Our Vision

We aim to redefine what's possible in drug discovery by unlocking the therapeutic potential of synthetic macrocycles (unnatural products) to build a robust, diverse pipeline of valuable medicines.

Leadership

Cameron Pye, Ph.D.

Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder

Cameron Pye, Ph.D., is Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Unnatural Products (UNP), setting corporate strategy, leading partnering and capital formation, and guiding the scientific direction of the company's discovery platform. He has built his career on the premise that macrocyclic peptides could combine the precision of biologics with the delivery advantages of small molecules, and he has translated that scientific insight into a growing, partnered drug discovery company.

Dr. Pye co-founded UNP in 2017, starting in a garage on the west side of Santa Cruz with co-founder Joshua Schwochert. He has grown the company from a two-person startup into a platform company with multiple validating partnerships, including agreements with Novartis, argenx, Merck, and BridgeBio, and has led its private financings while advancing a pipeline in multiple disease areas. This approach grew out of graduate research he conducted on why some cyclic peptides cross cell membranes and others do not, in R. Scott Lokey's laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he also met Dr. Schwochert.

Dr. Pye earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and his bachelor's degree from Whittier College. He currently serves on the Dean's Council of the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Joshua Schwochert, Ph.D.

Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer

Joshua Schwochert, Ph.D., is Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of Unnatural Products (UNP), setting the company's scientific direction and target selection and leading its chemistry and computational chemistry organizations. He is a macrocycle and cyclic peptide expert whose doctoral collaborations with Pfizer and Eli Lilly on beyond-rule-of-5 pharmacokinetics laid the scientific foundation for the company's discovery platform.

Dr. Schwochert co-founded UNP in 2017, starting in a garage on the west side of Santa Cruz with co-founder Cameron Pye. His graduate research helped establish the relationship between two-dimensional structure, three-dimensional conformation, and the physicochemical and pharmacokinetic properties of cyclic peptides, conducted in Prof. R. Scott Lokey's laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Over the company's first seven years, he oversaw construction of the empirical discovery platform and the development of parallel synthesis and experimentation technologies. He spearheaded its earliest collaborations, which became the proving ground for additional validating partnerships now spanning BridgeBio, Merck, argenx, and Novartis.

Dr. Schwochert earned his Ph.D. in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry and biology from Concordia University Irvine.

Neera Ravindran, M.D., M.B.A.

Chief Financial Officer

Neera Ravindran, M.D., M.B.A., is Chief Financial Officer of Unnatural Products (UNP), leading financial strategy and operations, and supporting business development and execution of corporate strategy. She has more than 20 years of deep public markets and private company experience, with a demonstrated ability to raise capital.

Previously, Dr. Ravindran served as CFO of Kriya Therapeutics, where she led its $270M Series C financing, scaled the finance organization, and built the financial foundation to support the company's growth. She also held the role of VP of Investor Relations for Vir Biotechnology during a period of rapid growth and evolution as the company grew from under $2 billion to $7 billion in market capitalization, including a successful $345 million raise in a public stock offering. Before this, Dr. Ravindran was Head of Investor Relations, North America, at Roche/Genentech and VP of Investor Relations and Strategic Planning at The Medicines Company. Earlier in her career, she served as a biotechnology equity research analyst at Piper Jaffray & Company.

Dr. Ravindran earned her medical degree from Kasturba Medical College and an M.B.A. from the Indian School of Business.

Simon Bailey, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Chief Operating Officer and President of Research and Development

Simon Bailey, Ph.D., M.B.A., is Chief Operating Officer and President of Research and Development of Unnatural Products (UNP), overseeing company operations and leading the R&D organization's scientific and technical strategy. He brings more than 25 years of drug discovery and early development experience in oncology and metabolic disease, across big pharma and public and private biotech companies.

Dr. Bailey joined UNP in 2024 from Plexium, where he was Executive Vice President of Drug Discovery and led the company's science and technology groups in identifying novel molecular glue protein degrader drugs. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President and Head of Research for Intercept Pharmaceuticals, leading the company's programs in NASH/MASH from inception through Phase 1. Earlier in his career, he was a medicinal chemist at Pfizer, where he led the Diabetes and Oncology Medicinal Chemistry departments. He received the American Chemical Society's Hero of Chemistry award for his leadership role in the discovery of lorlatinib, a macrocyclic inhibitor of mutant ALK kinase for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.

Dr. Bailey earned his Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Manchester, where he received the Hibbet Prize, and his M.B.A. from the University of California, San Diego, Rady School of Management.

Lindsay Young

Vice President, Human Resources

Lindsay Young is Vice President of Human Resources of Unnatural Products (UNP), leading people strategy, organizational design, and the HR systems, compliance, and facilities functions that support them. She has spent her career building the people infrastructure that companies need as they mature, working closely with executive teams to build talent, compensation, and governance infrastructure that supports company growth.

Ms. Young previously served as Executive Director and Head of Human Resources at Tempest Therapeutics, where she led the human resources function through the company's transition to public company operations, establishing the policies and controls expected under Sarbanes-Oxley 404(a) and partnering with finance on corporate governance and Board Compensation Committee matters. She brought benefits, payroll, and HR systems in-house and designed the recruiting, compensation, and performance frameworks that supported the organization as its clinical programs advanced. Earlier, she advised private equity and life sciences leaders as an independent human resources consultant on workforce planning, organizational structure, and recruitment. She began her career in operations and marketing roles at Cepheid and CV Therapeutics, later acquired by Gilead Sciences.

Ms. Young earned her bachelor's degree in American Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Henry Johnson, Ph.D.

Vice President, Medicinal Chemistry and CMC

Henry W. B. Johnson, Ph.D., is Vice President of Medicinal Chemistry and CMC of Unnatural Products (UNP), leading discovery chemistry and CMC strategy across the company's internal pipeline and partnerships. He brings more than 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, having contributed to programs that have produced two FDA-approved medicines and more than 10 clinical-stage assets.

Dr. Johnson previously served as Vice President of CMC and Medicinal Chemistry at Tempest Therapeutics, where he supported a portfolio including oral oncology candidates amezalpat and TPST-1495, both in Phase 2 development. As Executive Director and Head of Chemistry at BridGene Biosciences, he directed medicinal chemistry efforts, including the advancement of the covalent TEAD inhibitor BGC515. Earlier, as a Director at Kezar Life Sciences, he led medicinal chemistry and CMC for zetomipzomib, a subcutaneously administered immunoproteasome inhibitor studied in Phase 2 for autoimmune diseases, as well as for the oncology candidate KZR-261. He began his career at Exelixis, Amgen, and Onyx Pharmaceuticals, where he contributed to first-in-class programs across multiple disease areas, including the development of esaxerenone, a hypertension therapy co-developed with Daiichi Sankyo and approved in Japan.

Dr. Johnson earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Utah and his bachelor's degree in biochemistry from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Board of Directors

Cameron Pye, Ph.D.

Cameron Pye, Ph.D., is Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Unnatural Products (UNP), setting corporate strategy, leading partnering and capital formation, and guiding the scientific direction of the company's discovery platform. He has built his career on the premise that macrocyclic peptides could combine the precision of biologics with the delivery advantages of small molecules, and he has translated that scientific insight into a growing, partnered drug discovery company.

Dr. Pye co-founded UNP in 2017, starting in a garage on the west side of Santa Cruz with co-founder Joshua Schwochert. He has grown the company from a two-person startup into a platform company with multiple validating partnerships, including agreements with Novartis, argenx, Merck, and BridgeBio, and has led its private financings while advancing a pipeline in multiple disease areas. This approach grew out of graduate research he conducted on why some cyclic peptides cross cell membranes and others do not, in R. Scott Lokey's laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he also met Dr. Schwochert.

Dr. Pye earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and his bachelor's degree from Whittier College. He currently serves on the Dean's Council of the University of California, Santa Cruz.