AmMax Bio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company leveraging its expertise to discover and develop antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), often with clinically validated components, to treat various cancers.

Dr. Hsu is a successful entrepreneur with > 37 years of track record.

​Prior to founding AmMax Bio and affiliates, Dr. Hsu was Co-Founder, President and CEO of Impax Laboratories, a Nasdaq-listed specialty pharmaceutical company.  Impax applied its drug development expertise and drug delivery technology to the development , manufacturing, and commercialization of specialty pharmaceutical products.  Impax established partnership with multiple companies, including Teva, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Shire during his tenure. In the 18 years of its history, Impax grew to a company with more than 1000 employees and a market cap of close to $3 billion when Dr. Hsu retired in 2014.

​Dr. Hsu worked at Abbott for 15 years before founding Impax. He was the Director of Product Development responsible for worldwide product development, process engineering, clinical supplies manufacturing, and production technical support for all dosage forms. He received his Ph.D. degree in Pharmaceutics from University of Michigan and B.S. degree in Pharmacy from National Taiwan University.

Travis Read is an experienced life sciences executive, investor, and company builder, he brings nearly two decades of expertise spanning capital formation, pipeline prioritization and preclinical-stage operational leadership to his role, directing the company’s corporate strategy and operational execution.  His track record encompasses over $2.5 billion in biotech capital deployment, including private placements, licensing and IPOs.

Prior to AmMax, he served as an investor at Emerald Bioventures where he led search and evaluation functions, managed select venture investments, and directed fundraising efforts for a number of portfolio companies. His extensive background in biotech capital markets includes his tenure as an investment professional at Gurnet Point Capital, a multibillion-dollar dedicated healthcare fund, where he established the fund’s west coast presence.

Earlier in his career, Travis held pivotal preclinical and corporate development roles at Coherus Oncology and M8 Pharmaceuticals, successfully driving the launch of new franchises in ophthalmology and rare disease and strategic licensing deals with a leading CNS pharmaceutical partner.  He received his Bachelor’s degree in Political Economy from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mr. Sauter has an exceptional record in driving sustained growth through advancing corporate strategies for innovative products and research and development. He excels in technical accounting and financial operations, with a proven track record of financial integrity and cultivating investor relationships.

​Prior to AmMax Bio, Mr. Sauter served as Chief Financial Officer of Sera Prognostics, where he provided strategic direction as the company raised multiple rounds of capital from venture, strategic and private equity investors to build a CLIA-certified reference lab and validate a biomarker test for preterm birth and other pregnancy complications.  Prior to Sera, Mr. Sauter served as Chief Financial Officer of Avigen, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGN), a biopharmaceutical company that focused on the development of innovative drugs for the treatment of serious and chronic neurological conditions.

​Earlier in his career, Mr. Sauter worked for Bank of America Corporation in a variety of positions, including as vice president in the Capital Markets Finance organization, and for Ernst & Young LLP as an auditor.  Mr. Sauter is an inactive certified public accountant and holds a B.A. degree in economics and accounting from Claremont McKenna College.

Dr. Johnson is a seasoned biotech and pharmaceutical industry leader with over 30 years of experience in drug discovery and development.  He has founded early-staged programs which successfully advanced to late-stage clinical trials, has led successful U.S. and ex-U.S. IND submissions, and has participated in new drug approvals in oncology, infectious disease, and neurology (Proleukin®, Factive®, and Eladocagene exuparvovec).  Dr. Johnson has led programs in multiple therapeutic indications including orphans & pediatrics and across several drug platforms including proteins/mAbs, gene therapy, small molecules, and a botanical.

​Prior to AmMax Bio, Dr. Johnson served leadership roles in preclinical development and overall R&D in small- and mid-sized pharmaceutical companies including Chiron/Novartis, Xoma, and Avigen/Medicinova.

​Dr. Johnson received his PhD in pharmacology and toxicology from the Medical College of Virginia and did post-doctoral training at Dartmouth Medical School and U.C. Berkeley.  He has authored ~90 peer reviewed publications, served as a reviewers to multiple journals, and is an inventor on over 30 issued patents.

Dr. Zhu is a seasoned biotech/pharmaceutical industry executive and entrepreneur with 25 years of experience that spans strategy, commercialization, new product planning, portfolio management, project management, business development and licensing. She has in-depth experience in evaluating assets and companies across a broad range of therapeutic indications.

​Dr. Zhu co-founded AmMax Bio and affiliates with primary responsibilities on licensing, corporate development, portfolio management and strategy.

​Prior to the AmMax Bio companies, Dr. Zhu established the new product planning and business development function for Impax’s Brand Division. She successfully led the negotiation with AstraZeneca to in-license the US commercialization right for Zomig, a transformative transaction for Impax.  She was also with Eli Lilly wherein she held positions in new product planning and sales & marketing in the areas of psychiatric disorders and diabetes care and with Accenture as a strategy consultant for the biotech/pharmaceutical industry. Her clients included both startup and established pharmaceutical/biotech companies such as GSK, AstraZeneca and Genentech.

​Dr. Zhu received her PhD in Molecular Genetics from University of Pittsburgh and MBA from University of Chicago.

Dr. Nguyen is a successful biopharmaceutical medical executive with a history of bringing novel therapies to market for patients with unmet medical needs in medical oncology and hematology. Dr. Nguyen worked on several such programs at Genentech, Acerta Pharma/AstraZeneca, Cleave Therapeutics, and Corcept Therapeutics, with responsibilities encompassing study design, protocol development, and clinical strategy. Dr. Nguyen has a track-record of successfully advancing small molecules and biologic agents including Venclexta®, Calquence®, and Hemlibra®.

Before Genentech, she was a primary investigator on multiple intergroup and pharmaceutical trials in various disease areas in medical oncology and hematology at Kaiser Permanente, Northern California.  Dr. Nguyen was an attending physician at Stanford University, where she was a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Medical Oncologist at the Stanford Cancer Center. Dr. Nguyen completed her fellowships in Hematology and Medical Oncology at Stanford University as well as a fellowship in Transfusion Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Alani has held senior leadership roles across global organizations including Alcon/Novartis, Merck, Abbott and Pfizer.  She is co-inventor on over 40 patents and has helped lead more than 20 successful drug product launches over her career including both small and large molecules. Examples of products Dr. Alani provided technical and managerial leadership for include Omiflex®, Norvir®, Kaletra®, Gengraf®, Biaxin® XL, Caduet®, Janumet®, Januvia™, Isentress™, Lyrica®, recombinant urokinase, Lupron® and brolucizumab.

​Dr. Alani is responsible for all aspects of CMC development at AmMax Bio.​

Prior to AmMax Bio, Dr. Alani served as VP of Pharmaceutical Product/Technology Development at Alcon and was head of Product Development at Impax Labs. She also held leadership roles at Merck for product development and with Pfizer focusing on late stage development to build a process for tech transfer between research and manufacturing.

​Dr. Alani began her career at Abbott where she spent 10 years in different roles across businesses and was responsible for introducing new drug delivery technologies. She received her PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from University of Kansas.