Clayton D. Knox

Biography

Dr. Clayton D. Knox joined Mavu in 2017 as chief operating officer. Prior to joining Mavu, he was senior vice president and head of corporate development and strategy at Acerta Pharma, where he co-led the company through a $7 billion strategic transaction with AstraZeneca. Following the transaction, Dr. Knox headed the integration of the two companies while continuing to oversee all corporate and business development activities. Acerta’s lead drug for hematologic malignancies, acalabrutinib, garnered FDA breakthrough designation and received fast-tracked approval for mantle cell lymphoma in October 2017. Before joining Acerta, Dr. Knox was an executive at Merck & Co., most recently as clinical head for business development and licensing. There, he was responsible for search/evaluation and transactions for strategic clinical-stage assets. He led a variety of transactions including in-licenses, out-licenses, divestitures and acquisitions. Dr. Knox previously served as principal scientist and director of clinical development where he oversaw both solid and liquid tumor clinical programs. He also led the early clinical development of cardiovascular drug candidates at Merck. Dr. Knox completed his M.D. at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine where he was a dean’s scholar and an AOA research fellow, followed by internship and residency in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He also received an M.B.A. from the health care program at The Wharton School, where he was the Thomas Garrott, III Fellow.

Research Interest

Pharmaceutical Sciences