This month’s announcements of awards, expansions, name changes, hires, and other news includes items from CPhI, Almac Group, ICON, and other organizations.
This month’s announcements of awards, expansions, name changes, hires, and other news includes items from CPhI, Almac Group, ICON, and other organizations.
At the recent CPhI Worldwide event (held virtually and in Milan, Italy), the show announced the winners of its 18th annual CPhI Farm Awards. In the organizers’ words, the program is intended to recognize the “innovation and dedication of companies and individuals who are driving the pharmaceutical industry forward.
The winners include:
- CEO of the Year - Lynne Ann du Toit, Eurolab, recognized for her vision regarding the future of cancer treatment in South Africa
- Packaging and Drug Delivery - Eitan Medical, for its pre-filled and pre-loaded wearable drug delivery platform
- Supply Chain, Logistics, and Distribution - Rephine Sourcing, for development of its Supplier Compliance Management Software
- Sustainability – Adalvo, for its actions taken over the past year to boost environmental responsibility
- Innovation in Response to COVID-19 – Novavax, for distributing more than 1b doses of its vaccine
- Finished Formulation - Clarus Therapeutics, for therapeutic advances in addressing unmet medical needs through the development of androgen and metabolic therapies
- API Development – Catalent, for its efforts to boost biological drug development with significant proven output.
- Digital Innovation – Viatris, for developing its real-world evidence methodology for regulatory purposes in noncommunicable diseases, artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning.
- Regulatory Procedures and Compliance – BASF, for its RegXcellence compliance solution.
- Manufacturing Technology and Equipment – Aprecia Pharmaceuticals, for its In-Cavity Powder Liquid 3D printing solution.
ICON has expanded its Accellacare Site Network, with new partnerships aimed at increasing its geographical reach, supporting increased access to patients, and enhancing therapeutic capability. The expansion includes six research sites located in four different countries: US, Germany, Spain, and Poland.
“Enrolling and engaging patients in clinical trials continues to be one of the biggest challenges within drug development,” said Alison Liddy ICON’s senior vice president of site and patient solutions. “Our new Accellacare partnerships extend our ability to help customers enhance clinical trial feasibility and improve patient enrollment timelines in key therapeutic areas.”
Daphne Haim-Langford, CEO and founder of Tarsier Pharma, has been named one of three winners of the 2021 EU Prize for Women Innovators, a recognition given to female entrepreneurs from the EU and other countries that have driven “game-changing” innovation. Tarsier specializes in development of treatments for autoimmune and inflammatory blinding ocular diseases, is one of the three nominated winners.
"This is a special moment for me," said Haim-Langford. "Empowering women innovators is a global important mission that I strive to accomplish throughout my whole career. I believe that it is our responsibility as women leaders, to make sure many more women will follow us, and we should create opportunities and support the next generation."
Cardinal Health has announced receiving a $750,000 USD grant from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to assess real-world evidence results against those of clinical trials. According to the company, they will examine solutions to better standardize RWE for use in regulatory decisions.
“The utilization of real world evidence can ultimately lead to improving the patient experience by providing quicker access to safer therapies, but only if the potential is fully realized by bridging the measures used in clinical trials to those observed in real world patients,” said Eli Phillips Jr., vice president of regulatory sciences and insights and engagements for the company.
Powder containment and aseptic processing company ChargePoint Technology has named Gary Lynch chief operating officer. In his new position, Lynch will be responsible for driving the company’s growth, and managing and further improving operations to enhance efficiency.
Chris Eccles, ChargePoint CEO, said, “Gary’s appointment comes ahead of our expansion across all our platforms as well as bringing operations to best in class. It will enable us to focus on more of the strategic elements and priorities for the business and deliver our ambitious growth plans.”
Contract development and manufacturing organization Almac Group has announced plans to expand around the globe, including recruiting of 1,800 additional staff over the next three years. The positions are expected to include operational, supervisory, and managerial roles across the business.
Alan Armstrong, Almac Group CEO, commented, “As demand for our services steadily increases, our aim is to continue to grow our global team by actively recruiting 1,800 new individuals across a wide variety of diverse and exciting areas….These roles come with a range of benefits including flexible working, competitive salary and an annual bonus.”
Scientific R&D and collaboration software provider Insightful Science has appointed Rebeca Sanchez Sarmiento chief financial officer of the company and its Dotmatics subsidiary. Her previous experience includes tenures with Deutsche Bank and Citigroup.
Sarmiento commented, “I was drawn to Insightful Science as a mission-driven company focused on advancing scientific innovation to improve lives. This vision has helped to propel the company on a phenomenal trajectory, fueled by positive market momentum and impressive customer growth.”
MediCapital Rent, a company that provides medical equipment for clinical trials, has announced it is now operating under a new name, Emsere. The company, which started more than 25 years ago, has locations in the US and the Netherlands.
Emsere CEO John Blank said, “From our start as MediRent and then as MediCapital Rent, our new name — Emsere — reflects the evolution of our services and signifies our growth, expansion and the next generation of our company. Our innovation and excellence in equipment solutions provide our customers a worry-free, start-to-finish clinical trial experience.”
Indegene Clinical has appointed Ram Yeleswarapu, an executive with more than 25 years of industry experience, as its senior vice president. Before joining the company, Yeleswarapu was president of CRO Navitas Life Sciences.
Rajesh Nair, Indegene president, said of Yeleswarapu, “His entrepreneurial skills from co-founding Navitas Life Sciences, experience in driving organic and inorganic growth as the president and CEO of TAKE Solutions, and life sciences expertise from pharmaceutical consulting will assist in building a differentiated clinical growth engine for Indegene, similar to the industry-leading digital transformation capabilities we developed in commercial and medical components of the life sciences value chain.”
Dendreon Pharmaceuticals and Shoreline Biosciences have announced a CNC and manufacturing alliance. According to the companies, the collaboration will center on advancing iPSC-derived cellular therapies.
“With more than a decade of proven expertise in cell therapy manufacturing and an established supply chain and logistics infrastructure, Dendreon is well positioned to support Shoreline in manufacturing from Phase I clinical trials through commercialization,” said Maria Cho, vice president of business development and corporate strategy. “We are thrilled to partner with Shoreline to enable the future of cell therapy and change the way serious diseases are treated.”
