Debbie Allen has been active in the antibody engineering field since the 1980s. She brings to argenx more than 30 years of corporate and business development experience with small and large biotech companies focused on biopharmaceuticals. Dr. Allen is an inventor of HUMIRA® (adalimumab). She established her business development career at Cambridge Antibody Technology (acquired by Astra Zeneca), where she had management responsibility for technology, intellectual property and product out-licensing, corporate equity, co-development and cross-license agreements. She was responsible for the 1999 license agreement with Human Genome Sciences that led to the discovery of the antibody drug BENLYSTA®(belimumab), now approved for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus.

Prior to joining argenx, Dr. Allen acted as an independent consultant to around 25 emerging biotech companies, providing strategic management and business development support.

Joseph S. Dillon, Ph.D., MBA, is President & CEO of SynerPhysics, Inc. and President of Dillon Capital Strategies, the strategy and business analytics advisory arm of SynerPhysics. Dr. Dillon is a seasoned pharmaceutical executive with over 20 years of experience. He has extensive experience in global pharmaceutical business development, planning and analysis, corporate finance, M&A, licensing, and technology valuations. Dr. Dillon has screened thousands of opportunities, valued over 300 deals and has been involved in over 40 closed transactions over the course of his career. Since forming Dillon Capital Strategies, Dr. Dillon has consulted dozens of companies, including holding the CEO position at BioPact, a medical nanotechnology company, during its developmental stage. Prior to that, Dr. Dillon held senior positions in pharmaceutical management consulting firms, most significantly as Senior Vice President, Head of Corporate Development Services and Valuations for The Mattson Jack Group (now Kantar Health). Other previous positions include CEO, President, and Director of The Pharmaceutical Development Center, a pharmaceutical developer and manufacturer; Executive Vice President and CFO of Vail Banks Inc., a multi-bank holding company; CFO and Treasurer of Oread Inc., a contract pharmaceutical developer and manufacturer; and corporate positions with predecessor companies of Sanofi. Dr. Dillon is Past-Chairperson of the Licensing Executive Society Life Sciences Sector. He is a veteran speaker at BIO, LES, WBR, EBD, and other prominent industry organization events. Dr. Dillon holds a Ph.D. in Metaphysical Sciences, an M.B.A. in International Finance and a bachelors in Finance.

Luke leads Gowling WLG's IP Transactional team. With a PhD in Biochemistry, it’s no surprise that Luke’s main focus is the life sciences, a sector he’s been active in for over 20 years, advising on transactions for Big Pharma, small biotech companies and research institutions. Luke also has particular experience of working with European, Japanese and Chinese life sciences companies and his experience covers drafting and negotiating licences, collaboration agreements, product acquisition agreements, clinical trial agreements, and pharma manufacturing agreements. His clients include Astellas, Bial, Eisai, EUSA Pharma, K.U. Leuven, Kyowa Hakko Kirin, Tusk Therapeutics and VIB.

Luke was recognised as a 'patent star' in the IP Stars guide 2017. He is also is recommended by Chambers UK for intellectual property and life sciences: transactional, and by The Legal 500 for intellectual property.

Kenneth Krisko is a partner in the Cooley Business department. He joined the Firm in 2000 and splits his time between the Reston and Boston offices.

Mr. Krisko's practice focuses on the representation of public and private life sciences companies in a broad range of commercial and corporate finance matters. He advises clients regularly with respect to complex commercial transactions designed to maximize the value of pharmaceutical products and technology assets, including technology licenses and acquisitions, research and development collaborations, distribution and manufacturing agreements, and profit-sharing and co-promotion arrangements.

Mr. Krisko also regularly counsels clients on a wide array of corporate and securities matters, including spin-outs, private financing, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings and corporate governance. He works closely with his clients to understand each client's business and strategic objectives and to structure and negotiate transactions to meet those objectives.

Mr. Krisko has been a guest speaker on strategic partnering and corporate issues affecting life sciences companies at various conferences. Mr. Krisko also is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center where he teaches a course on emerging company legal issues and venture capital finance.

Mr. Krisko received a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1995, where he was a member of the Virginia Law Review. Mr. Krisko received a BS in Aerospace and Ocean Engineering from Virginia Tech in 1987.

Prior to joining Cooley, Mr. Krisko was an associate with Wiley, Rein & Fielding in Washington, DC  Prior to attending law school, Mr. Krisko worked as an engineer for the Department of the Navy.

Mr. Krisko is admitted to practice in the Commonwealth of Virginia, the District of Columbia. He is not admitted to practice in Massachusetts.

Lesley is Senior Director of Transactions at Johnson & Johnson Innovation, California. Lesley has been working in corporate and business development roles for the last 17 years for companies that are both technology platform and therapeutics focused; Her most recent executive positions have been with BioTime, a publicly traded stem cell technology and therapeutic company, and Sutro Biopharma, a platform technology company working in cell-free protein synthesis. Prior to Sutro, Lesley served in BD positions for a number of biotech companies in the U.S.. and Europe. Lesley received her Ph.D. in chemistry, and conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology.