Synteract adds to its therapeutic centers of development, Sterling Pharma continues growth in the US, and WCG’s site division sees the addition of several executives, among other people on the move this month.
Click through the following slides to hear what this month's new hires hope to achieve in their new roles.
Synteract adds to its therapeutic centers of development, Sterling Pharma continues growth in the US, and WCG’s site division sees the addition of several executives, among other people on the move this month.
Click through the following slides to hear what this month's new hires hope to achieve in their new roles.
InClin is a full-service contract research organization (CRO) with offices in San Francisco, CA and Sydney, Australia.
The company this month appointed Tara Weihmiller as vice president of clinical operations, a role in which she will be responsible for managing clinical staff and developing “initiatives to support operational excellence.”
Weihmiller has more than 20 years of experience working in the contract research organization (CRO), biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, having overseen numerous Phase I-IV clinical trials across multiple therapeutic areas.
She previously was the executive director of global portfolio oversight for the oncology business unit at Covance and also held the role of clinical operations director at Novartis.
Synteract has added two new executives to support its oncology, neuro degenerative and rare disease centers of development.
Christopher Heckman (image left), RN, BSN, joins as the vice president for oncology development. “From pathway-targeted therapies, to chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and cell-based and gene therapies – Synteract has an impressive track record in operationalizing complex oncology clinical trials,” said Heckman.
He told us he is excited to build on this expertise to advance innovative therapies, adding, “I also look forward to extending our strategic consultative approach to more fully supporting clients across the drug development lifecycle.”
Art Wamil, MD, PhD (image right) joins as senior medical director and lead neurologist.
Wamil, a neurologist/electrophysiologist with more than 20 years of experience, told us he is looking forward to contributing his experience to further strengthen Synteract’s neuro degenerative center of development, “and to encourage collaborative communication across Synteract with sponsors’ teams in the neurology/neuroscience continuum.”
“I am focused on increasing opportunities in the neuro degenerative space that are dominated by innovative and ethical designs, which warrant expedited delivery of results,” he said.
“Synteract is a great company to trust with timely delivery of studies, based on incredible planning capabilities and medical expertise – to start a new wave of development from neuro-degeneration to neuro-regeneration, with the big picture in mind.”
The global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) has appointed Dr. Mathew Minardi as its president of US operations.
The appointment follows Sterling’s acquisition of CiVentiChem’s US facility in North Carolina where Minardi will be based.
Minardi told us he is “delighted to join Sterling at a time of such rapid growth.”
“With 70% of our customer base already in North America, we have an ambitious vision for the company’s future in this market which started with building on our local presence.
"I’m excited to be on board to help facilitate Sterling’s continued growth,” he said.
The WIRB-Copernicus Group (WCG) in April expanded its Global Research Network (GRN), adding several executives to its site division, including Jonathan Zung (image left), PhD, as executive vice president.
“I am excited to help clinical research sites – both institutional and independent – work towards understanding their performance, improving efficiencies, and building their clinical research portfolio,” Zung told us.
“WCG is uniquely positioned to leverage our relationship with clinical research sponsors, CROs, and sites to bring all the players together and facilitate the efficient and compliant conduct of clinical research.”
The company also added David Wynes (image right), PhD – the former vice president for research adminidation at Emory University – as an expert and external advisor.
Four senior executives were added to Certara’s Simcyp division, which provides mechanistic modeling technologies to inform drug development, including physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK), quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP), and quantitative systems toxicology and safety (QSTS) approaches.
Rob Aspbury, PhD, joins as chief operating officer, bringing more than 17 years’ commercial and scientific leadership experience with Covance.
Frederic Yves Bois, PharmD, PhD, is the division’s new senior scientific advisor and head of mechanistic modeling. He was previsouly the research director at the French National Institute for Industrial Environment and Risks (INERIS) and has consulted with the US FDA, EPA and OSHA, the European Commission, and the French Ministry of the Environment.
Joining Certara from AstraZeneca R&D in Cambridge (UK), where he was principal scientist for safety and mechanistic pharmacology, Will Redfern, PhD, is now the vice president of quantitative systems toxicology and safety at Certara.
Noriko Okudaira, PhD, will support clients locally in Japan as a senior consultant and scientific advisor. She joins certara from Daiichi Sankyo where she was the director of the clinical pharmacology department.
Centogene has hired a director of artificial intelligence (AI), Dr. Carsten Ullrich, PhD. Ullrich was previously the associate head of a research lab and senior researcher at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI GmbH).
Dr. Volkmar Weckesser, chief information officer, Centogene, said the company’s work “has been accelerating at an exponential rate with the use of AI.”
The company uses AI to accelerate biomarker development and automate various processes.
In his new role, Ullrich will help expand Centogene’s application of AI, Weckesser said.
The ion channel contract research and drug discovery company in April named Dr. Andrew Southan as the new CEO. He was previously the company’s chief operating officer and first joined Metrion in 2016 as the head of commercial operations.
Southan has more than 25 years of experience in ion channel research and development and has held leadership roles at CeNeS Pharmaceuticals and Ionix Pharmaceuticals. He also worked at BioFocus and Charles River Laboratories.
"My key focus will be to continue the growth of our fee for service business, especially to capitalise on the significant capability we now have for cardiac safety assays and our expanding neuroscience capability," Southan told us.
He also would like the company to establish additional long term FTE-based relationships with clients, similar to its recently signed contract with LifeArc.
"A further key goal will be to use our Innovate UK funding to enhance the dataset for our small molecule Kv1.3 blocker assets and find a partner to develop the lead compounds towards the clinic," he added.
David B. Fleishman became BBK Worldwide’s newest Principal in April. A company veteran, Fleishman will be taking on new responsibilities, including directing site services as well as helping set the strategic direction for BBK’s continued growth.
“As the newest BBK Worldwide principal, I am eager to help define strategic direction and drive continued growth for the company, while helping the industry to overcome enrollment challenges to bring new treatments to the patients that need them,” said Fleishman.
“I am also excited to be taking on the role of director of site services where I look to impact the training and support of site study staff in the effort to enhance the clinical trial experience.”
Roy Ovel brings more than 30 years of experience in international business development with a number of the global CROs to his new role as chief commercial officer at Ergomed.
Ovel has held positions at Icon, TFS, and Worldwide Clinical Trials, as well as with smaller, specialist CROs.
In his new role he joins Ergomed’s executive team and will be responsible for global sales and business development activities across the company’s full services offering.
CTI promoted Dr. John Adams (image left) and Dr. Bob Gaston (image right) to senior director, regulatory and scientific affairs and senior medical director, respectively.
Adams worked with CTI’s team from the sponsor side before joining the regulatory and scientific affairs group in 2017. In his new role, he will collaborate on strategic regulatory projects, development of NDA’s and BLA’s, working with the CTI Business Development team.
Gaston – a recent recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Transplantation – joined CTI in November 2017, after a medical career as an internist, nephrologist, and Director of the Transplant Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Also this month, public relations and advocacy veteran John Lewis formally launched Intersect Strategies.
Focused on health care, life sciences, clinical research, and technology, the company will provide various communication services, including patient engagement and investor relations, as well as alliance development and association management, among others.
Lewis was previously with the Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) for more than eight years and has experience serving both corporate and non-profit clients.
With Intersect Strategies, Lewis told us he is trying to have companies think more strategically – not falling into the "we need a press release" school of PR.
“I understand the different needs of established companies, start-ups and trade associations having worked in all of these environments,” said Lewis in the company announcement.
“Many start-ups, especially in the areas of technology and biotech, are not able to commit resources to comprehensive communications campaigns,” he added, and as part of this, the company “is built to entertain creative compensation arrangements,” which Lewis refers to as “venture public relations.”
