2020 has been an eventful year: but 2021 will also require skilful navigation. Here's some of the people who are stepping up to leading roles as we head into a new year.
2020 has been an eventful year: but 2021 will also require skilful navigation. Here's some of the leaders who are taking over the reins for the new year.
John Rim has become Samsung Biologics’ new president and CEO.
Rim has been the South Korean CDMO’s executive vice president for the last three years. The company says he has been instrumental in rapidly expanding the manufacturing portfolio across Samsung Biologics and for continuous operational excellence in Plant 3, the world’s largest manufacturing capacity at a single site, which opened in 2018.
Rim has more than 30 years’ experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Samsung Biologics in 2018, he worked for Genentech/Roche in senior global leadership roles in technical operations, product development, and R&D in the US and Europe. Rim has also held senior leadership roles with Astellas Pharmaceuticals in general management, sales & marketing, technical operations, customer service, business development, and strategic planning. He began his career as a management consultant with Booz, Allen & Hamilton consulting to pharmaceutical companies in the US and Europe.
“I am deeply grateful and excited by the opportunity to lead Samsung Biologics into the next decade,” said Rim. “This is an extraordinary company, unparalleled in its phenomenal growth and dedication to client satisfaction, made possible by the company’s unrelenting vision and passion, and business execution by great people whom I will have the privilege to lead as CEO.”
Samsung Biologics has seen a continuous increase in sales volume across all plants this year, and has been expanding its global business, including the opening of its first US CDO R&D Center in San Francisco. The company also recently commenced construction of its fourth plant, which is due to start operations in 2022.
Novavax, Inc., a biotech dedicated to developing next-generation vaccines (including a Phase 3 candidate for COVID-19) has appointed Margaret G. McGlynn, R. Ph. to its board as an independent director.
McGlynn is currently President and Board Chair for HCU Network America, an advocacy organization she founded in 2016 and dedicated to supporting the needs of those impacted by the rare genetic condition homocystinuria (HCU) and related disorders.
McGlynn previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), and spent more than 20 years at Merck, where she held roles including President of Merck Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, and President, U.S. Hospital and Specialty Products Division.
She currently serves on the boards of directors of Amicus Therapeutics and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
McGlynn has also served as a Board member for non-profit organizations, including Hilleman Institute for Developing World Vaccine Research, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), and Life Science Cares Philadelphia.
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy, a Master of Business Administration in marketing, and an honorary doctorate from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Vedanta Biosciences, a clinical-stage company developing a new category of therapies for immune-mediated diseases based on rationally-defined consortia of human microbiome-derived bacteria, has appointed Troy Ignelzi as an independent member of its Board of Directors.
Ignelzi joins the board with more than 25 years of experience supporting life science companies in finance, business development and operations: overseeing the evolutions of privately held clinical-stage companies to publicly traded biopharmaceutical companies preparing for commercial launches.
Ignelzi has played a key role in seven IPOs, and currently serves as CFO of Karuna Therapeutics. He joined Karuna in March 2019, coming from scPharmaceuticals, where he was also in the role of chief financial officer overseeing its transformation to a company preparing for commercial launch.
Ignelzi’s past roles include senior positions with Juventas Therapeutics, Esperion Therapeutics and Insys Therapeutics, helping raise public and private capital and expand pipelines through licensing and acquisitions. Ignelzi holds a B.A. in accounting from Ferris State University.
Vedanta Biosciences is a founded entity of PureTech Health plc.
Lassen Therapeutics, a California biotech company developing antibodies as potential treatments for fibrosis, rare diseases and oncology, has formed its scientific advisory board.
The advisors have been chosen for their expertise in cytokine biology; fibrosis, immunology and oncology.
The board is comprised of:
- Matthias Ernst, Ph.D.: Director of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute and Head of the School of Cancer Medicine at La Trobe University. His research is focused on mechanisms that lead to the formation of tumors and the exploration of novel strategies to target these mechanisms. His work includes a focus on IL-11 as a therapeutic target to treat colorectal cancer and the role of IL-11 in immunological function and modulation of T cell anti-tumor activity.
- W. Michael Gallatin, Ph.D.: An experienced biotech executive and drug developer, who has co-founded and led biotechs including Mavupharma (acquired by AbbVie), Calistoga Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Gilead Sciences), Stromedix (acquired by Biogen Idec); and who has expertise in the fields of immunology, inflammation and oncology.
- Cory Hogaboam, Ph.D.: Professor of Medicine and Research Scientist in the Women's Guild Lung Institute in the Department of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. His research is focused on elucidating innate and adaptive immune mechanisms that drive chronic lung diseases including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Cory’s expertise is in the aberrant fibrotic and repair responses in the lung seen in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and other interstitial lung diseases.
- Andrew Nash, Ph.D.: Chief Scientific Officer of medicine and vaccine biotech CSL Limited. Nash’s research experience is in the areas of immunology and cytokine biology. He leads a large team focused on the discovery and development of new recombinant antibody and protein-based medicines to treat serious human diseases.
Lassen’s lead molecule, LASN01, is a monoclonal antibody targeting the interleukin-11 (IL-11) receptor. The newly formed Board will work closely with Lassen’s leadership team to further advance research and development of the company’s pipeline.
PathoQuest, a French spin-out of the Institut Pasteur Paris, has appointed Audrey Brussel, Ph.D. to the newly created position of Viral Safety Leader.
The company, which offers quality control testing solutions for biologics using advanced sequencing technologies and proprietary databases, is expanding its NGS-based testing solutions which are intended to complement or replace traditional viral safety tests. Her responsibilities will include raising global awareness and accelerating the adoption of NGS as a more effective approach for viral safety testing.
With more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Brussel was Project Leader for the Corporate Biological Safety Unit of LFB. Prior to this, she worked at Sanofi on best practice policies and implementation related to viral safety during drug development and manufacture.
Audrey has also been an author / reviewer for sections of regulatory dossiers focusing on viral safety tests. While at both Sanofi and LFB, she was a company representative to the Consortium on Adventitious Agent Contamination in Biomanufacturing (CAACB) and was also a member of CAACB’s Steering Committee when she was at LFB. Before this, she was a viral clearance study director at Texcell, a French CRO specialized in viral safety.
Brussel received her Ph.D. in Virology and Genetics from the Paris VI University and was a virology post-doctoral fellow at Institut Pasteur.
Oxford Biomedica plc, a gene and cell therapy group, has appointed Dr. Siyamak (“Sam”) Rasty to the group’s board as a non-executive Director.
Dr. Rasty brings with him more than two decades of experience across biopharma leadership roles in R&D and commercial development.
He is currently president and CEO of US cell-based therapeutics company PlateletBio. Prior to this, he was COO at Homology Medicines, Inc., a genetic medicines company that he helped launch in 2016.
He has previously held senior positions at Shire Pharmaceuticals (including as Vice President and Head of New Products) Director of Corporate Development at Endo Pharmaceuticals, and Director of Portfolio Management, Business & Commercial Analysis and Global Commercial Strategy at GlaxoSmithKline.
Dr. Rasty holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Louisiana State University, where he focused on transcriptional regulation of lentiviruses, completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and received an MBA from Villanova University.
Rinri Therapeutics, a UK biotech developing a novel cell-based therapy to restore hearing, has appointed Dr. Terri Gaskell as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and member of the executive team.
Gaskell brings over 20 years of life sciences R&D experience in both academic and industry roles with a focus on the development and translation of cell and gene-based therapies.
She joins Sheffield-headquartered Rinri from the UK Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGTC) where she worked for more than seven years on the translation of a broad range of candidate therapies, including stem cell derived, alongside underpinning technologies and infrastructure. Her role there also included advising academics and small companies on the development of advanced therapies.
Gaskell has previously held senior roles at Cell Guidance Systems and Cellartis AB (now Takara Bio Europe AB) where she was focussed on the development of processes for the expansion and differentiation of pluripotent stem cells for therapeutic use and drug discovery.
Gaskell received her Bachelor of Science (BSc.) (Hons) in Biochemistry from the University of Dundee and holds a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Edinburgh.
