Our Expertise

A proven track record in search and evaluation, acquisition of new assets and out-licence of developed medicines

Meet Our Team

World renowned leadership and experience

  • Board of Directors
  • Executive Team

Professor Sir Christopher Evans OBE

Chairman & Founder

Sir Chris is a successful scientist and businessman with an extremely strong track record of creating innovative products and founding, launching and growing biomedical and life sciences companies. He has been involved in the inception and development of over 50 companies, 20 of which are now listed on stock exchanges across the globe. Driven by creativity and innovation, he was the pioneer of the first wave of biotech development in the UK and Europe. Subsequently, he has founded numerous companies in the life sciences space, several of which have gone on to attain billion-dollar unicorn status including Biovex, Chiroscience and Vectura. He has also built several bioscience investment funds including the first such fund in Wales and has established two significant charitable endeavours focused on accelerating research and providing accessible information for patients.

Waleed Al Mokarrab

Non-Executive Director

Waleed is the Deputy Group CEO for Mubadala Investment Company, responsible for strategic oversight of Mubadala’s broad investment portfolio and special projects. He holds directorships throughout the Middle East including chairman of the Cleveland Clinic, board member of Abu Dhabi Global Market, Emirates Investment Authority and First Abu Dhabi Bank.

Professor Maha Taysir Barakat OBE

Non-Executive Director

Professor Maha is a Senior Advisor at Mubadala and research director at the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre in Abu Dhabi, which she co-founded. She is former Director General of the Health Authority Abu Dhabi, chairs the RBM Partnership to End Malaria and is a member of the board of the Global Institute for Disease Elimination in Abu Dhabi. She was appointed OBE in 2010 and given the Imperial College Medal in 2013.

Dr Fahad Khater

Non-Executive Director

Dr Fahad is a physician and owner of Egypt's largest integrated healthcare system, responsible for eleven fully developed healthcare facilities, offering 900 beds and integrating labs, pharmacy, rehabilitation and long term care services.

Dr Rajan Jethwa

Chief Executive Officer & Founder

Rajan founded Ellipses Pharma in 2018 with Professor Sir Chris Evans, to focus on the development of innovative cancer medicines and treatments, with the mission of making them available to patients at unprecedented speed. At Ellipses he has developed a differentiated model in drug development that combines unbiased vetting of potential drug candidates to de-risk initial drug selection and trial design with an uninterrupted flow of capital to minimise the time it takes to advance drugs through the clinical trial process and reach patients. Having held positions across the industry, as a surgeon, investor and chief executive, Rajan has spent nearly 20 years building and leading successful life science businesses at the frontier of the sector. Rajan graduated from Cambridge University with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Medical Sciences and is a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

David Cook

Chief Financial Officer

David has been Chief Financial Officer at Ellipses since its early stages and is also a Director on its Board. As a central member of the executive team, he drives the company’s growth and helps to set its strategy, as well as taking on key responsibilities in funding and business development. David has extensive experience as a CFO within the life sciences industry. He began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he qualified as a chartered accountant, before holding CFO and Group Financial Controller positions at several life sciences companies. A personal highlight was his steering of Biotie Therapies through its listing on NASDAQ, as its CFO. More recently, he has served on the board of AIM-listed Alliance Pharmaceuticals, including currently as its Non-Executive Chairman. David holds a degree in Chemistry from the University of Oxford.

Dr Rajan Jethwa

Chief Executive Officer & Founder

Rajan founded Ellipses Pharma in 2018 with Professor Sir Chris Evans, to focus on the development of innovative cancer medicines and treatments, with the mission of making them available to patients at unprecedented speed.

At Ellipses he has developed a differentiated model in drug development that combines unbiased vetting of potential drug candidates to de-risk initial drug selection and trial design with an uninterrupted flow of capital to minimise the time it takes to advance drugs through the clinical trial process and reach patients.

Having held positions across the industry, as a surgeon, investor and chief executive, Rajan has spent nearly 20 years building and leading successful life science businesses at the frontier of the sector.

Rajan graduated from Cambridge University with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Medical Sciences and is a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

David Cook

Chief Financial Officer

David has been Chief Financial Officer at Ellipses since its early stages and is also a Director on its Board.

As a central member of the executive team, he drives the company’s growth and helps to set its strategy, as well as taking on key responsibilities in funding and business development.

David has extensive experience as a CFO within the life sciences industry. He began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he qualified as a chartered accountant, before holding CFO and Group Financial Controller positions at several life sciences companies. A personal highlight was his steering of Biotie Therapies through its listing on NASDAQ, as its CFO. More recently, he has served on the board of AIM-listed Alliance Pharmaceuticals, including currently as its Non-Executive Chairman.

David holds a degree in Chemistry from the University of Oxford.

Professor Hendrik-Tobias Arkenau

Global Head of Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer

Tobi is responsible for the clinical development of the drugs in Ellipses’ pipeline. He leads clinical strategy, coordinates the drug development teams to deliver the clinical programmes and is an ambassador for our Scientific Affairs Group.

Over the course of his career, Tobi has worked on over 300 early-stage clinical trials, with several of these trials providing the compounds that have gone on to become the new standard of care.

A Medical Oncologist by training, Tobi is a practicing clinician having begun his early career as an oncologist in Bremen, Germany and then at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, before becoming a team leader in Clinical Drug Development at the University of New South Wales, Australia. He has

spent over a decade as a Professor at University College London, and most recently was the Executive Medical Director at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute. He holds a PhD from the Medical School of Hanover.

Martin Doorbar

Chief Development Officer, Non Clinical

Martin is an expert in drug development and manufacturing and has played a pivotal role in bringing thirteen drugs to market to date. His broad experience across the pharmaceutical industry started within big pharma at Aventis, includes eight years at Shire Pharmaceuticals, where he was a Senior Director of Product Development, and more recently as Global Head of Product Development and Manufacturing at HUYA Bioscience.

At Ellipses, Martin leads the non-clinical and preclinical development arms of the organisation, working in conjunction with the clinical development arm to progress Ellipses’ exciting portfolio of oncology assets.

Martin graduated with a degree in Applied and Analytical Chemistry from Staffordshire University and has a post-graduate certificate in management studies.

Our Scientific Affairs Group

The largest oncology-focused network of key opinion leaders providing high-quality, independent and unbiased expertise

In memoriam

Professor Gordon McVie – An Oncology Pioneer

In every sense, Gordon McVie was a man of great stature. His outstanding achievements in cancer research and treatment were in keeping with his towering physical presence. Those of us who knew him, and worked alongside him, were constantly in awe of his boundless enthusiasm.

From the research lab to the rugby stadium, this genial Scotsman was always the same; making the most of every moment with the tremendous verve he showed throughout his distinguished life. His sudden and untimely death, has deprived us all of his perpetual drive to develop new treatments and make a difference to every patient with cancer.

As the founding chair of the Ellipses Scientific Affairs Group, he brought together and established the purpose for the world’s largest cancer-focused key opinion leader group, tasked with providing independent expertise and validating the science behind the most promising scientific discoveries. This ground-breaking work, coupled with the wisdom he brought to our board and executive team, played an enormous part in establishing Ellipses as an innovative accelerator of cancer drug development.

We owe Gordon a great debt of gratitude. His passion for giving cancer patients the best possible way ahead will continue to fuel our mission and vision, remaining engrained in the ethos of Ellipses.

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Lifetime achievements