NEIL DESAI PhD, Founder, Chairman and CEO Aadigen LLC, Cofounder Divincell SAS
Dr. Desai is the Founder and Chairman of Aadigen, LLC, and cofounder of Divincell SAS, companies that are pioneering novel RNA therapeutic drug delivery for the treatment of cancer and genetic diseases. Dr. Desai is also the founder, Executive Chairman and former CEO of Aadi Bioscience, which he founded in 2011. He is the inventor of Aadi’s foundational nab technology and the mTOR inhibitor nab-sirolimus (FYARRO) and has led the organization through the drug development process leading to approval as well as commercialization of FYARRO, the first FDA approved therapy for advanced malignant perivascular epithelioid cell tumor (PEComa). In August 2021 he steered the company to a transition into the public market (AADI: Nasdaq) with a raise of $155 million and since then has helped to guide the organization through the launch of the Phase 2 PRECISION 1 tumor-agnostic trial targeting TSC1 and TSC2 inactivating alterations. Dr. Desai previously served as the SVP of global R&D at Abraxis Bioscience, where he invented the nab technology, Abraxane and ABI-009 (nab-sirolimus), leading the Abraxane team through all drug development stages and approvals in Breast, Lung and Pancreatic cancer. He was part of the team that was responsible for the acquisition of Abraxis by Celgene Corp for appromimately $3B and was subsequently VP of Strategic Platforms at Celgene. Prior roles during his 25+ year career include senior positions at American BioScience, Inc., VivoRx, Inc. and VivoRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (predecessor companies of Abraxis), where he worked on the early discovery and development of Abraxane, developed novel encapsulation systems for living cells and was part of the team that performed the world’s first successful encapsulated islet cell transplant in a diabetic patient. Dr. Desai has over 100 issued patents, over 40 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, and over 200 presentations at scientific meetings. He was an active participant in FDA and EU Nanotechnology initiatives and a member of the Steering Committee for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer. Dr. Desai received a M.S and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, USA, and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai, India.
