Dr. Manos Perros is a pharmaceutical and biotech executive with over 30 years of experience in life sciences R&D. He began his career as a chemist and conducted his Ph.D. work in Belgium, France, and Germany, before joining the Biophysics department at Yale as an Associate from 1993 to 1995.
Between 2015 and 2022, Dr. Perros was Chief Executive Officer of Entasis Therapeutics, where he played a pivotal role in establishing the company as a prominent player in the industry, resulting in the acquisition of the company by Innoviva in 2022 and the FDA approval of Xacduro, the first targeted treatment for Acinetobacter baumannii pneumonia, in 2023. More recently, Dr. Perros was President and Chief Executive Officer of Hillstar Bio, a precision immunology company developing treatments for patients with autoimmune diseases. Before founding Entasis, Dr. Perros held the positions of Vice President and Head of AstraZeneca’s Infection Research and Early Development organization and Site Head for AstraZeneca’s Boston R&D research center. Prior to that, Dr. Perros was the Director of the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases in Singapore, and Vice-President and Chief Scientific Officer, Antivirals, at Pfizer, where he led the R&D program which culminated in the approval of Selzentry, a first-in-class treatment for HIV. While at Pfizer, he also directed research in a variety of therapeutic areas including Obesity, Pain, and Urology.
Throughout his illustrious career, Dr. Perros has successfully led numerous organizations through various stages of growth and development, earning him a reputation as a visionary leader in the industry. He has made substantial contributions to the field of anti-infectives, and is widely recognized and published as a distinguished scientist, having led research projects against HIV, Hepatitis C, influenza, as well as bacterial and fungal pathogens. Dr. Perros is currently Executive Chairman of the Board at Venatorx Pharmaceuticals, and serves as Independent Director and Chairman at Aurobac Therapeutics as well as Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the GHDDI (Beijing).