June 2024 • PharmaTimes Magazine • 36-37
// YOUR MOVES //
Your Moves
Mover of the Month
ERS Genomics has announced the appointment of John E Milad as CEO.
John brings over 25 years of experience as an executive leader, venture capitalist, and investment banker focused on the life sciences and medical technology sectors.
As CEO of Quanta Dialysis Technologies for nearly a decade, John led the development and commercial launch of an award-winning portable haemodialysis system designed to transform the delivery of kidney care to patients.
He drove market entry into the UK and US, while raising a record-breaking $245 million private funding round and building an extensive intellectual property estate of over 40 patent families.
Prior to this, he served as CFO of Nitec Pharma, where he headed up finance and business development activities, raising a pivotal funding round and securing a licensing partner to enable the company’s transition from clinical development to commercialisation.
John also has significant experience as a venture investor, with previous roles as Partner and co-Head of Healthcare Ventures at Downing LLP and Investment Director at NBGI Ventures, as well as positions at Atlas Venture and Kirkland Investors. Successful exited investments include Symetis, ACT/Epix, BoneSupport and WebMD.
Shaun Foy, Co-Founder and Chair of the Board of Directors, ERS Genomics, commented: “On behalf of the Board and executive team, I would like to welcome John as CEO. His experience uniquely positions him to lead ERS Genomics through the next stage of its development.”
Gilead Sciences has announced the appointment of Peter Wickersham as Vice-President and General Manager for the UK and Ireland.
In his new role, Peter will be responsible for leading Gilead’s commercial organisation in the affiliate with a focus on driving growth and advancing patient care across all of Gilead’s portfolio of innovative products.
With more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Peter brings a wealth of commercial expertise and strategic acumen to his new role.
More recently, he led Gilead’s Liver Disease and COVID-19 Business Unit in the US, and prior to that, he was Vice-President of US Managed Markets. Before joining Gilead, he held senior positions at Express Scripts, Prime Therapeutics and Merck & Co.
Peter reflected: “I am thrilled to join Gilead’s UK and Ireland organisation at such a pivotal time. We stand on the brink of eliminating hepatitis C, we continue to pioneer advancements in HIV care and prevention, and we are reshaping the landscape of cancer treatment. "
Tessellate BIO has appointed Professor Sandra Strauss, University College London, to its Scientific Advisory Board.
Sandra is Professor of Medical and Teenage Young Adult Cancer (TYA) and an honorary consultant medical oncologist at University College London Hospital NHS Trust.
Her clinical role is based within the London Sarcoma Service, one of the largest sarcoma services in Europe. Here, she leads the clinical service, and specialises in the systemic treatment of bone and soft tissue sarcomas in both adults and teenagers.
Her research appointment at UCL focuses on development of novel therapeutics in sarcomas across all ages.
She is the chief investigator and principal investigator for a number of international and national phase 1, 2 and 3 studies in sarcoma and is leading a national cohort study in osteosarcoma, ICONIC.
She also chairs the NCRI Sarcoma Clinical Studies Group Bone Subgroup and the executive committee of the European EuroEwing consortium, a pan-European collaboration to improve outcome for patients with Ewing sarcoma.
Aspire Pharma has appointed Matthew Toms as Operations Director.
Matthew has significant multi-site supply chain, procurement, commercial and logistics experience, including managing multiple functions and teams through change and restructures, as well as numerous ERP system implementations.
He joins Aspire from Alliance Pharma, where he has been Operations Director since 2020, and before that Global Head of Supply Chain from 2017.
Polaroid Therapeutics has announced the appointment of Markus Rothmaier as its inaugural Head of Research and Development.
With over two decades of pharmaceutical R&D leadership experience, Markus will drive product development, strategic partnerships and propel Polaroid Therapeutics' revolutionary anti-microbial technologies forward.
In his new role, Markus will lead Polaroid Therapeutics' strategic direction and product development, overseeing and leading the company's team of engineers and scientists in their mission to develop new and innovative antimicrobial products and solutions.
His extensive experience in drug discovery, notably in his previous roles at IVF Hartmann AG where he specialised in the development of antimicrobial wound dressings and tactical combat casualty care products, will be instrumental in accelerating Polaroid Therapeutic’s mission in combatting AMR.
Likarda has appointed Shelly Adams as Chief Commercial Officer.
Shelly joins Likarda from Erbi Biosystems, part of Millipore Sigma, where she served as Vice President of Sales. In her new role, she will be responsible for driving all commercial decisions, building world class sales and marketing teams, and delivering accelerated revenue growth at Likarda.
Shelly brings with her strong industry experience in cell culture – bringing molecules from discovery through clinical trials to launch.
She has over 25 years of global sales and management experience and over 15 years of marketing experience, during her career within the biotechnology, cell therapy, diagnostics, medical device and technical services industries.
Shelly’s entrepreneurial spirit has made her an agent of change within her previous roles, where her passion for building companies has been pivotal in roles at CDMOs such as Gallus BioPharmaceuticals, Avecia Biologics and Abzena.
Calluna Pharma has announced the appointment of Margrethe Sørgaard to the position of Senior Vice President of Clinical Operations and Pharmacovigilance.
Margrethe joins the company’s cross-functional R&D team following Calluna’s launch, to oversee the strategic development of the Company’s clinical programmes in line with regulatory guidelines and safety requirements.
With over 25 years’ experience from different leading positions in clinical development and operation, medical affairs and drug safety/pharmacovigilance, Margrethe will play a pivotal role in supporting the development of Calluna’s clinical programmes including CAL101.
As a Senior VP of Clinical Operations and Pharmacovigilance, Margrethe will be responsible for clinical operation activities pertaining to product safety and pharmacovigilance, ensuring appropriate safety assessment and surveillance, compliant regulatory authority reporting, the development and implementation of risk management strategies.
Sphere Fluidics has announced the appointment of Dale Levitzke as CEO with immediate effect, as Dr Frank F Craig, current CEO and co-founder, announces his retirement. Dale joins Sphere Fluidics with over 25 years’ experience in the life sciences tools, biopharma and biotechnology industries, where he has built a strong track record in successfully driving innovation, commercial growth and IPO strategies. In his role as CEO, Dale will shape Sphere Fluidics’ future commercial business and progress the company’s continued global expansion strategy to reach new customers and create value for shareholders.
Throughout his career, Dale has focused on supporting early-stage and VC-backed pioneering tools companies and steering them towards global market success.
Before joining Sphere Fluidics, he was Senior VP of Global Sales and Support at Vizgen and in this role established a global commercial infrastructure and rapidly scaled the Company’s operations.
Prior to this, as VP Worldwide Sales and Marketing at Dropworks, Dale’s contributions were instrumental in developing an integrated Digital Droplet PCR platform and his strategic leadership culminated in the company's acquisition by Bio-Rad.
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