honor for Creativity in Cancer Discovery. He serves on multiple Departmental and National Committees including prior Chair of the Immunotherapy Track for the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Education Committee.

Scott Zook is the Senior Vice President, Global Manufacturing and brings more than 28 years of drug development experience in the pharmaceutical industry consisting of establishing and directing CMC strategy and activities, developing global supply chains, and managing a wide range of drug candidates across all regulatory phases. Prior to joining Primmune Therapeutics, Mr. Zook was Vice President of CMC at Neurocrine Biosciences, where he was responsible for managing the development and manufacturing efforts for drug development programs, which included two NDA approvals and covered a wide range of therapeutic areas, including neurology, gene therapy, endocrinology, pediatric and adult epilepsy, and neuro-psychiatric conditions. Prior to joining Neurocrine Biosciences, Mr. Zook was a scientist at Agouron Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer), where he led the API efforts on VEGF oncology and VEGF ophthalmology products. Mr. Zook earned his M.Sc. in synthetic organic chemistry and B.Sc. in organic chemistry from the University of Saskatchewan.

Marc Veale has more than 25 years of finance and accounting experience in the life science industry and has held roles of increasing responsibility in companies that span from development stage biotechnology start-ups to large, publicly held global commercial pharmaceutical companies. Prior to joining Primmune in 2021, Marc was the corporate controller for GW Pharmaceuticals plc, where he played a key role in the buildout of U.S. operations and commercial readiness before it was acquired by Jazz Pharmaceuticals. Prior to GW, Marc held several senior level finance positions at Allergan from 2004 to 2016, most recently serving as vice president of finance transformation where he was responsible for key post-merger integration projects after Allergan’s acquisition by Actavis plc. While at Allergan, he also served as vice president, assistant corporate controller and was responsible for the implementation the Sarbanes-Oxley section 404 internal controls process. Marc began his career at Deloitte, where he was an audit manager. Marc holds a B.A. in Accounting and Business Administration from Point Loma Nazarene University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Paulo Rangel is the Chief Business Officer and cofounder of Primmune and brings 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and related industries in both small and large companies. Before Primmune, Mr. Rangel was President, CEO, and cofounder of Evince Biosciences, a precursor to Primmune Therapeutics. Before Evince, Mr. Rangel was a partner at ProPharma Partners International, an international consulting group. He concentrated on working with biopharmaceutical and medical device companies on worldwide in- and out-licensing, valuations, business plans, and market research. Before ProPharma, Mr. Rangel was Head of Global Business Development at Besins Healthcare, a global pharmaceutical company with products targeted for women’s and men’s health. Mr. Rangel was a founder of, and key executive in, two medical device start-ups, Lasercure Sciences and 5i Sciences (now Sommetrics). In those positions, he completed the financing, clinical studies, and collaborations and was responsible for all intellectual property. Mr. Rangel has filled key roles in a number of other biotechnology companies and worked at Amgen and Hybritech/Lilly early in his career. Mr. Rangel received a B.A. in chemistry and biochemistry from UC San Diego and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Stephen E. Webber, Ph.D., is Vice President of Medicinal Chemistry and cofounder of Primmune Therapeutics. Dr. Webber was previously Executive Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Polaris Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for the discovery and synthesis of small molecule cancer therapeutics utilizing structure-based drug design techniques. Prior to joining Polaris, Dr. Webber was a cofounder and Director of Medicinal Chemistry at eFFECTOR Therapeutics, a company devoted to the discovery and development of translation regulators for cancer. At eFFECTOR, Dr. Webber’s responsibilities included building and managing a medicinal chemistry group, laboratories, and chemistry outsourcing, and performing structure-based drug design. Before this position, Dr. Webber led the discovery chemistry efforts at Anadys Pharmaceuticals, where he served in various senior level positions until the company was acquired by Roche. At Anadys, Dr. Webber discovered and co-invented several therapeutically important antiviral and anticancer small molecules, including clinical candidate setrobuvir, and TLR7 agonists ANA-975 and ANA-773. Dr. Webber also discovered rucaparib, which was licensed to Clovis Oncology by Pfizer and was approved by the FDA to treat ovarian cancer (marketed as Rubraca®). It is currently the subject of several Phase 2 and 3 clinical studies in other cancers in patients with the BRCA or BRCA-like mutations. Dr. Webber’s industrial career extends back to 1987, when he joined Agouron Pharmaceuticals at its inception. Dr. Webber received his B.S. from Philadelphia University (now part of Thomas Jefferson University) and his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jenna Bobarykin serves as Executive Assistant at Primmune Therapeutics⁠, where she provides support to the executive leadership team and helps coordinate key administrative and operational functions across the organization. Since joining the company in 2020, she has played an integral role in managing complex scheduling, coordinating communications with the Board of Directors, and helping ensure the smooth execution of day-to-day operations.

Prior to joining Primmune, Jenna spent 15 years in wealth management and banking, where she supported client relationships and family financial planning. She brings a strong foundation in organization, communication, and client service, along with a keen attention to detail.

Jenna holds both a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree from San Diego State University and is committed to supporting Primmune’s mission through effective executive partnership.