Newly-minted Signant Health named a new CTO, Parexel bolstered its Japan presence, and BioAgilytix’s CEO was appointed to the board of FSD Pharma – a company developing products based on cannabinoids – among other people on the move in June.
Newly-minted Signant Health named a new CTO, Parexel bolstered its Japan presence, and BioAgilytix’s CEO was appointed to the board of FSD Pharma – a company developing products based on cannabinoids – among other people on the move in June.
Click through the following slides to see who went where in June.
Parexel appointed Makoto Sugita, MD, PhD, MBA, to the position of senior vice president and general manager – Japan.
Based at Parexel’s Tokyo, Japan-based office, Sugita will report directly to Gadi Saarony, executive vice president and chief clinical research services officer.
“I’m excited to help build upon the significant history and legacy of Parexel in the Japan market and share my experience leading global clinical development programs and teams within pharmaceutical organizations,” he told us.
‘In my role I’m looking forward to leading our team to further develop and enhance our services for clients to help bring new medicines to patients, while building an engaging workplace environment that focuses on delivering the best, industry-leading service.”
Sugita was previously the vice president and head, regional leader of the integrated team for medical, clinical and regulatory in Asia/Pacific medical devices for Johnson & Johnson.
He also has held the roles of vice president, head of Japan cross sector medical organization (JCSMO) – JPKK (Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K. (Japan)) and JJKK (Johnson & Johnson K.K. (Japan)), in addition to various roles at AstraZeneca KK.
Parexel has been operating in Japan since 1995 and has more than 1,300 employees based in Tokyo, Kobe, and Osaka.
To support the company’s growth objectives, VeraSci hired Hampton Corley as the company’s chief commercial officer. He held various commercial roles at Clinipace over the last decade.
VeraSci CEO and Co-founder Rich Keefe said the hire is part of the expansion the company announced in October, as it rebranded from NeuroCog Trials to VeraSci.
“Reference feedback from VeraSci’s existing clients is incredibly compelling,” Hampton told us.
“Demonstrated trust and focus on customer experience is the recurring theme. And the company is well positioned with scientific service excellence to aid sponsors with their endpoint challenges and speed to signal. Growing the business with this story is an excellent opportunity."
The specialty analgesic full-service contract research organization (CRO) announced new hires with the addition of Lee Simon, MD, FACP, FACR as principal advisor, osteoarthritis research, and Allan Green, MD, PhD, JD as medical imaging and research advisor.
Both will help support the design and conduct of Lotus' current osteoarthritis pain research programs and further expand the company’s osteoarthritis pain expertise and capabilities.
Simon has been a clinical Rheumatologist for 25 years and was previously the division director, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, ophthalmologic drug products (DAAODP), ODEV, CDER, at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
He has served on consulting advisory boards for sponsors researching pain, anti-inflammatory effects, alteration of bone turnover, as well as modifying inflammatory disease states, and was previously a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded investigator.
Simon also served on the Board of Directors of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and as the Chair of Education for the ACR and on the committee of the National Arthritis Foundation.
Green teaches food and drug law at Boston College Law School and has several US patents to his name, with more than 30 years of experience across the industry.
Previously, he was medical director of New England Nuclear/DuPont Medical Products, chief of nuclear medicine, University Hospitals, Boston, and an Instructor at Harvard Medical School. He is currently on the medical staff of Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Medical Center.
Signant Health – formerly CRF Bracket – appointed Lawrence Miller as chief technology officer, as the company looks to build momentum around eConsent, rethink the patient’s connection to the supply chain, an build out a stronger analytics platform.
Miller told us he looks forward to bringing his experience “building large scale cloud-based solutions to Signant Health’s comprehensive patient-centric suite of services.”
“Leveraging Signant’s leading position in clinical research support we can accelerate the speed of innovation in the industry,” he said. “Our goal, in partnership with our sponsor and CRO customers, is to build new solutions that are not only more effective, but also that sites, study teams and patents want to use.”
Miller was previously the chief security officer of the cloud-based secure collaboration company, Symphony Communication Services. Before this, he worked at BlackRock for 11 years in New York and San Francisco.
Speaking to the company’s growth opportunities and investment plans, Mike Nolte, CEO of Signant Health, said recently: “As customer adoption changes along with the regulatory environment, it will position us in an interesting place front end with virtual and hybrid trials, and pragmatically ahead of competitors.”
The current chairman, president and CEO of LabCorp, David King, in June announced his retirement from the position, after which he will become executive chairman of the board of directors.
The change will be effective on the first of November, at which time Adam Schechter, current lead independent director of LabCorp, will become president and CEO. His replacement will be chosen at a future date.
“Adam’s experience in global healthcare, demonstrated leadership capabilities and strategic contributions as a board member position him perfectly to succeed me as CEO. He knows our industry, our company, and our strategy, and is uniquely suited to continue to build on the power of our combined organization,” said King.
Before LabCorp, Schechter was a member of Merck’s executive committee and held several roles with the company since 1988.
Avomeen Analytical Services named John Ferencz as the new leader of its elemental analysis division, a role in which he will be responsible for overseeing the lab specializing in the analysis of heavy metals and other elemental impurities.
“I am excited to continue expanding the elemental analysis division of Avomeen,” Ferencz told us.
“I look forward to the opportunity to work directly with our clients, design test protocols tailored specifically to their products and needs, and help them overcome any challenges they may face.
“With 12 years of cross-industry experience as an analytical/instrumental chemist and expertise in developing, implementing, and optimizing methods in various regulatory environments, I know we will be able to ensure our client’s compliance with ever-evolving industry regulations.”
The Hunt Valley, MD-headquartered contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) expanded its commercial team with three new hires.
Wayne Ideus, senior director of business development, joined the company with more than 30 years of pharmaceutical industry experience. He has held roles at Marion Laboratories, DPT, Aptuit, and most recently, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals.
Wayne Grellner, in the same position, began his career at Quintiles (now Iqvia) and has held account management roles at Catalent, Ben Venue Labs, and DSM/Patheon. Most recently he was workingin business development at Samsung BioLogics.
Previously at Acurian, a PPD company, Ryan McFarlane, joined the company as executive director of business management. Prior to Acurian, he spent nearly 20 years at Patheon.
BioAgilytix added to its leadership team with the appointment of Sean Blake to chief information officer.
With more than 20 years of IT leadership experience, Blake will lead the “development, assessment, and execution of critical IT strategies” across BioAgilytix’s operations, according to the company.
Blake was previously the director of information systems at BioCryst Pharmaceuticals.
In a statement, Blake said he looks forward to “implementing technological systems that are innovative for the company and that will support and help accelerate BioAgilytix’s current growth trajectory.”
Also in June, BioAgilytix CEO James Datin was named to FSD Pharma’s board of directors.
The Canada-based company focuses on the development of indoor grown, pharmaceutical grade cannabis and the research and development of cannabinoid-based treatments for central nervous system disorders.
Speaking to the appointment, Datin said: “The opportunity to contribute at this stage in FSD’s growth is exciting. As a biotech life sciences executive with extensive experience as a member of more than 30 Board of Directors of PE backed and public companies, I am looking forward to helping the leadership and Biosciences Division in realizing FSD’s vision to meaningfully advance into the biopharmaceutical industry.”
