BIO has announced a change in leadership; while GSK and Moderna are also welcoming new faces to top roles.
BIO has announced a change in leadership; while GSK and Moderna are also welcoming new faces to top roles.
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) – the world’s largest science and public advocacy organization with 1,000 members – has appointed Rachel King as interim President and CEO.
BIO announced on Monday that Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath would step down from her position as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately, and will instead serve as Advisor to the Executive Committee, providing advice and assistance on key BIO initiatives.
King, co-founder and former CEO of GlycoMimetics, Inc., has agreed to serve as interim President and CEO while the organization searches for a full-time successor.
A long-standing member of the BIO leadership, King brings deep expertise across the industry and previously served as Chair of the BIO Board. King has experience at small and large companies having served as co-founder and former CEO of GlycoMimetics, Inc. and as a senior vice president of Novartis Corporation. Prior to that role she spent more than a decade at Genetic Therapy Inc., including as the company’s CEO. She also served at ALZA Corporation and at Bain & Company. She is an expert in the innovation ecosystem as a former Entrepreneur in Residence at New Enterprise Associates, one of the US' leading venture capital firms.
mRNA specialist Moderna has expanded its Executive Committee to prepare for multiple upcoming new product launches.
Effective January 1, 2023, Juan Andres will step into a new role as President, Strategic Partnerships and Enterprise Expansion, and will focus on building out the organization to support the growing pipeline. In this role, he will continue to serve on the Executive Committee.
Dr. Jerh Collins, Ph.D. will join the company as Chief Technical Operations and Quality Officer, succeeding Mr. Andres. Dr. Collins will join Moderna on October 3, 2022 and will assume the role of Chief Technical Operations and Quality Officer on January 1, 2023. Dr. Collins will also serve on Moderna's Executive Committee.
Dr. Collins joins Moderna from Novartis, where for the last nearly 30 years he had roles of increasing responsibility focused on pharmaceutical production and manufacturing, including roles serving as Head of Global Chemical Operations and Anti-Infectives and as Head of Global Chemical Operations. Dr. Collins received his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from University College Cork, Ireland. He also conducted post-doctoral cancer research at Arizona State University.
The European Network of Paediatric Research at the European Medicines Agency (Enpr-EMA) has re-elected Pirkko Lepola of the Finnish Investigators Network for Pediatric Medicines (FinPedMed) as chair of its coordinating group.
Lepola will continue to co-chair the Enpr-EMA coordinating group for the next three years together with Gunter Egger, scientific officer in EMA’s paediatric medicines office.
The vote took place during the annual meeting of the Enpr-EMA coordinating group in October 2022.
Lepola is the Executive Secretary of FinPedMed at the Department of Children and Adolescents of Helsinki University Central Hospital and Development Manager of the New Children's Hospital in Helsinki. She has strong expertise in paediatric clinical trials, paediatric research ethics, trial management and drug development.
Lepola has led a number of initiatives and working groups that had a significant impact on the development of paediatric medicines across Europe.
Enpr-EMA is a network of research networks, investigators and centres with recognised expertise in performing clinical studies in children. It was established by EMA in 2008 to better coordinate studies for medicines in children to avoid duplication of studies and testing in children, and to build the necessary scientific and administrative competencies at European level. The aim of the Enpr-EMA is to increase availability of medicines authorised for use in children.
Iain Mackay, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at GSK, will retire in May 2023. Julie Brown, currently Chief Operating and Financial Officer at Burberry Group plc, has been selected to take on the role.
Brown has extensive experience in the biopharma and medtech sectors: having previously worked at AstraZeneca and Roche.
Julie will join GSK in April 2023 and will work with Mackay to transition responsibilities, taking responsibility as CFO and as an Executive Director of GSK on 1 May 2023.
Brown joined Burberry from Smith & Nephew where she was the Group CFO from 2013-2017. Before this, she was Interim Group CFO of AstraZeneca, having worked at the company for 25 years in finance, commercial and strategic roles.
Julie has also served as a Non-Executive Director and Audit Chair of Roche Holding AG. She is also co-Chair of the Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability Project’s CFO Leadership Network, a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Council, the Business Advisory Board to the Mayor of London and Patron of Oxford University Women in Business.
Brown is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountancy and the Institute of Tax and qualified with KPMG International Limited.
Global drug development consultancy Boyds has bolstered its clinical team with the appointment of pharmaceutical physician Dr Karen Mullen FFPM as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Vice President of Clinical and Medical Affairs.
Karen joins Boyds from GlaxoSmithKline, with her most recent role being Country Medical Director for the UK and Ireland, in which she led and managed a large medical department across clinical research, pharma, and vaccines. Karen’s previous roles at GSK include Head of Medical Affairs, Director of Vaccines, and Director of Metabolic Medicine.
With more than 20 years’ experience in medical affairs and drug research and development in Europe, the US, and Australia, Karen has also worked as an independent consultant providing a range of medical services to pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and Roche. Prior to this, Karen spent five years at Eli Lilly in various physician roles.
Karen is a Fellow of Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine (FFPM) and was a member of the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA) Appeal Board for three years. Previously, she also chaired the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) Code of Practice Working Group on behalf of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine (FPM) as well as being involved in various other ABPI working groups.
At Boyds, Karen will lead the Clinical and Medical Affairs department and its team of pharmaceutical physicians, providing medical monitoring support, and safety, pharmacovigilance, scientific and medical advice across a wide range of client projects including advanced therapies and orphan drugs.
Asia- Pacific based CRO George Clinical expanded its China team with the addition of Helen Xu as Project Director and Cell Gene Therapy Head. She will be based in Beijing and joins a rapidly growing team responsible for expanding clinical research activity in China with biopharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostic sponsors.
Before joining George Clinical, Dr. Xu had served GSK, BI, Wuxiapp, a Chinese clinical research organization, CASI, and Carsgen, a CAR-T biotech firm. Her clinical trial experience covers the whole development lifecycle starting from phase I through PMS, the majority of the trial experiences being with pivotal trials.
Alvotech, a biotech specializing in the development and manufacture of biosimilars, has announced that Sarah Tanksley will join its corporate leadership team as Chief Quality Officer, effective October 14.
Tanksley succeeds Reem Malki, who is stepping down for personal reasons.
Tanksley has been working with Alvotech as a consultant and her familiarity with the company will help ensure a smooth transition, alongside her experience in regulatory compliance and GMP.
Ms. Tanksley has 20 years of experience within the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and as an industry consultant. She teaches graduate courses in GMP compliance and Regulatory Affairs as an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Program at Georgetown University School of Medicine and with the Advanced Academic Program at Johns Hopkins University. Sarah has an MS degree in Bioscience Regulatory Affairs from Johns Hopkins University, as well as an MS degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Georgetown University School of Medicine.
