This month’s announcements include new hires, promotions, acquisitions, and other events from Saama, Javara, Firma, GlaxoSmithKline, and other companies.
This month’s announcements include new hires, promotions, acquisitions, and other events from Saama, Javara, Firma, GlaxoSmithKline, and other companies.
Integrated research organization (IRO) Javara has named Tim Neathery to serve as its first chief human resources officer (CHRO). Neathery, a clinical research executive with more than 25 years of experience, most recently served as senior vice president of HR shared services, talent acquisition, and people insights and analytics at PPD.
"With a firm belief that talent is the cornerstone of Javara's continued success, I am humbled to be a part of this team of clinical research leaders, and I look forward to working together to hire and retain the best talent in the industry," said Neathery. "My focus is to build unparalleled, cutting-edge talent strategies to scale growth, with a strong emphasis on crafting a high-quality employee experience.”
Trial technology firm Thread has acquired inVibe, a company that specialized in voice-powered research and insight solutions. The purchase closely follows Thread’s acquisition of Modus Outcomes in November 2021.
“inVibe adds capabilities to the Thread platform that allow us to integrate the power of voice into clinical research,” said John Reites, Thread CEO. “This will help us as we seek to create the best possible trial experiences for participants and all other study stakeholders.”
Pharma firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has designated Tony Wood to take on the role as chief scientific officer. He will assume full accountability in the position on August 1, taking over from current CSO Hal Barron.
Wood said, “I am honored to have been asked to lead GSK’s R&D; in the past few years, under Hal’s leadership, we have made enormous progress to strengthen the pipeline and put in place an R&D approach that can improve the efficiency and success of medicine and vaccine development. With the progress already made, and together with the many talented people we have working in our R&D organization, I am confident that we will deliver highly successful and much needed scientific innovation for patients in the years ahead.”
CRO Worldwide Clinical Trials has announced a collaboration with Science 37 intended to enable enhanced decentralized clinical trial delivery for patients in their communities. Worldwide will utilize Science 37’s operating system to help bring about faster, more patient-centric clinical trial execution.
“Bringing clinical trials closer to patients and making it easier for them to participate with more patient-centric approaches are crucial imperatives for Worldwide Clinical Trials,” said Jeff Zucker, senior vice president of DCT solutions and trial optimization. “Our powerful partnership with Science 37 adds its industry-leading Operating System to our offering for sponsors and enables more flexible solutions to support patients from anywhere—an increasingly important option for our key therapeutic areas of oncology, neurology, metabolic, and rare diseases.”
Jennifer Mintz has been promoted to chief commercial officer of Firma Clinical Research. She joined Firma in 2018 as executive director, and she was named vice president of sales the following year.
“Jen is dedicated to Firma's success in both data services and home trial services, and this promotion acknowledges her integral leadership in advancing the Firma brand," said Michael Woods, CEO of Firma Clinical Research. "Having Jen oversee business development, marketing and contracts and proposals will benefit Firma's team, customers and partners and help us continue to support successful clinical trials, including decentralized trials."
Three clinical research companies—IACT Health, LMC Manna Research, and True North Clinical research—have combined under the name Centricity Research. After originally joining in December 2021, they have merged into an organization with a total of 40 sites, access to more than 1.6m patients, and more than 150 active investigators.
“Our new name, Centricity Research, was purposefully chosen,” said Karri Venn, COO of Centricity Research. “It signifies that we are customer-centric; our patient volunteers, sponsors, CROs, and physicians are the cornerstone of our business.”
Scott Rogers has been named chief financial officer of clinical software solutions company Saama Technologies. The 17-year industry veteran most recently served as senior vice president of PPD, a clinical research services specialist.
Suresh Katta, Saama CEO and founder, said, “Scott is a high-impact executive who brings a compelling blend of financial experience and deep understanding of clinical development that accelerates Saama’s journey towards establishing ClinTech Category leadership in the drug development industry.”
Publicis Health as acquired BBK Worldwide, a clinical trial experience specialist. The purchase is intended to complement Publicis’s existing clinical trial experience capabilities.
"BBK's powerful suite of solutions, patented technology, and category intelligence enable clients to optimize and accelerate global drug development," said Alexandra von Plato, CEO of Publicis Health. "By bringing together BBK's proprietary technology and methodologies and Langland's award-winning creative capabilities under one roof, Publicis Health creates a powerful end-to-end value proposition for our clients."
CDMO Metrics Contract Services has named Kim Black-Washington senior business development executive. She will be responsible for marketing Metrics’ expertise in the commercial manufacturing of complex and highly potent compounds following the recent opening of the company’s $10m, 3,760 square foot potent-capable production space.
Britton Jimenez, vice president of business development, said, “Our new commercial production suites offer increased flexibility and capacity to our partners and enable us to tailor equipment trains to their processes, particularly those that require smaller batch sizes. By investing in dedicated capabilities and infrastructure, as well as adding experienced people like Kim to the team, we will ensure that we further expand our presence and reputation as a leading manufacturer of novel OSDs and help deliver vital medicines to patients everywhere.”
Recipharm has announced the sale of its solid-dose manufacturing site at Fontaine-lès-Dijon, France, to Astrea Pharma. The site’s capabilities reportedly fit Astrea’s goals to grow various processing, filling, and packaging technologies, and to expand its geographical research. well as a wide geographical reach.
Marc Funk, CEO of Recipharm, said, “This divestment will help strengthen our financial position and we see it as a positive step in streamlining our operations and consolidating our position as a top five global CDMO. I am pleased that this business will get a committed owner with the capacity and capability to develop it to its full potential. We will continue to develop and invest in our highly successful contract manufacturing business.”
