This month’s roundup of new hires, investment funding, partnerships, and other industry news includes key firms such as Clinical Ink, Medable, CPhI, and Sterling Pharma.
This month’s roundup of new hires, investment funding, partnerships, and other industry news includes key firms such as Clinical Ink, Medable, CPhI, and Sterling Pharma.
Contract research organization (CRO) Covance has announced it will rebrand as Labcorp Drug Development at the end of June 2021. The move comes six years after Labcorp and Covance signed a $6.1b USD merger agreement in February 2015.
Paul Kirchgraber, CEO of the company currently branded Covance by Labcorp, said in a statement, “As we transition, your studies will be delivered by the same talented, committed teams, on the same innovative scientific instruments, with a shared commitment to delivering drugs/devices to market sooner … Over time, you will notice more connectivity between our drug development and diagnostic capabilities—in oncology, biomarkers and companion diagnostics, data analytics, commercialization services and more.”
Pharma supplier equipment and systems supplier High Purity New England (HPNE) has named industry veteran Michael Quesenberry chief scientific officer. He will spearhead a number of initiatives, including new product development, employee training, and the creation of a new state-of-the-art laboratory and specialty materials and manufacturing workshop.
Before joining HPNE, Quesenberry had conducted process development work at preclinical companies like Avaxia, Xencor, and Werewolf Therapeutics; and larger biotechs such as BMS, Pfizer, Lonza, and Pall Life Sciences. At Pall, Mike started as subject matter expert across the portfolio and finished as certified trainer for all product lines.
Biopharma solutions provider Sartorius Stedim Biotech has donated $1.5m USD to help create a cell culture facility on Penn State University’s University Park campus. The facility, to be named the Sartorius Cell Culture Facility, will help the next generation of life-sciences researchers keep current with new and emerging technologies.
Mary Lavin, president of Sartorius North America, added, “We believe Penn State will make the most of this donation and partnership to inspire the next generation of pharma-biotech employees with innovative tools and solutions. We are investing in this new laboratory and expanding our partnership with PSU to ensure that students are prepared to meet the needs of our customers and the industry to produce safe and affordable medicines.”
Trial tech provider Clinical Ink has announced a number of new appointments, all reportedly brought on to manage demand for Lunexis, its eCOA, ePRO+, DDC and eConsent platform. The recently added staff include:
- Bill Barrasso, vice president
- Chris Crucitti, chief commercial officer
- Brian Donahue, chief commercial officer
Clinical Ink CEO Ed Seguine said of the new hires, “This industry is plagued with visionary talk that so often lacks substance and comes up short in real-life … These leaders bring great insight, expertise, and vision to our confident, reliable delivery of results in the most complex and demanding therapeutic areas.”
Decentralized trial tech firm Medable has landed $78m USD in funding to help fund its digital and virtual clinical trial solutions. The company reportedy will use the funding further adoption of digital trials and patient-centric strategies at a global scale.
“The shift to patient-centered drug development necessitates entirely new strategies and technologies,” said Michelle Longmire, CEO and co-founder. “Medable is committed to delivering the leading solutions to drug developers for this incredibly important change in how clinical research is conducted; our team is passionate about building a world with ubiquitous research access and radically accelerated drug development timelines.”
Pharma investment consultancy SmartAnalyst has named Sasha Richardson as its new CEO. The company is focused on fostering innovation in pharma development by supporting the pipeline and portfolios of growing firms.
“The pharmaceutical and biotech industry is constantly evolving and developing at a rapid pace,” Richardson commented. “This past year alone has demonstrated the rate at which progress is happening in healthcare, and this extends beyond the current pandemic.”
In April, pharma industry event presenter hosted CPhI Japan, a global industry event taking place both in person in Tokyo and online. The CPhI Japan Connect on-demand digital sessions, covering a broad array of topics relevant to pharma and biotech companies, will remain online until the end of May.
“The feedback on the ground was that the chance to meet again with industry professionals has really stimulated some extremely active discussions,” said Silvia Forroova, CPhI brand director pharma. “From API producers and packaging to advanced therapies, the event played host to a really active couple of days that has reinvigorated growth and partnerships in Japan over the next year."
Metrics Contract Services (the CDMO division of Mayne Pharma) has named Stephanie Emory associate director of pharmaceutical development. In that role, Emory will oversee a team of formulation scientists who develop oral solid dose formulations for Phase I through Phase III clinical trials, then scale up and support the validation and commercialization of those products.
Brad Gold, vice president of pharmaceutical development, said of Emory, “Her diverse skill sets will enhance our product development expertise as well as increase productivity by ensuring the efficient management of resources. She will be an effective and strategic leader who will help manage a broad spectrum of vital projects.”
The Decentralized Trials and Research Alliance (DTRA) has announced its group now has more than 100 member organizations. The group reportedly is the largest and only multi-stakeholder initiative dedicated to expanding global adoption of decentralized research methodology.
“While the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of decentralized research, we are now seeing the commitment of the research community working together to become a core resource in the clinical research toolkit,” said Craig Lipset, DTRA co-chair and clinical innovation advisor. “We are proud that the DTRA can serve as the center for the future of decentralized research.”
Global CDMO Sterling Pharma Solutions has acquired ADC Biotechnology, a U- based bioconjugation development services business focused on antibody drug conjugates (ADCs). The organization’s facility in North Wales will be rebranded as part of the Sterling Pharma Solutions international network.
Kevin Cook, CEO at Sterling Pharma Solutions, said: “We are delighted to confirm the acquisition of the ADC Bio business; this investment provides us with the opportunity to offer a wider portfolio of services to our customers in the fast growing ADC and bioconjugation market, as well as providing additional services to existing ADC Bio customers."
Tech-focused contract research organization (CRO) CMED Group has been acquired by Alten Europe, an engineering and technology company. The acquired company will become part of Aixial group, Alten’s CRO arm.
“When seeking a strategic step forward, we were fortunate to have many options. Aixial Group, with Alten behind us, clearly stood out as the first choice as it expands our global reach and service offering to our valued clients," said CMED CEO David Connelly.
