Foresee pharmaceuticals announces key executive appointments

Foresee Pharmaceuticals Co, announced the appointments of two key executives with strong medical, scientific and drug development experience and expertise, solidifying Foresee’s position as it embarks on a path towards significant milestones.

Yisheng Lee will play a leading role in establishing Foresee’s strategies related to portfolio management, clinical trials, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance and risk management.  With his broad experience in clinical practice, medical education, and academic research, Lee will play a leading role in continuing to enhance Foresee’s network with academic institutions and clinical trial sites.

David Lau will lead Foresee’s NCE preclinical and clinical development, including pharmacokinetics, drug metabolism, bioanalysis, toxicology, and preclinical/clinical pharmacology.  Lau will also play a strategic role in the scientific support related to the out-licensing/partnering of Foresee’s programs and in the evaluation and selection of any new drug in-licensing opportunities.

Yisheng Lee brings extensive leadership experience in patient care, new drug clinical trial execution and medical research that will help build Foresee’s competitive advantage in the implementation of clinical development strategies and trial designs. Lee has practiced pediatric hematology/oncology and held multiple academic appointments (teaching and research) at Harvard, Duke, Stanford, and UCSF Medical Schools over the past 30 years.  Lee received a medical doctor degree as an honor graduate from National Taiwan, China University, a Ph. D. in Tumor Immunology/Pathology from Duke University, and an MBA from UC Irvine. Lee has first-hand patient caring insights and solid academic achievements in pathology, neurology, pediatrics, hematology, and oncology.

David Lau has successfully led and played key roles in NCE preclinical and clinical development in multiple pharmaceutical companies over the past 25 years.  Most recently he was Vice President, Preclinical Safety Assessment, leading activities in drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, toxicology, and clinical pharmacology, at Rigel Pharmaceuticals, including the development of a novel NCE in the auto-immune disease area from early stage development through NDA filing.  Before Rigel, Lau was Senior Director and West Coast Site Head in the Global Preclinical Development Department of Johnson & Johnson, and he also served as Director of Pharmacokinetics and Drug Metabolism at Amgen.  Lau holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from University of California at San Francisco and a B.S. in Pharmaceutics from State University of New York at Buffalo.

Ben Chien, chairman and CEO of Foresee stated, "We are excited to have Drs. Lee and Lau join our leadership team, as they bring extensive drug development expertise that aligns perfectly with our portfolio and will greatly complement Foresee’s global team.  Lee has been a key contributor to Foresee’s strategy as a non-executive Board member since the company’s inception. We are excited to have him take on a more active operational role as part of our executive team. Lau’s hands-on drug development experience covering the entire development life cycle will be invaluable as Foresee is planning to expedite and expand the development of its multiple NCE programs."