July/August 2023 • PharmaTimes Magazine • 36-37
// YOUR MOVES //
Your Moves
Movers of the Month
James Rickard has been appointed as the new Chief Scientific Officer of the Richmond Research Institute.
He is a research pharmacist and has been involved in translational research to deliver new therapeutic options to patients during his career.
Wanting better outcomes for patients, he spent his early career working across several London teaching hospitals in clinical pharmacy, drug manufacture and clinical trials, culminating in taking up the role of Deputy Chief Pharmacist for Barts Health NHS Trust.
He opted for a change of industry in 2018 to lead the preclinical and clinical drug development programmes for the first recognised point of care manufactured product in the UK. He is also a Senior Visiting Lecturer at Kings College London in the Institute of Pharmaceutics Science.
Closed Loop Medicine, a leading TechBio company developing combination prescription drug plus software therapy products that enable personalised dose optimisation, has appointed Kate Woolland as Chief Operating Officer.
Kate’s appointment follows Closed Loop Medicine’s recent announcement of a co-development partnership deal with Pharmanovia – a global life cycle management healthcare company, for drug plus software product solutions.
Bringing extensive strategic business experience, including over 13 years in healthcare, Kate strengthens the executive team and supports the company as it continues to scale commercial development.
She will play a pivotal role in leading collaboration across the multidisciplinary team whilst working closely with current and future commercial partners to drive delivery of Closed Loop Medicine’s products to market.
Avacta Group, a life sciences company developing innovative, targeted oncology drugs and diagnostics, has announced that Shaun Chilton has joined the board as a Non-executive Director.
Shaun was most recently Chief Executive Officer of the formerly London-listed Clinigen Group, a global pharmaceutical services business, which he led through a significant growth journey.
Shaun was also Non-Executive Chairman of C7Health, a disruptive, venture capital-backed medical technology and services business, which executed an acquisitive growth journey before successfully being acquired by a strategic buyer in 2022.
Shaun has held a number of senior and executive commercial positions over more than 30 years in companies in the pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical services industries. These include at Pfizer, Sanofi, Wolters Kluwer Health and KnowledgePoint360 Group.
Veranova has announced the appointment of Dr Rohtash Kumar as the company’s SVP, Development Operations and Chief Technology Officer.
Rohtash brings extensive experience to his new role, having previously led technical teams, engaged in the discovery and development of new products for use in clinical trials, while also running programmes for the commercial supply of active pharmaceutical ingredients in the branded market.
Rohtash most recently served as Site Head at Bachem Americas Inc., where he held several positions including Vice President of API Manufacturing. Prior to Bachem, Rohtash worked with Sigma-Aldrich as Manager of R&D and Manufacturing. In the early part of his career, he worked at Toronto Research Chemicals as a Group Leader, and at Apotex as a Senior Research Chemist.
LEO Pharma has announced the appointment of Leanne Walsh as the new General Manager and Vice President for LEO Pharma United Kingdom and Ireland. She joins from Aimmune Therapeutics where she was previously General Manager for Northern Europe.
Leanne has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry bringing innovation to patients at global, European and affiliate level. She is passionate about patients, with expertise in building teams and access capabilities to drive successful commercialisation.
She has a strong record of leading launches of life-changing therapies in both competitive spaces and in complex, niche, specialist markets where she has demonstrated continued excellence to diagnose, improve and implement brand performance through marketing and selling excellence.
Adcendo has announced the appointment of Dr Lone Ottesen as Chief Medical Officer.
Lone is a drug developer with extensive global clinical development experience across oncology and immune-oncology with a track record of more than 20 years in both early and late-phase clinical development.
She has held roles of increasing seniority in Global Oncology Development at GSK, Eisai and most recently at AstraZeneca, where she was Global Clinical Head in Late-Stage Clinical Development.
Lone joins Adcendo from Circio, formerly known as Targovax, where she was Chief Medical Officer and previously Chief Development Officer. She received her MD and PhD at Aarhus University in Denmark.
Metrion Biosciences has announced the appointment of Dr Steve Jenkinson as Vice President, Drug Discovery and Safety Assessment. This represents an important step in the expansion of Metrion’s business, driven by its ion channel discovery capabilities.
Steve will be responsible for supporting Metrion’s growing client base across the US, guiding projects and navigating key milestones. He has a strong background in drug discovery and secondary pharmacology, including management of drug discovery programmes across multiple therapeutic areas.
Steve has spent over 25 years in leadership positions driving drug discovery projects for GSK and Tanabe Research Laboratories. He joins Metrion from Pfizer where, as Senior Director, he established a high throughput screening team.
Inizio has appointed Shauna Aherne as President, Medical Excellence, Specialised Services at Inizio Medical.
Shauna will be responsible for driving forward a specialist medical transformation offering with sustainable growth across all of Inizio Medical’s agencies and their international client portfolio.
She joins the team from MedEvoke where she served as President and Executive Vice President respectively and was a driving force behind the success of the agency’s consultative and strategic services.
During her time with the business, she worked alongside the largest players in the pharma industry, as well as biotech and medical device organisations to drive their launch and commercialisation efforts.
TMC Pharma Services has appointed Stewart Sharpe as its Chief Commercial Officer. He will have responsibility for overseeing the company’s continued UK and international operation, with a number of new strategic relationships developed in North America, Asia, EU and the Middle East, as well as in the UK.
Stewart has a track record of leading pharma organisations, building teams and launching pharma brands worldwide. He brings extensive experience to the role, having previously been VP Global Commercial Lead at Syneos Health, where he developed client-focused solutions for every stage of product development and commercialisation.
Professor Rachel Batterham has joined Lilly as Senior Vice President for International Medical Affairs & Environmental Shaping in Obesity.
Rachel is an internationally recognised clinical leader in the field of obesity through her groundbreaking research that identified gut hormones as treatments for obesity.
She formerly led the Bariatric Centre for Weight Management and Metabolic Surgery at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and has published extensively on diet, exercise, bariatric surgery, weight stigma and the impact of COVID-19 on people living with obesity.
Rachel has relinquished her NHS clinical responsibilities and joins Lilly from the Department of Medicine at University College London, where she held a faculty position since 2003. She established the Obesity Empowerment Network UK charity and was awarded an OBE in 2022 for services to people affected by obesity.
Zephyrus Innovations, a privately owned medical device company designing and manufacturing safety syringes and closed system transfer devices, has announced the appointment of David Whitaker as Chief Technology Officer.
David brings with him more than 20 years’ experience in the development and manufacture of medical devices.
Until recently, he was Operations Director at Atlas Genetics/Binx Health where he took the company’s first product, for the detection of infectious diseases, from prototype through to commercial supply.
Ogilvy Health has appointed John McPartland as Executive Creative Director. John has specialised in the healthcare sector for over a decade and will be responsible for leading the creative ambition and products.
He will spearhead a team of 30 creatives working alongside over 200 healthcare specialists in disciplines across the healthcare continuum ranging from publication planning, medical education, brain sciences, public relations, experience and influence.
John brings with him creative agency experience with Havas and The Leith Agency.
SpliceBio has announced the appointment of David Favre as Chief Development Officer.
David brings more than 25 years of experience in gene therapy, immunology and drug development throughout academia and the biopharma industry.
He joins SpliceBio from Innoskel, where he served as Chief Scientific Officer. Prior to that, David was Vice President of Translational Medicine at Asklepios Biopharmaceutical, where he led the platforms and program resources to marshal preclinical, INDs and early clinical programmes.
Previously, he was the Director of HIV Biology at GlaxoSmithKline, where he spearheaded its portfolio of immunotherapy drugs.
PharmaTimes
PharmaTimes is the UK’s leading pharmaceutical magazine, tracking the trends and issues that affect the industry here in the UK, in Europe and across the world. We deliver independent, authoritative and trustworthy content through impartial, balanced and informed opinion and analysis.