About InterLink

Ramon Leopold Garcia, Ph.D.
Founder, President

Ramon Leopold Garcia, Ph.D. is the founder of InterLink Biotechnologies (ILB). His experience and technical and business skills, combined with a network consortium of specialized consultants, has enabled the company to serve the needs of the biotechnology and natural products industry. ILB specializes in technology assessment, planning, transfer, and technology acquisition.

Dr Garcia was one of the founders and CEO of InterLink Associates (DBA InterLink Biotechnologies), a company established in 1991 and acquired by Abraxis Biosciences in 2003, (now Bristol Myers Squibb NYSE: BMY, following Celgene's acquisition of Abraxis Biosciences). InterLink developed a unique drug discovery platform of novel natural products derived from microorganisms. Products resulting from the company activities include new pharmaceutical leads, antimicrobial peptides, enzymes as additives for human food and animal feed products, and bio-control agents.

Dr. Garcia has been a Research & Development Senior Manager and CEO for more than twenty-five years. He has directed research in the field of biotechnology with applications in pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, food and agriculture. Dr. Garcia was responsible for starting and directing two major corporate biotechnology laboratories in the US: Allied Signal, Inc. (now Honeywell) and EniChem S.p.A. (ENI, Italy). His proven accomplishments include the development of new products and technologies and the transfer and licensing of new technologies.

Dr. Garcia has worked on numerous assignments involving technology assessment, strategic planning, and technology transfer for a number of international corporations and universities. Ramon L. Garcia has a M.S. and Ph.D. from Iowa State University.

From this broad background of experience Dr. Garcia and his associates provide a unique blend of consulting skills to support the assessment and transfer of biotechnologies within and between the pharmaceutical, chemical, agricultural, food and energy-related biotechnology industries.

Our Key Members

• Dr. Dwight Baker
  Pharmaceuticals and Natural Products
  Dwight Baker has a long career in the field of drug discovery for the pharmaceutical industry. His research expertise includes management of programs for bioprospecting, environmental microbiology, fermentation, natural product discovery, high throughput screening, cheminformatics, microbial strain improvement and lead compound characterization. His industry experience includes positions at Panlabs, Inc., New Chemical Entities, Inc., Albany Molecular Research (AMRI) and Cubist Pharmaceuticals. He has also provided consulting services to a variety of academic programs, biotechnology companies and international development agencies. He holds a B.S. degree from Defiance College and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University.
• Dr. G.D. McClure
  Intellectual Property, Regulatory Strategy
  A biochemist and patent attorney, Dr. McClure assesses intellectual property (IP) and regulatory opportunities and risks for firms evaluating or engaged in IP rights acquisition transactions, with a focus on those developing novel biotechnologies, therapeutics, specialty chemicals and nanomaterials. Dr. McClure practices before the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and is particularly experienced at developing long-term strategies for attaining market access and exclusivity based on both IP and regulatory considerations. In the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. McClure held positions including chief patent counsel and director of regulatory affairs. He served as chief IP counsel for the venture arm of a publicly traded multinational, advising on freedom to operate and deal structure, and has facilitated dozens of license agreements between growth-stage and mature companies. Dr. McClure holds degrees from Harvard (A.B.), Louisville (M.S.), North Texas (Ph.D.) and Kentucky (J.D.) universities.
• Dr. Nick Oberlies
  Pharmaceuticals and Natural Products
  Nick Oberlies has been working on drug discovery from natural products for nearly 25 years. He spent the first 11 years of his career working at Research Triangle Institute, where he was mentored by Drs. Wall and Wani, the co-discoverers of both taxol and camptothecin. For the past 11 years, he has been leading a team of scientists at UNC-Greensboro, focused on anticancer and antimicrobial drug discovery from fungi as reported in over 200 manuscripts and patents. He regularly reviews scientific proposals in both the United States and for scientific bodies around the world. He has delivered more than 100 scientific presentations, around the world, on his research. He has worked as a consultant to Fortune 500 corporations and biotech start ups. He has co-founded companies and pursued entrepreneurial means for funding drug discovery and drug development research.
• Dr. Cedric Pearce
  Pharmaceuticals, Natural Products, M&A, Technology Transfer and Innovation
  Cedric Pearce is a life scientist with experience at increasingly senior levels from bench researcher upwards in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry including a period engaged in venture financing of early stage companies. For the past decade Dr. Pearce has been occupied with entrepreneurial activities and as well as founding three companies, was active in the growth and exit of a number of biotechnology ventures. Dr. Pearce has consulted for a variety of life science organizations in North and South America, Europe and Asia, chiefly in the areas of strategic issues associated with the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, drug discovery and issues related to infectious diseases, and early stage entrepreneurial activity.
• John Rabenstein
  Microbiology and Natural Products
  John has over 30 years of experience in the natural products field, spanning microbial isolation and characterization, fermentation development from flask to pilot scale, high-throughput screening, and downstream processing to capture and purify microbial metabolites. His expertise includes managing database systems to track complex information across all aspects of a natural products discovery operation, as well as regulatory compliance with government agencies such as the USDA and CDC. John’s industry experience spans several CROs, from Panlabs, Inc. to Curia Global, Inc., which has allowed him to work with numerous pharmaceutical, agricultural, consumer products, and biotechnology companies to advance their programs. John holds a B.S. from Oregon State University.
• Prof. Francesco Salamini
  Breeding and Genetics
  Professor of Genetic Technologies at the University of Milan, Chairman Scientific Board at the Parco Tecnologico Padano (Lodi), and honorary Professor at the University of Köln. Professor Salamini has been Head of the Maize Section at the Bergamo Institute of Cereal Research of Rome (1975-1985), Director of the Max-Planck-Institut für Züchtungsforschung in Köln (1985-2004) and Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Genome Programme Genoplante in Paris (2000-2006).
  Dr. Salamini has published more than 550 articles in specialized journals.