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David Li
Building something new at Stealth Biotech Startup
David Li is a dedicated professional with a strong commitment to making a positive impact on patient lives.
He pursued his education at reputable institutions, earning a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Biology with Summa Cum Laude honors from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Finance with Summa Cum Laude honors from The Wharton School.
David has held key roles in various organizations, including serving as the Chief Business Officer at Everest Detection, the Head of Commercial Operations at Benchling, and as an Investor at Sheatree Capital.
Currently, David is involved in a new venture at a Stealth Biotech Startup, where he is actively contributing to innovation and progress in the healthcare industry.
His professional background also includes experience in Private Equity at KKR and Healthcare Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs.
Highlights
Important post from Nimbus CSO Peter Tummino re: using AI in Drug Discovery.
The parallels between the current 2020's AI wave and the early 2000's genomics wave are striking -->
i) a new technology promising to "transform" how drug discovery is done ii) lots of fanfare for the original bannersmen for the ideas - Millennium (the original "genomics for medicine" poster child) and many of the new AI for drug discovery companies today
Ultimately while Millennium did not push out numerous genomics-powered new drugs, it did succeed in reimagining drug discovery. Nowadays, everything from target selection to translational medicine is infused with genomics analysis. Could AI ultimately touch even more parts of drug discovery and have an even wider impact?
Importantly, Peter's note touched on a truth we have seen at Meliora as well - AI actually improves quality of drug candidates, and not just improves scale of pipeline progress.
Perhaps that is what we should be aiming for all along in order to move the most important metric in drug discovery - clinical probability of success.
Let's keep building 🙏
I am very excited to share that two biotech and pharma luminaries have joined the Board of Directors for Meliora Therapeutics.
Dieter Weinand, former CEO of Bayer Pharma, and Jean Jacques Bienaime, recently retired CEO and Chairman of BioMarin, are joining Meliora, and their track records speak for themselves. They have overseen development of multiple approved drugs, have led industry defining companies, and most importantly, have a long track record of clinical impact.
We are excited for both to join the mission, and their commitment brings further validation to Meliora’s vision of leveraging machine learning to improve the probability of clinical success for our pipeline of clinically differentiated programs.
One of our core tenants at Meliora is that while AI / ML are powerful, we need to be a world class therapeutics company to truly bend the curve for clinical probability of success of assets. We believe these two additions to our Board are two big steps in that direction.
The Meliora team and I are looking forward to working closely with both Dieter and JJ on our mission going forward.
Let’s keep building 🙏
See full press release link in comments.

