Kleanthis G. Xanthopoulos, Ph.D. Chairman of the Board

Dr. Xanthopoulos is an experienced and visionary leader in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical research industries, with a strong foundation in both operations and corporate development. Dr. Xanthopoulos joined our board in November 2011 and became Chairman of the board in December of 2013. He is currently President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Regulus Therapeutics Inc. Prior to joining Regulus Therapeutics Inc. in 2007, Dr. Xanthopoulos was the Managing Director of Enterprise Partners Venture Capital. He co-founded Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc., served as President and Chief Executive Officer from 2000 to 2006, and remained a Director until its acquisition by Roche in 2011. Before that, Dr. Xanthopoulos was Vice President at Aurora Biosciences (acquired by Vertex Pharmaceuticals) from 1997 to 2000, and Section Head of the National Human Genome Research Institute from 1995 to 1997. Previously, he was an Associate Professor at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. Dr. Xanthopoulos is a member of the board of directors of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), Regulus Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RGLS), Zosano Pharma Inc., and is a co-founder and a member of the board of directors of Sente, Inc. Additionally, Dr. Xanthopoulos received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Health Sciences in 2006 and was named Most Admired CEO by the San Diego Business Journal in 2013.

An Onassis Foundation Scholar, Dr. Xanthopoulos received his B.Sc. in Biology with honors from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and his M.Sc. degree in Microbiology and Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Stockholm, Sweden, and a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at The Rockefeller University, New York.

Rusty Ray has been a director since December 2009. He is currently a partner with 11T Partners, a healthcare-only investment bank. He has worked with a wide variety of clients across the healthcare industry ranging from large pharmaceutical companies to early-stage drug development companies to medical device and service-based companies. Prior to forming 11T Partners, Mr. Ray was a Partner with Brocair Partners, a healthcare investment banking boutique. Mr. Ray served as Deputy Director for eight years with Resources for the Future (“RFF”) a non-partisan Washington-based think tank that conducts independent economic research. During his tenure at RFF, the organization conducted a number of studies related to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Beyond life sciences, Mr. Ray also worked on issues related to emissions credit trading and utility restructuring. Prior to joining RFF, Mr. Ray worked with The Meningitis Research Foundation in London where he worked to support basic research to cure the disease.

Ray holds an M.B.A. degree in Finance from the Fordham University School of Business, and received a B.S. degree in Biology from Wake Forest University. Mr. Ray resides in New York with his wife and daughter.

Mr. Pascoe joined Apricus in March of 2013 following the merger of Somaxon Pharmaceuticals with Pernix. At Somaxon Mr. Pascoe was the Chief Executive Officer since August 2008 and was responsible for the FDA approval of Somaxon’s lead drug Silenor®. Prior to Somaxon, Mr. Pascoe was with ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company where he was most recently Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Prior to joining ARIAD in 2005, Mr. Pascoe held a series of senior management roles at King Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, including Senior Vice President positions in both marketing and sales, as well as Vice President positions in both international sales and marketing and hospital sales. Prior to King, Mr. Pascoe was in the commercial groups at Medco Research, Inc. (which was acquired by King), COR Therapeutics, Inc., B. Braun Interventional and The BOC Group. Mr. Pascoe is a member of the board of directors of KemPharm, Inc. and the Corporate Directors Forum (CDF).

Mr. Pascoe served as a Commissioned Officer with the U.S. Army 24th Infantry Division, following his graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point where he received a B.S degree in Leadership.

Deirdre Y. Gillespie, M.D. has been a director since June 2010. She has served as a member of our Audit and Corporate Governance/Nominating Committees since June 2010. She is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of publicly-held La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company. She has over 20 years experience in general management in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Prior to joining La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company, Dr. Gillespie served from 2001 to 2005 as President and Chief Executive Officer of Oxxon Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held pharmaceutical company spun out of Oxford University and ultimately acquired by Oxford Biomedica Plc. Before that, Dr. Gillespie was Chief Operating Officer of Vical, Inc., a publicly-traded gene delivery company, from 2000 to 2001, and Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer of the company. During her career, Dr. Gillespie also held a number of senior strategic and commercial positions at DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company, from 1990 to 1996, including Vice President of Marketing, and at Sandoz Pharma AG (Novartis), in clinical development, from 1986 to 1990. Prior to that time, she spent five years in internal medicine in London and Oxford.

Dr. Gillespie received her M.B.A. from the London Business School and her M.D. and B.Sc. from London University.

Paul V. Maier joined the Apricus Bio Board of Directors in June of 2012. Mr. Maier currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Sequenom, Inc. Prior to joining Sequenom, Mr. Maier served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 1992 until 2007, where he helped build Ligand from a venture stage company to a commercial, integrated biopharmaceutical organization. Prior to joining Ligand, he spent six years in various management and finance positions at ICN Pharmaceuticals.

Mr. Maier received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. from Pennsylvania State University.

Wendell Wierenga, Ph.D. joined as a director in March 2014. Dr. Wierenga brings to our board over four decades of experience in research, drug discovery and drug development, including clinical research, regulatory affairs, manufacturing, safety, and medical affairs, and an extensive background serving as a public company executive and board member in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. He most recently served as Executive Vice President, Research and Development, at Santarus, Inc., a specialty biopharmaceutical company, until its acquisition by Salix Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Santarus, he was Executive Vice President in Research and Development at Ambit Biosciences Corporation and Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. Additionally, Dr. Wierenga served as Chief Executive Officer of Syrrx, Inc. (now part of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company), Senior Vice President of Worldwide Pharmaceutical Sciences, Technologies and Development at Parke-Davis/Warner Lambert (now Pfizer, Inc.), and he spent 16 years at Upjohn Pharmaceuticals in research and drug discovery roles. Dr. Wierenga’s most recent board appointments include Cytokinetics Inc., Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and XenoPort, Inc. Additionally, he serves on multiple scientific advisory boards; the most current being Concert Pharmaceuticals, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, and aTyr Pharma, Inc.

Dr. Wierenga holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Stanford University and a B.A. in Chemistry from Hope College.

Sandford D. Smith joined the Apricus Board of Directors in August of 2014. Mr. Smith has been actively engaged in the development of international biotech and pharmaceutical companies for almost four decades. Most recently, Mr. Smith served as President, International Group, and Executive Vice President of Genzyme Corporation, until the company’s acquisition by Sanofi in 2011. He joined Genzyme in 1996, and initially served as Vice President and General Manager of Genzyme International and President of Genzyme Specialty Therapeutics. Prior to joining Genzyme, Mr. Smith was President and Chief Executive Officer at Repligen Corporation, a publicly traded biotechnology company, from 1986-1995. Mr. Smith previously held leadership positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb from 1977-1985, including Director of Operations for Bristol-Myers Squibb–Asia Pacific and Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Planning for the Pharmaceutical and Nutritional Division.

Mr. Smith currently serves on the Board of Directors of Cytokinetics, Inc., Aegerion Pharmaceuticals and Neuralstem, Inc. He is also on the advisory council for Brigham & Women’s Hospital, where he created the Smith Scholars Residency in medical education to benefit physicians from resource-poor nations.