While all eyes are on who takes a certain top job in the US at the moment, the biopharmaceutical industry is also looking at its leaders.
Lonza, Novavax and Vaccitech are among the companies making new appointments this month.
Pierre-Alain Ruffieux starts his role as Lonza’s Chief Executive Officer this week, following his appointment in June.
Pierre-Alain brings with him more than 20 years of experience in biopharmaceuticals, most recently as Head of Global Pharma Technical Operations at Roche, where he oversaw pharmaceutical commercial manufacturing and supply chain operations. Before joining Roche in 2015, he spent 12 years with Novartis. He holds a Masters' degree in Chemical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Biotechnology, both from The Swiss Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL).
Pierre-Alain joins Lonza “at a significant moment of opportunity”, with the company noting increased global awareness of the critical industry contribution made by pharma and biotech manufacturing technologies. The Swiss company generated sales of CHF 5.9bn ($6.5bn) in 2019 and has 15,500 full time employees.
Meanwhile, Albert M. Baehny resumes his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors, after a year in the role of Chief Executive Officer ad interim.
Novavax has created a leadership team to advance its influenza vaccine, NanoFlu, to regulatory licensure.
It will be headed up by Russell (‘Rip’) Wilson, J.D./M.B.A., who has been promoted to Executive Vice President and the newly-created role of NanoFlu General Manager.
Wilson (pictured left) will focus exclusively on leading efforts to advance NanoFlu, the company’s recombinant hemagglutinin (HA) protein nanoparticle influenza vaccine, through global licensure.
Novavax announced results of its successful NanoFlu pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial earlier this year and intends to seek regulatory approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the accelerated approval pathway previously granted to the company.
Wilson’s team will also explore the potential of a combined influenza/COVID-19 vaccine that could be used in a post-pandemic setting. The team will work in parallel with NVX-CoV2373: Novavax’ COVID-19 vaccine candidate, which is in Phase 3 trials.
Wilson joined Novavax in 2011 and was most recently responsible for global business development, quality and program management functions across the company’s pipeline.
The new NanoFlu leadership team also includes several Novavax veterans who have been involved in the vaccine’s development to date:
- Tim Hahn, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of CMC for NanoFlu, has led all CMC activities for NanoFlu since the beginning of the program. Most recently, Dr. Hahn led the establishment of a global supply chain for Novavax’ Matrix-M adjuvant. Matrix-M is a key component of both the NanoFlu and NVX-CoV2373 vaccines.
- Vivek Shinde, M.D., Vice President of Clinical Development for NanoFlu, has served as the clinical lead for the NanoFlu program since its inception and through Phase 3. Dr. Shinde also recently led the initiation of the Phase 2b clinical trial in South Africa for NVX-CoV2373.
Vaccitech (a spin-out company from the University of Oxford's Jenner Institute; and which co-invented the AstraZeneca / Oxford COVID-19 vaccine candidate AZD1222) has made three senior appointments.
Margaret (Meg) Marshall, M.D. becomes Vaccitech's full-time Chief Medical Officer, having worked as a consultant for the company since June. Dr. Marshall has over 25 years of experience in the preclinical and clinical development of cell and antibody-based immunotherapy for infectious disease and cancer. Prior to joining Vaccitech, she held directorship positions in the clinical research departments of Kyowa Kirin, Kite Pharma and Pfizer.
Georgy Egorov joins Vaccitech as Chief Financial Officer. Egorov brings more than 20 years of senior finance, strategy, investment banking and capital markets experience as well as extensive knowledge of investor relations and corporate development to the company. Egorov joins Vaccitech from Exscientia, a global leader in AI drug discovery; and has previously worked at Goldman Sachs and UBS.
Simon Alvis, Ph.D., joins Vaccitech as Vice President Manufacturing. Since 1999, Dr. Alvis has cultivated a broad expertise across process, analytical and formulation development of viral and recombinant protein biological drug products. He joins Vaccitech after leading viral manufacturing programs at PsiOxus Therapeutics.
Vaccitech develops T cell vaccines and immunotherapies designed to treat and prevent infectious disease and cancer.
The Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) Catapult has appointed Professor Angela Thomas OBE and Christine Soden as non-executive Directors to its Board.
The CGT Catapult was established as an independent center of excellence to advance the growth of the UK cell and gene therapy industry, bridging the gap between scientific research and full-scale commercialization. The new appointments will join current Board members in supporting the activities of the Catapult.
Christine Soden (pictured right) has more than 25 years of experience in board positions in executive and non-executive roles at both public and private companies.
She is currently a non-executive Director of Elementis plc. having recently been Chief Financial Officer at Acacia Pharma Group plc, and having held previous positions at Electrical Geodesics Inc, BTG plc (now part of Boston Scientific) as well as Optos plc and Celltech-Chiroscience plc.
After qualifying in medicine and training in adult and paediatric haematology, Professor Angela Thomas has held a number of positions across the medical sector. She is currently the Acting President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and an honorary professor at the University of Edinburgh’s College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.
Professor Thomas (pictured left) worked as a Consultant Paediatric Haematologist as the Royal Hospital for Sick Children Edinburgh and has also served as Director of the Haemophilia Centre at Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh until June 2017. She is a former president of the British Society for Haematology.
Thomas has been involved in the regulation of medicines at a national, European and international level since 2002. She was vice-chair of the UK’s Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) and chaired its Clinical Trials, Biologicals and Vaccines Expert Advisory Group (EAG).
In 2018, she was awarded an OBE for her services to the Regulation of Medicines for the protection and promotion of Public Health, and she continues to work for the licensing authority (MHRA) on the efficacy and safety of medicines.
Polyplus-transfection SA, a biotech which supports the gene and cell therapy market by supplying transfection solutions, has named Mario Philips as its new Chief Executive Officer.
Philips succeeds Karsten Wilking, who will transition into a Strategic Advisor role.
Philips brings the company, which is headquartered in the French city of Strasbourg, more than 20 years of experience in the life science and bioprocessing sectors.
He comes to Polyplus from his role as CEO of French biotech company Polyneuros, a developer of kits for the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative conditions including Parkinson’s disease and ALS. He was also a Strategic Partner with ArchiMed; and previously served as Vice President and General Manager of Pall Biotech, where he led the rapid expansion of the group’s core bioprocessing capabilities.
Prior to Pall Biotech, Philips served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of ATMI Life Sciences, where he led the introduction of new products and service solutions for the Life Sciences industry including the iCELLis single-use bioreactor for gene therapy applications.
Philips graduated from Groep T – Internationale Hogeschool Leuven in Belgium with a degree in Marketing, after earning a degree in Biochemistry Engineering from CTL in Gent (now Hogeschool Gent).
Vor Biopharma - an oncology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts which is pioneering engineered haematopoietic stem cells (eHSCs) for the treatment of cancer - has appointed Matthew R Patterson to its Board of Directors.
Patterson has nearly 30 years of experience in research, development, and commercialisation of innovative treatments: and has held senior leadership positions in both private and publicly-traded biotechnology companies.
He is the co-founder of Audentes Therapeutics and was its CEO for eight years until its acquisition by Astellas Pharma in 2020. He also chaired the company’s Board of Directors and continues to serve as a strategic advisor. Prior to Audentes, Mr Patterson was an entrepreneur-in-residence with OrbiMed. Earlier in his career, he worked for Genzyme Corporation, BioMarin Pharmaceutical, and Amicus Therapeutics. He received his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Bowdoin College.
Patterson is also a member of the Board of Directors of Homology Medicines, Inc., and the Board of Directors of 5:01 Acquisition Corp.
He currently serves as the Chairman of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM), the international advocacy organisation representing the gene and cell therapy and broader regenerative medicine sector.
Vor Biopharma is a founded entity of PureTech Health.
The Discovery Labs has appointed Joerg Ahlgrimm - Lonza’s former SVP global operations Pharma/Biotech - as President and Chief Operating Officer.
The Discovery Labs is a holding company which specializes in cell and gene therapy development and manufacturing services, large-scale testing capabilities and real estate services for the life science industry as well as fostering technology innovation.
Ahlgrimm will be responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations at the company. This includes operations for the Center for Breakthrough Medicines (CBM) and Testing Centers of America (TCA) – two core Discovery Labs platform companies (CBM is the largest single-point cell and gene therapy CDMO in the world, while TCA is a large-scale testing company).
As part of his new role, Ahlgrimm is tasked with ensuring the rollout of TCA’s national COVID testing program.
Ahlgrimm brings over 20 years of expertise in pharmaceutical operations, supply chain and manufacturing to The Discovery Labs. Prior to joining the company, Ahlgrimm was head of global operations pharma biotech and nutrition at Lonza. Before Lonza, Ahlgrimm was head of global manufacturing for Baxter Healthcare, BioScience Division/Baxalta Inc, where he led Baxalta’s internal and external manufacturing network as well as plasma collection organization.