Management Team


Dr. Junning Lee, Founder and CEO of Lexenpharm, has over 28 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Dr. Lee was Senior Vice President of Technical Operations at Theravance Biopharma and Senior Vice President of Technical Operations for Theravance Inc. During Dr. Lee’s tenure with Theravance, he was responsible for pharmaceutical technology development, manufacturing, CTM and commercial productions, and supply chain management. Prior to Theravance, Dr. Lee spent more than 11 years with Schering-Plough Research Institute. During his career, Dr. Lee managed over 35 clinical and commercial projects during development and manufacturing phases. He holds over 40 US patents of discovery and manufacturing technologies of novel medicines.Dr. Lee obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Boston University and a post-doctoral research fellowship in Bioorganic Chemistry from Oregon State University. He received his Bachelors of Science in Pharmacy from China Pharmaceutical University.

Dr. Lee is the formal president of SAPA, and a member of Bayhelix, CABS & New Drug Founder Club. He is the current president of the Biopharmaceutical Industrial Union.

Dr. Gao held various positions with US FDA (CBER) since 1999, most recently, as Master Reviewer. In that capacity, she served as a national authoritative regulatory review scientist, providing technical leadership and guidance for regulatory activities. She provided advice on area-specific clinical issues, Good Laboratory Practices (GLP), Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP), and other aspects of regulations and compliance, especially in process testing and assessment of safety and effectiveness. Dr. Gao was also involved in providing training and consultation to foreign regulators visiting FDA on scientific and regulatory issues. During her tenure at FDA, she served as mentor and consult reviewer to new reviewers and trainees on various review, regulatory and scientific issues. Dr. Gao obtained her BS, MS and PhD in Biochemistry from Nanjing University. She conducted postdoc trainings at Dartmouth Medical School and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US. Dr. Gao has RAC certification, Drug Investigator certification, and is a Certified Quality Auditor (CQA).

Mr. Wang began his career with JPMorgan Chase Investment Banking in New York in 2004. Subsequently, he held various position with investment banking divisions of JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong from 2004 to 2013. In 2013, Mr. Wang joined Morgan Stanley Private Equity and was based in Beijing. During Mr. Wang’s tenure with the financial institutions, he was actively involved in a broad range of financial market transactions including initial public offerings, cross boarder merger and acquisition, debt financing, and direct investments. Mr. Wang joined Lexenpharm in 2016 and is in charge of finance and business developments. Mr. Wang received Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Political Economy from Princeton University.

Dr. Canafax has over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry leading clinical drug development from concept, pre-clinical studies, clinical studies through marketing approval and post- marketing research. He has significant experience and expertise in designing and medical monitoring all phases of clinical studies for developing new drug therapies for multiple disease states and treatment indications. He currently is the CMO at XWPharma since 2018 leading drug development activities. Prior, he was Vice President of Medical Affairs and Clinical Research at Omeros working on drugs for addiction, renal disease, and ophthalmology. In addition, he was Vice President of Clinical Development at Theravance, Inc., for almost 6 years leading the clinical development of a µ-opioid antagonist, 5-HT4 agonists, and other drugs. He was the Chief Development Officer at ARYx Therapeutics for 3 years developing naronapride, tecarfarin, and budiodarone. As Vice President of Clinical Development at XenoPort, he led the clinical development of the gabapentin enacarbil to marketing approval as Horizant for the treatment of neuropathic pain and Willis-Ekbom disease. He also held senior clinical development positions at MedImmune and Elan Pharmaceuticals.

In his early career, Dr. Canafax was a Professor of Pharmacy, Surgery, and Otolaryngology at the University of Minnesota, and was an important part of cyclosporine development with Novartis. He has been Principal Investigator on multiple clinical studies and has authored or co-authored 163 publications. He received his Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree and clinical residency from the University of Kentucky and Bachelor of Pharmacy (BPharm) from Washington State University.

Mr. Price has 30 years of industrial, aerospace, and pharmaceutical manufacturing related work including 22 years experience specializing in all aspects of Blow-Fill-Seal sterile aseptic liquid filling technology encompassing the equipment design, manufacture, test, Process Validation and operation of Blow-Fill-Seal machinery along with contract manufacturing services. 7 years VP level Manufacturing Operations Management and Engineering Development of a privately owned sterile inhalation generic drug manufacturing facility using Blow-Fill-Seal technology. Authored and presented several papers on aseptic design (referenced in the 2004 FDA Aseptic Guidelines document), as well as Heat Transfer analysis of the BFS process (product temperature profile during filling process) for heat sensitive products. Awarded 11 patents for innovations related to BFS processes. Participate in formation of US FDA aseptic manufacturing guidelines.

Ms. Zhang joined Lexenpharm in 2015 and was responsible for early-phase registration, human resources and government communications. Ms. Zhang worked for OPPORTUNITY Ltd. Co. of France as human resource director, administration manager, and assistant to general manager. Since her return to China in 2008, Ms. Zhang has been a part of the Optics Valley Biolake Park management team in Wuhan. During her time with Biolake, Ms. Zhang has managed a wide range of responsibilities in administration, public relationship, merchant investment, and strategic cooperation with foreign governments. Ms. Zhang has rich experiences in administration, corporate management and governmental affairs. Ms. Zhang received her master degree from Clermont-Ferrand I University of France in 2004.

17 years of management experience in the production quality of sterile products,
Proficient in factory operations and lean management
Production director of Meiya Pharmaceutical
Former general manager of CR Sanjiu Pharmaceutical

Member of the US National Academy of Engineering,
VP of MSD R&D Center in China
Recipient of MSD Presidential fellow, Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award, Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, AstraZeneca Award for Excellence in Green Chemistry and Engineering, Prix Galien USA Awards

Dr. Yongkui Sun, a distinguished alumnus of Caltech with a Ph.D. in Chemistry, initiated his esteemed career at MSD (known as Merck & Co., Inc. in North America) in 1993, taking on the role of a Senior Research Chemist. Over his tenure at MSD, he amassed a wealth of experience in R&D, business, and managerial roles, progressing through six departments, from the discovery and development of new therapeutics to setting the strategy and operations for China's R&D and business development and licensing. His significant scientific contributions at MSD included the development of noteworthy pharmaceuticals such as Crixivan, Maxalt, Emend, Cordaptive, Taranabant, and Januvia. He is credited with 72 publications, 54 of which are from his time at MSD.
In 2010, Dr. Sun embarked on a new journey leading the establishment of the MSD R&D Center in Beijing, which officially opened its doors in 2012. This marked the beginning of his role as Vice President in MSD’s Business Development and Licensing department, overseeing the exploration and evaluation of innovations in Greater China. His efforts led to the first-ever licensing of an innovative therapeutic candidate from Greater China, fortifying MSD's product pipeline.
Dr. Sun's exceptional contributions and leadership have been recognized through multiple honors. Internally at MSD, he was bestowed the title of a Presidential Fellow in 2006, the highest honor within MSD Research Laboratories. His external awards comprise the Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award (2009), the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award (2005 and 2006), UK’s Institute of Chemical Engineers' AstraZeneca Award for Excellence in Green Chemistry and Engineering (2005), and the "We Work for Health Champions" Award from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) in 2010. In 2016, he earned the esteemed recognition of being elected a member of the US National Academy of Engineering.

Dr. Lu brings an impressive 30+ years of industry experience to his current role as the Chief Technical Officer. In this capacity, he skillfully oversees Global Pharmaceutical Development, including areas like CMC, nonclinical processes, regulatory affairs, and quality assurance. Before Denovo, he made significant strides as VP of Technical Operations at Balance Therapeutics. Moreover, he had a remarkable tenure at Arena Pharmaceuticals from 2003 to 2015. There, as the Associate VP of CMC Technical Operations, he played a crucial role in the development of several significant pharmaceutical products. Dr. Lu's early career saw progressive roles in R&D and manufacturing at Monsanto Company and its subsidiary, Solutia Inc., as well as Ethyl Corp. His academic credentials include a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the prestigious University of Birmingham, UK.