OUR TEAM

PRANA BIOSCIENCES Inc.

Our executive Leadership Team has deep expertise in drug discovery, development including mAb design, biologics GMP manufacturing, regulatory filings (investigational and commercial), FDA, EMA interactions, IP, patenting, and successful exit.

Dr. Bharat Tewarie is a C-level executive with extensive experience in the BioPharma, Medical Devices and Digital Health industry.

After his training as medical doctor (MD) with an MBA, he has held roles with increasing commercial responsibilities in Europe and USA.These were at BioPharma companies such as Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche, Serono International, EMD Serono, Merck Serono, UCB and emerging biotech & digital health companies.

From 2015-2020, Bharat worked as the Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer and member of the Executive Committee of UCB. In January 2020, he founded Boston BioPharma Consultants advising executives of BioPharma and medical device companies about commercial topics. In January 2021 he became the CEO and Chairman of an early-stage antiviral development company ViroCarb Inc, and in June 2021 he joined Aveta Biomics as an independent
Board director.

He is mentoring CEOs of Biotech and Digital Tech companies at New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Since September 2023, Bharat is the CEO of Prana Biosciences and
a member of the Board of Directors.

Theresa O’Keefe joined Prana Biosciences Inc. in 2022. Previously she had her own consulting firm, Silladar Consulting LLC, where she assisted multiple small companies, including Elicio Therapeutics, ONEighty C Technologies and Premas Biotech, develop their biotherapeutics and medical devices. Over the years she has worked for a number of biopharma and pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer, Critical Therapeutics and Millennium/Takeda where she created and led multiple antibody development groups and programs. During her time at Millennium, she invented nLDP02 that went on to be approved as Entyvio, Takeda’s antibody for Crohn’s and UC, as well as its high expression manufacturing system. Her postdoctoral training and early academic career were spent at the MRC-Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK, where she trained under Michael Neuberger and Caesar Milstein. Theresa currently teaches a class in biotherapeutic drug development at UMASS Medical School and is an inventor on over 30 issued patents and has 15 publications including multiple Tier 1 publications.
Theresa obtained an A.B. cum laude in Biochemistry and Biological Sciences from Mount Holyoke College, a M.S. in Veterinary Physiology from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in Immunology from Tufts University’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

Geevarghese Easo (“Gee”) is a Founder, Board of Director, and SVP of Operations at PraNa Biosciences Inc., a Massachusetts-based biopharma company. Gee received his Diploma in Pharmaceutical Sciences from St. John’s College, Karnataka, India, and B.S., in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Vivekananda College, Tamilnadu, India.

Gee joined PraNa Biosciences in 2015 as Head of R&D Operations. In that role, he successfully established a fit-for-purpose R&D lab and carried out product development campaigns that have resulted in improved in-vitro performance and in-vivo performance in animals and humans. Gee holds an issued patent on the process of improving formulations for approved pharmaceuticals. As the programs and project portfolio continue to evolve, Gee is taking on the responsibilities of product development for clinical studies leading to commercial production by growing the R&D Operations and managing the activities via internal and outsourced channels. Gee is currently supporting business solutions and operations involving complex biologics R&D
activities. Leading science and operations, creating and implementing fit-for-purpose strategies that drive scientific development and eventual approval of Bio-better antibodies.

Gee started his pharma career at Kali Laboratories in 2001 as an R&D Chemist focused on Analytical Sciences. At Kali Labs, Gee was involved in the analytical development and testing of a large portfolio of products, which were successfully approved by the FDA. Kali Labs was acquired by Par Pharmaceuticals in 2004. Gee continued his role at Par Pharmaceuticals with increasing responsibilities that also included Quality and Compliance activities. Since 2009, Gee worked for Sun Pharmaceuticals before moving to Ranbaxy Laboratories in New Jersey where he spent 7 years in the QA function of increasing responsibilities related to regulatory compliance, product quality, and data integrity. Gee has successfully worked with several marketed generic products.

Gee.easo@pranabiosciences.com

Binesh Prabhakar is a Founder and Executive Board Member of Prana BioSciences. At Prana, Binesh works closely with the leadership team in developing commercial and business strategies for value creation.

Binesh has more than nineteen years of pharma and biotech experience, providing Compliance and Quality Assurance consulting for over 150+ biotech and pharma clients.

Binesh co-founded Syner-G BioPharma Group, a Boston based pharma and biotech consulting firm; he was instrumental in growing Syner-G from a start-up to a well-established biotech consulting firm. In 2020, Syner-G acquired an equity partnership from a Boston based private equity firm, Riverside Partners. Binesh had a successful exit with Syner-G BioPharma Group and continues to serve as a Board Member of Syner-G BioPharma Group. Prior to Syner-G BioPharma Group, Binesh worked at Schering-Plough, Wyeth, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

Binesh earned his bachelor’s from University of Madras, India, master’s degree, from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and MBA from Babson College, Massachusetts.

Binesh is a member of MassBio and Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives; outside of biotech interests, Binesh mentors’ founders of healthcare and technology start-ups and loves to play recreational cricket, he has been playing cricket for the past 17+ years for the Massachusetts State Cricket League.