David Webb

Dr. Webb is currently Adjunct Professor at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI). At TSRI, he is currently associated with the laboratory of Professor Ian Wilson which employs structure-based drug design to suggest new approaches to drug discovery for important, life-threatening viral diseases such as HIV, Influenza and Hepatitis C. From 2011-2014 he was associated with the laboratories of Professors Ray Stevens and Peter Kuhn, that includes studies on the structural biology and pharmacology of G-protein coupled receptors with a focus on receptors that have therapeutic potential (Stevens) and detection of circulating tumor cells (Kuhn). He was Chairman of the Board of Sorrento Therapeutics from 2012-2013 and is also Chairman Emeritus of the Board of BIOCOM (2012), a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of CONNECT, a member of the Board of Directors of the La Jolla Institute of Allergy and Immunology, and a member of the Advisory Council of the College of Science and Mathematics at Cal State University, San Marcos. He currently serves as an advisor/SAB member for several private biotechnology companies.

Dr. Webb joined Celgene-San Diego in September, 2003 as Vice President, Research. During this time, the Research Division placed six drugs into clinical development; four of which are still in clinical studies in the areas of cancer and inflammation/autoimmunity. He was Project Team Leader for Apremilast in 2004-06, now approved for Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis). Between 1995 and 2003, he held a series of senior management positions in several biotechnology companies where he developed and led drug discovery programs focused on inflammation, asthma, cancer and diabetes. These included Syrrx (Vice President of Drug Discovery, 2001-2003) where he led a team that discovered and developed alogliptin for type II diabetes; OSI Pharmaceuticals (Corporate Vice President, Drug Discovery 1999-2001) where he was associated with the development of Tarceva; and Cadus Pharmaceutical Corporation (Vice President of Research and Chief Scientific Officer, 1995-99). He was also Adjunct Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at New York Medical College. From 1987 to 1995, Dr. Webb was at Syntex, Inc., where he held the positions of Distinguished Scientist and Director, Institute of Immunology and Biological Sciences and was responsible for all of the inflammation and immunology research programs worldwide. He was part of the development team for CelCept, and was a Consulting Professor of Cancer Biology at Stanford University. From 1973-1987 he was a member of the Department of Cell Biology, Roche Institute of Molecular Biology and Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons. From 1971-73 he was a Dernham Junior Fellow of the American Cancer Society, California Division at UCSF. He has published over 200 papers and abstracts and has been a member of numerous editorial boards and study sections in Immunology.

Dr. Webb earned his Ph.D. in Microbiology/Immunology at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-New Brunswick, and a BA, MA in Biology from California State University-Fullerton.