Building a Life Science Start-Up

Craig E. Masse has over 15 years of discovery and development experience in the biotechnology industry with a strong track record of delivering high value development candidates. Masse is currently vice president of discovery research at Ajax Therapeutics. Prior to joining Ajax, Masse was the executive director and head of medicinal chemistry at Nimbus, where he has led or co-led immunology and immuno-oncology programs, all of which were executed within a capitally efficient, virtually integrated, globally distributed operating model. At Nimbus, Masse led the advancement of the allosteric Tyk2 inhibitor program to a development candidate and secured an alliance with Celgene for clinical development. Prior to joining Nimbus in 2011, Masse served as head of medicinal chemistry at Concert Pharmaceuticals and oversaw the creation of three development candidates that entered into clinical trials, each within 18 months. During this time, Masse led multidisciplinary drug-discovery projects teams, supported strategic assessment of programs for portfolio management, and provided scientific support for business development that resulted in a $1 billion multi-product transaction with GlaxoSmithKline. Prior to Concert, Masse started his career as a research scientist at Amgen-Cambridge where he worked in the oncology, inflammation, and neuroscience therapeutic areas. He is an inventor on over 60 patents and has co-authored over 60 scientific publications, including several book chapters. Masse earned his PhD in synthetic organic chemistry from Boston University and conducted post-doctoral research at Harvard University with Professor David A. Evans.