Who We Are
JOE CASCONE
President
An inventor cited on three U.S. patents, Joe Cascone is a formulation scientist who created new drug-delivery mechanisms, and formulated 20-plus prescription medications for global drug companies. Many of his drugs were tested for the first time — safely — in human patients during clinical trials, meeting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s stringent criteria for an Investigational New Drug.
As Mr. Cascone’s career advanced, drug companies recruited him to apply his expertise to creating safer and more effective drug operations, including:
- Managing the highly regulated and difficult “tech transfer” process, which is how drugs are passed from one company to the next,
- Designing and overseeing the construction of facilities for highly potent drug compounds, as it is critical that oft-toxic compounds are handled in ways that protect employees and reduce risk from cross-contamination,
- Overseeing the “reverse engineering” of drugs whose brand patents had expired, offering patients more accessible and affordable generic alternatives, and
- Developing a master plan, conceptualizing designs, and overseeing construction of a brand-new, 126,000-square-foot commercial drug manufacturing facility.
By founding Asterra, Mr. Cascone sought to apply high scientific standards for quality and safety to CBD and other complementary medicine products.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Virginia Tech and a master’s degree in business administration from East Carolina University. Connect with him on LinkedIn.