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Stephen J. Petti is a Blue Note Founder and serves as the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer. He was formerly the Founder and CEO of Empire Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company established in 2001 that was subsequently acquired in 2004 by Neurobiological Technologies, Inc. (NTI) of Emeryville, California (NASDAQ symbol: NTII). Until his departure from NTI in 2006, Mr. Petti led the Company's stroke program and served as the President of NTI-Empire, the subsidiary that was created post-merger. Mr. Petti also participated in the start-up phase of DOV Pharmaceutical, Inc., a CNS specialty Pharma company, which he helped guide from first money through IPO in the space of three years.  While at DOV he also served as the President of two major product development collaborations involving Elan and Biovail. Mr. Petti has 25 years of international clinical drug development experience in a variety of settings that include Big- Mid- and Small- Pharma entities and major CROs. Over the course of his career he has participated in six successful NDAs/PLAs over a wide range of therapeutic areas and clinical indications. In the CRO arena, he served as Vice President of Global Clinical Consulting at Barnett International, a subsidiary of Parexel International, in the process establishing the company’s first overseas office in Paris, the headquarters from which he ran the company’s European operations. Mr. Petti is a Fellow of the American Heart Association and the Stroke Council and a member of the American Society of Hypertension.
   
   
Samn Raffaniello is a Blue Note co-Founder and the Company's Vice President and Secretary. She was formerly the co-Founder and Managing Director of Empire Pharmaceuticals and served as Director of Project Management at Neurobiological Technologies (NTI) following its acquisition of Empire in 2004. At NTI she was also responsible for oversight of the Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control (CMC) aspects of a complex global biological program, participating in establishing the contractual bases for the manufacturing support effort and for establishing new state-of-the-art facilities in Germany for production and for animal maintenance associated with raw material collection for the company’s primary biologics program.  Ms. Raffaniello also served as Director of Human Resources and Administrative Services at DOV Pharmaceuticals, and prior to that held various management and staff positions in the Toxicology and Clinical Research areas at American Cyanamid/Lederle Laboratories, later acquired by Wyeth-Ayerst Research. She has over 20 years of broad-based experience in the industry, with proven expertise in company building, drug development, and project, operational, systems and administrative management.  Ms. Raffaniello is listed as an inventor or co-inventor on three patent applications involving pharmaceutical treatments for scarring, spinal cord injury and stroke.
   
   
John M. Barberich heads up the Company's Business Development effort. A key advisor to the CEO, Mr. Barberich has had extensive experience in the international biotech industry and has completed many financing, licensing and related transactions. His prior biotech experience includes serving as Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, Scriptgen Pharmaceuticals (now Anadys) and Omrix Biopharmaceuticals.  Previously Mr. Barberich served in corporate management positions at The Henley Group Inc. and related entities and was a Certified Public Accountant and Tax Manager at Price Waterhouse. Mr. Barberich received his Master of Professional Accountancy degree from Georgia State University and his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance, with highest distinction, from The Pennsylvania State University.
   
   
Jaber G. Qasem, Ph.D. is Blue Note's  Vice President of Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control (CMC).  He most recently held the position of Director of Pharmaceutics at Camargo Pharmaceutical Services, where he was responsible for product development for a wide variety of programs ranging from generics and 505 (b) (2)'s to ethical development programs on the IND and NDA tracks.   From 2004 to 2006, Dr. Qasem was Manager of Formulation Development at Ligand Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for all aspects of CMC for the Company's NCE development programs and selected commercial products. He has had extensive experience in process and product development covering a variety of dosage forms.  Dr. Qasem's background includes experience in managing all aspects of virtual drug product development through contract manufacturing operations, from early-stage preclinical development through tech transfer and commercial process validation.  Dr. Qasem is a pharmacist by training with a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Kentucky.