Michael Patane, Ph.D

Dr. Patane has 25 years of drug discovery and development experience in leadership roles within start-up, biotechnology and global biopharmaceutical companies with broad therapeutic area experience. Most recently, Mike served as President of Mitobridge, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Astellas), where he oversaw all operations and represented the organization at global interfaces. As part of the pre-Series A team, Mike helped shape the Company’s vision and strategy that culminated in its Series A financing ($45MM), a strategic alliance with Astellas ($30MM non-dilutive) and the acquisition by Astellas ($450MM, $225MM upfront, $338MM currently realized) within four years. Prior to his promotion to President of Mitobridge, Mike served as the company’s Chief Scientific Officer and earlier as its Senior Vice President, Drug Discovery.

Before joining Mitobridge, Mike served as Chief Scientific Officer of Eyegate Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (now Kiora Pharmaceuticals), where he was responsible for discovering and developing ocular therapeutics utilizing a proprietary iontophoresis system in combination with novel drug product formulations. Earlier in his career, Mike was a Director of Global Discovery Chemistry with Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, and prior to Novartis, he was a Director of Medicinal Chemistry with Millennium Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for oncology and metabolic diseases drug discovery.

Mike began his career as a Research Fellow, Medicinal Chemistry with Merck & Co. He conducted his post-doctoral research at The Scripps Research Institute focusing on natural products synthesis. He received his Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Southern California and his B.S. degree in chemistry from Fordham University.