Metrion has bolstered its drug discovery leadership team, CluePoints has upped its RBM services, and Concept Life Sciences has added to its analytical services division, among other moves this month in the outsourced pharmaceutical services industry.
Metrion has bolstered its drug discovery leadership team, CluePoints has upped its RBM services, and Concept Life Sciences has added to its analytical services division, among other moves this month in the outsourced pharmaceutical services industry.
The integrated research organization has added to its executive leadership team.
Dan Pucci, MBA, joins as vice president of strategic partnerships, and Michael Ibara, PharmD, as vice president of data sciences.
In his new role, Pucci will lead Elligo’s strategic partnerships and new practice development group. He was previously at Allscripts Healthcare Solutions.
“It is very exciting to see the progress that Elligo has made to bring a new research model to the industry,” said Pucci.
“I am looking forward to working with the team to grow our Research Ready multi-specialty practices and expand the sponsored research being completed with our practice partners. Our industry relationships put us in a great position to lead the needed change in clinical research.”
Ibara joins Elligo after most recently serving as head of digital health care for the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC).
In his new role, Ibara will support the data sciences team leading data-driven research projects for Elligo’s clients and providing subject matter expertise across all aspects of pharmacovigilance.
"Bringing together clinical care and clinical research to create real value requires working across very different cultures and knowledge domains – you need to understand the worlds of health care, of industry, of data and of regulated research,” said Ibara.
Ibara told us said his experience in these different domains has taught him the importance of finding “the right data solutions that can work across these different stakeholders, while satisfying regulated research requirements and sponsor needs.”
At Elligo, Ibara wants to help build data-driven solutions to improve both clinical care and clinical research, he said.
“We need solutions that improve the efficiency of clinical trial operations, which find valuable insights for patients and providers, and which help bring new drugs to market and keep them there. Elligo is actively working across all these domains, and I'm very happy to be part of this work."
The risk-based monitoring (RBM) and data quality oversight solutions provider has named two new leaders to its senior team.
Richard Davies joins as VP, solutions expert, and Suzanne Lukac as senior account director.
Davies said he is looking forward to facilitating the industry adoption “of new quality practices within their businesses, that use our solution to raise the bar in terms of the quality and reliability of data collected on clinical trials.”
“For organizations that are beginning this journey, being able to use the wealth of practical experience within CluePoints to streamline and expedite the adoption of risk-based monitoring and centralized statistical analysis will be very exciting,” he told us.
“For organizations who have already implemented our solution, working closely with them to identify and understand future needs so that they can be integrated into our solution roadmap will deliver continued customer satisfaction and increased value from their existing relationship with CluePoints.”
Davies was previously at OmniComm Systems as executive director of business solutions.
Based in the US, Suzanne Lukac joins the CluePoints from Merck, where she was the director for clinical operations and global RBM implementation.
In her new role, lukac will lead the development and delivery of consultative services covering RBM methodology. She also will work with the product team, advising on enhancements to CluePoints’ RBM platform.
“I am looking forward to providing subject matter expertise to our current and new clients in the area of risk- based quality management,” Lukac told us.
“Having led adoption of risk based monitoring (RBM) at a large pharmaceutical company and collaborating with other companies as part of TransCelerate, I realize the challenges and pain points that many of our clients are experiencing,” she said.
“Using this knowledge, I hope to provide support to our clients not only to help build a solid RBM foundation, but also to continue to improve and streamline their processes as they become more experienced,” she added. “I am also looking forward to liaising with clients to help improve our partnerships and product.”
Mike Broadhurst joins Altasciences as general manager of preclinical safety testing operations
Broadhurst told us there are several things that he is looking forward to: “The first is that I get to work with experienced individuals to continue to develop preclinical services that support both small and large molecule drug development.”
Broadhurst said he is particularly excited about growing a preclinical business that offers “the unique opportunity for sponsors to take their drugs from discovery to preclinical to proof of concept.”
“Our goal is not to be the biggest CRO but to be the CRO that makes a difference for each of our clients, whether they are a virtual organization, a mid-size biotech, or a large pharma,” he said.
Francis Douville also has joined as the new vice president of operations and said he is excited for the opportunity to lead Altasciences’ preclinical site operations and promote technical excellence.
“My approach to success is to support innovation by implementing proactive, simple, and effective solutions,” he told us.
“This will enable Altasciences to maintain a competitive edge in the industry and continue to meet and exceed client expectations. Our success will be achieved by fostering a positive working environment for our employees and a culture of care and respect for our animals.”
Julie Forget who has joined Altasciences as the director of toxicology said she is looking forward to supporting the company’s study directors in their overall responsibility for the scientific conduct of a study “and assist with the implementation of additional scientific capabilities at our preclinical site.”
“As a team, we will focus on protocol development to design custom and flexible approaches to meet our clients’ needs.
"Constant communication and collaboration are key elements for success, which translate into a more efficient and effective way to bring new drugs to patients,” she said.
The drug discovery, development and analytical services company has expanded its analytical services division with the addition of three senior employees.
Michelle Gale joins as head of customer services, Dr. Ben Cliff as VP of operations, and Lorraine Bater as regional director of the South, UK.
Gale has more than 30 years of experience and joins Concept from from Exova, where she was global sales operations and development manager.
Gale told us, "I am delighted to join the Concept team, as I see this is as an excellent opportunity to make a difference within a company that has established expertise and strong future growth plans.
In her new role, Gale said her focus will be to ensure customers receive a consistently high level of service throughout their journey, “that we exceed client expectations, we deliver what we promise, on time every time."
Cliff told us he sees his new role as VP of operations as an opportunity “to make a difference within a company that has established expertise and strong future growth plans.”
Cliff joins Concept from Intertek and in his new role will provide strategic leadership for the analytical and development services (ADS) laboratories.
Cliff said this is an exciting time to be joining Concept, “as the company has a strong platform for growth following the acquisition by Spectris.”
Bater will be working with senior leaders on strategic development as regional director of the South, UK. She joins Concept from International Laboratory Services, which was acquired by Eurofins in 2016.
Bater told us, "My role is to lead and influence innovation and change within the scientific functions, to deliver exceptional customer service and exceed the growth challenge."
Based in Cambridge, UK, Repositive was established in 2014 with an aim to increase discovery, access to and sharing of genomic research data.
According to the company, the three senior appointments were made to propel the company into its next phase of growth. The team has grown by 50% over the past year, with 38 currently employed.
Repositive has two products based on its platform through which communities of researchers and data providers can connect to share data and models in support of research studies.
Joining the management team are: Ave Wrigley, chief technology officer; Robert Thong, chief business officer; and Julian Coe, chief finance and operating officer.
Wrigley has more than 20 years of experience running technology departments.
In his new role, Wrigley told us he will be ensuring the Repositive platform delivers “scalable benefits for researchers and data providers alike, so that the 1001st sign up has as great an experience as the 101st, using my extensive multidisciplinary background across technology companies.”
Thong has nearly 30 years of experience in leadership and commercial roles and is a guest lecturer on R&D alliances at institutions including the University of Cambridge and University College London.
Thong commented that de-risking clinical failure is one of the biggest challenges in drug development.
“I believe that by creating a global marketplace that gives access to a broader range and better characterized preclinical models, and which works for all stakeholders, we can have the greatest positive impact,” he told us.
“I am incredibly excited to use my experience to establish Repositive’s Cancer Models community and marketplace, and to help grow the company globally.”
Julian Coe has worked at companies such as LGC Genomics and Ieso Digital Health and told us his ambition of the next six months is to have Repositive become the world’s single largest source of translational cancer models for researchers “to drive the future of precision medicine.”
“My priority is making this ambition a reality through securing funding and helping the team to scale up,” he said.
“I’ve joined at an exciting time, when Repositive is already making waves in the research world and now has a strong team in place.”
Mark Herbert has been added to the senior leadership team at Scientist.com, an online marketplace for outsourced research.
As chief business officer, he will focus continuing to grow the company and expanding it into new research areas and countries.
Herbert has more than 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical and biotech research across multiple platforms and therapeutic areas and was previously the interim president of Arcturus Therapeutics.
He also was head of US business development and sales at WuXi AppTec’s small molecule development and manufacturing division, STA Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd..
“Opportunity and potential abound at Scientist.com—the team, our existing client roster and network of service providers is unrivaled throughout the industry,” Herbert told us.
“I am swiftly getting integrated and rolling up my sleeves as we continue to drive the positive momentum established over the last few years.
"I will be focusing specifically on our existing clients, solidifying additional strategic client and supplier partnerships and advancing our goal of delivering an innovative and disruptive marketplace to the global life sciences community.”
Metrion has bolstered its drug discovery leadership team with the addition of Dr. Edward Stevens appointed as head of drug discovery, and Dr. Andrew Lightfoot as head of medicinal chemistry and discovery funding.
According to the specialist ion channel contract research and drug discovery company, the appointments follow the expansion of its internal drug discovery program.
Based on a portfolio of more than 2,000 novel small molecule inhibitors of potassium ion channels acquired in January 2018, the internal proprietary program will now be led by Stevens and Lightfoot.
Stevens joins Metrion from Ario Pharma, where he was chief scientific officer. He also has held various roles at Pfizer Neusentis and Pfizer Sandwich before which he was chief operating officer at NeuroSolutions. Stevens was also head of the ion channel group at Cambridge Drug Discovery/BioFocus (now part of Charles River).
“Ion channels are an important and underexploited target class, and research within this space has been integral to the development of novel therapeutics, with a significant impact on health and disease,” said Stevens.
Steven told us is he looking forward to working alongside Metrion’s leadership team to leverage the company’s wide expertise in preclinical ion channel discovery.
“I look forward to advancing Metrion's internal drug discovery programme which will be greatly supported by the extensive in-house capability in automated and manual electrophysiology,” he added.
Metrion is evaluating the lead compounds as potential orally active drugs for treatment of auto-immune disorders such as multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, ulcerative colitis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Lightfoot is currently the CEO of Procarta Biosystems and will continue in this role while working at Metrion.
He founded Peptinnovate, a UK-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, and was executive director of medtech CytaCoat AB and CEO of Helperby Therapeutics.
Lightfoot also has held various research project leadership positions at GSK.
PharmaBlock Sciences has named Dr. Shijie Zhang as chief technology officer.
Shijie joins the company from Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he was director of process chemistry and API manufacturing, CMC.
“I am delighted to join PharmaBlock, and I have witnessed its remarkable and rapid growth. With its strong leadership role in building blocks business, and impressive progress in process chemistry capabilities, PharmaBlock has solid foundation to win in CDMO business,” said Zhang.
“I look forward to working with the tremendous team, and helping the team better understand the sponsor’s challenges, deliver development work, or commercial manufacture in line with the sponsor’s expectations, and contribute scientific, manufacturing, and operational expertise that keeps their project on track.”
The China-headquartered CDMO also recently purchased a GMP compliant manufacturing facility and is investing in new technology and capacity.
