About

Toufike Kanouni co-founded Forward Therapeutics and currently serves as Chief Executive Officer. He is a passionate drug hunter with more than 20 years of experience in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery, and has built the company on the principles of precisely drugging validated biology through rational design. Under his leadership, Forward is advancing a pipeline of oral small-molecule therapies for inflammation-driven diseases, backed by top-tier investors including BVF Partners, RA Capital Management, OrbiMed, and CurieBio. Toufike was previously Co-Founder and Head of Chemistry at Kinnate Biopharma, a company addressing known oncogenic drivers. Prior to that, he contributed to the identification and development of small-molecule clinical candidates at Quanticel Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Celgene), a company pioneering single-cell genomics for precision targeting of cancer stem cells. He also contributed to several other drug discovery efforts while at Takeda and SGX Pharmaceuticals. Toufike is an inventor and co- author on more than 50 patents and scientific publications.

Ajay Madan, Ph.D., is the Chief Development Officer at Forward Therapeutics, with over three decades of experience in drug discovery, development, and strategic leadership. He earned his doctorate in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Kansas and has held key scientific and executive roles across both biotech and CRO environments. Ajay began his leadership journey as Chief Scientific Officer at XenoTech, where he focused on developing enabling technologies to support drug discovery and development. He later joined Neurocrine Biosciences, where he led nonclinical development and clinical pharmacology and was instrumental in advancing the Ingrezza™ program from early discovery through to NDA approval. His ability to bridge scientific rigor with operational strategy has made him a pivotal figure in multiple successful development programs.

Before joining Forward, Ajay served as Chief Development Officer at Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, where he played a central role in the company’s evolution from a discovery-stage biotech to a Phase 3 drug development organization. Throughout his career, he has contributed significantly to the development and, where applicable, approval of several therapeutics, including Ingrezza™, Orlissa®, Crenessity™, paltusotine (pending approval), and atumelnant (currently in Phase 3). At Forward, Ajay leads the overall development strategy for the company’s pipeline, overseeing scientific execution across CMC, nonclinical, and clinical pharmacology. He is a strong advocate for decision- making grounded in empirical data, deep scientific understanding, and seasoned industry experience.

Ewan Taylor is a scientist and biotech executive with more than 20 years of experience in immunology, gastroenterology, neuroscience, oncology and translational medicine. He is the Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Forward Therapeutics, where he leads scientific and R&D strategy, guiding small-molecule programs from early discovery into the clinic. Under his leadership, Forward Therapeutics has successfully nominated multiple clinical candidates, initiated trials, grown to a team of 10 employees across the U.S., and secured $58 million in venture funding from top-tier investors including Curie Bio, BVF Partners, RA Capital, and OrbiMed.

Prior to founding Forward Therapeutics, Ewan spent over a decade at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. He led global project teams in immunology and gastroenterology, authored INDs, developed clinical biomarker strategies, and played a central role in business development and scientific partnerships. He contributed to the discovery and development of multiple small-molecule and biologic assets, including first-in-class and best-in-class immunology programs.

Ewan earned his PhD in Molecular Virology from the University of Glasgow, followed by postdoctoral research at Scripps Research Institute as a Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Fellow. He has published extensively in high-impact journals, including Cell and PNAS, with several first-author papers.

Ewan combines deep scientific expertise with a commitment to advancing new therapies for patients. His purpose is clear: to translate cutting-edge immunology into effective medicines that meaningfully improve patient outcomes.

Ulrich Thienel, MD, PhD is the Chief Medical Officer of Forward Therapeutics and President of UT Partners Consulting a company providing leadership and business consulting services to global clients in the Pharmaceutical, IT and Media Industry. Previously, Ulrich was Chief Executive Officer of ReAlta, a clinical stage biotech company focused on inflammation and rare diseases. Ulrich has over 25 years of experience providing executive guidance, leadership and building successful teams in both large pharma, including Johnson & Johnson, BMS, and Takeda and biotech companies such as Finch Therapeutics and ReAlta Life Sciences and more recently in building small start-up companies.

In previous roles as CEO at ReAlta Life Sciences he oversaw the progression of a novel platform technology in the immune/inflammation space from research to clinical development and partnering with government agencies. As Therapeutic Area Lead at Takeda he led the research, development and commercialization of multiple assets, including small molecules, siRNA, antibody and device technologies. His experience spans autoimmune, hematology, neuroscience and respiratory diseases. He is well versed in FDA regulatory processes, including experience with multiple Investigational New Drugs (INDs), New Drug Applications (NDAs) and Biologics License Applications (BLAs).

Ulrich is a board member of CODY a Ukraine based IT company. Together with his long- term partner Ulrich formed Friends of Cinema Puerto Rico, a non-profit organization that promotes the arts and culture of Latinx through cinema and educational programs.

Ulrich received his MD and PhD degrees at Justus-Liebig University in Giessen, Germany and also completed training in Internal Medicine. He subsequently completed specialty training in Rheumatology at Columbia University in New York and Executive Training in Sales and Marketing at Kellogg/ Northwestern University in Chicago.

Jay is currently head of Technical Operations at Forward Therapeutics. Jay brings more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, and has previously led CMC and Technical Operations teams at Bristol Myers Squibb, Neurocrine Biosciences, Takeda as well as managed P&L business units at firms such as AMRI (now Curia) and Johnson Matthey (now Veranova). Jay has been involved in numerous drug development programs during his career and has played pivotal roles in the development of several of them, ranging from Advanced Lead to Commercial stages. He also co-founded AAO, a privately-held CDMO that was successfully acquired and integrated into AMRI (now Curia). Most recently, Jay had P&L responsibility for the Pharmaceutical Materials and Services businesses of Johnson Matthey (now Veranova) with multiple development and manufacturing sites in the US and China. Jay received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Kansas, and was a staff lecturer and post-doctoral research fellow at Indiana University.

Clement Pimor is Senior Vice President, Corporate Development at Forward Therapeutics, where he leads Business Development, Investor and Public Relations, and Commercial Planning. He is also the founder of MētiStrat Consulting, advising pharmaceutical and biotech companies on portfolio and program strategy, commercial assessments, fundraising, and business development.

Previously, Clement was Vice President of Program Management at Neuvivo, where he led the NDA submission of NP001 for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Earlier, at Kinnate Biopharma Inc., he served as Vice President of Strategy and Portfolio Management, overseeing three successful IND submissions and the rapid advancement of multiple early- stage precision oncology programs into the clinic.

Earlier in his career, Clement spent over a decade at AbbVie in positions of increasing responsibility. He created and led the Corporate Strategy team, developing AbbVie’s first long-range strategic plan during its spinoff from Abbott, which contributed to shareholder returns of over 100% in the company’s first two years. He later oversaw the Imbruvica program, contributing to five FDA approvals and helping grow AbbVie’s flagship oncology asset to $7 billion in global sales.

Clement holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MS in Cognitive Science from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, France.