Speaker and Chair Biographies
Zina AffasCharlie Alexander
Mark Ashton
Dan Barnsley
Patrick Baddeley
Anthony Baxter
Michael Bison
Phil Boyd
Graham Buckton
Crawford Brown
Philip Campbell
Mark Carver
Niv Caviar
Graeme Clark
Simon Coles
Donald Coppen
Peter Crocker
Scott Cuthill
Susan Dana Jones
Alistair Dixon
William Downing
Paul Drohan
David Eastham
John Efthimiou
Harriet Fear
Jamie Ferguson
Kerry Fisher
Eliot Forster
Lubor Gaal
Stephen Gallagher
Mairi Gibbs
Shaun Grady
Tim Haines
Adam Hardy
Alistair Hurst
Karl Keegan
Simon Kerry
Kurt Laskow-Pooley
Nick La Thangue
Steven Lee
Chris Locke
Colin Love
Anker Lundemose
Charles Macfarlane
Chris Martin
Simon McEwen
Simon McKeown
Andrew Meadow
Thomas Meyer
Diane Moore
Jeffrey Moore
Edwin Moses
David Mott
Bill Mullen
Peter Nolan
David Parry
Charles Potter
Andrew Rankin
Jon Rees
Christian Rohlff
Catherine Rohll
Elizabeth Roper
Sally Rose
George Sampson
Kevin J. Scanlon
Emma Sceats
Thomas Schall
Rob Scoffin
Cheryl Scott
Richard Seabrook
Graziano Seghezzi
Mike Shearan
Nick Skaer
Tim Sparey
Rob Sprenkels
Adam Stoten
Lars Sundstrom
Rob Swan
Andrew Tamworth
Jon Tilbury
Mark Tucker
Sam Vanags
Pierre Warffemius
Philip Webber
Colin Williams
Mike Wort
Zina Affas
Principal, Life Sciences, Atlas Venture
Zina Affas joined Atlas Venture in 2002 and is a Principal working in the firm’s life sciences group. Zina joined Atlas Venture from Euromedica where she was an Executive Search Consultant specializing in Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology assignments in Europe. Previously, she was a Scientific Analyst at the international law firm Shook, Hardy & Bacon where she worked in medical litigation and, in particular, pharmaceutical and tobacco product liability in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. She sits on the boards of Atlas portfolio companies Cellzome and NovaMed. She also works closely with Achillion (NASDAQ: ACHN), Neurotech and Sirion. Zina holds a Pharmacy degree with Honors from the University of Nottingham and is a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. She obtained a Medicinal Chemistry Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham where her research focused on establishing strategies toward the synthesis of bacterial signaling molecules and led to filing of the patent "Compounds and their use as antibacterial agents." The research is published in the Journal of Molecular Microbiology. Zina sits on the boards of Cellzome and NovaMed.
Senior Business Development Manager, Shire Pharmaceuticals
Charlie joined Shire in April 2007 with responsibilities including both in-licensing and out-licensing. His experience spans biotech, large pharma and consultancy. Immediately prior to joining Shire he worked as a consultant in providing strategic and commercial services to biotechs and mid-cap pharma. Before this his initial business development experience was with Xenova, a Slough-based biotech. Amongst other things he was responsible for seeking territorial deals for Xenova’s oncology portfolio and ultimately closed a deal for Xenova’s lead compound. He started his career at GSK spending a significant part of his time there working in New Product Development/Strategy.
Executive VP, Business Development, Evotec (UK) Ltd
Dr Mark Ashton joined Evotec AG in 1995 working as a Combinatorial Chemist and Team Leader, he helped to initiate and manage the combinatorial chemistry activities of Evotec. In May 2000, he was promoted to Director of Discovery Services and in March 2003 to President, Discovery Services. He was responsible for the Discovery division of Evotec: a division of over 250 chemists and biologists involved in projects ranging from high throughput screening through parallel synthesis and medicinal chemistry to pre-clinical development. In April 2005, he was promoted to his current role of Executive Vice President, Business Development in which he is responsible for the global, commercial and marketing activities of Evotec, discussing outsourcing needs with the world’s leading Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology companies. Dr Ashton has worked within the outsourcing industry for the past 12 years and has both operational and commercial experience of a wide range of Pharmaceutical related projects including focused library design and synthesis plus medicinal chemistry projects on a range of target classes and therapeutic indications together with technology development and optimisation.
Development Manager, MEPC
Dan is the Development Manager for Milton Park responsible for all development activity. His role is to take forward all development projects through inception and feasibility, and to ensure that the Park continues to meet the needs of the tenants and prospective tenants at a continually evolving location. Contact Dan if you are interested in development activity at Milton Park on dbarnsley@mepc.com
Corporate Finance Partner, Manches LLP
An Oxford Graduate, Patrick joined Manches in 1984 and became a partner in 1987. A member of the Corporate Group, Patrick is involved in mergers and acquisitions, refinancing and other corporate transactions, particularly for clients in the life sciences field. He also advises on employee Share Schemes and is a member of the Share Schemes Lawyers Group. Patrick was a founder member of OBN Advisory Board, and is one of OBN’s longest standing supporters.
Non-executive Chairman, Equinox Pharma Ltd
Dr. Baxter has over 22 years experience in management and research within the pharmaceutical, biotech, medicinal chemistry service and instrumentation industries, mainly in the areas of drug discovery, medicinal chemistry, combinatorial chemistry and compound synthesis. Prior to working with Equinox Pharma, Dr. Baxter was most recently CEO of deltaDOT Ltd, and was also one of the founders and CEO of Argenta Discovery Ltd, both Imperial College spin-out companies. In previous roles he was CSO of Oxford Asymmetry International Ltd and was part of the management team that led the merger with Evotec; Director of Combinatorial Chemistry at Oxford Diversity Ltd, an early subsidiary of OAI; Research Manager at Ciba UK Central Research Laboratories and Principal chemist with Glaxo Group Research. He has had notable scientific success in the development of marketed drugs and in the discovery of advanced clinical development candidates for both pharma and biotech companies.
Partner, Goodwin Procter LLP
Michael Bison, a partner in the Goodwin Procter’s Technology Companies Group and member of the firm’s Life Sciences and Securities & Corporate Finance Practices, specializes in representing public and private life science and high technology companies, as well as the venture capital and private equity firms and investment banks that focus on these companies. Mr. Bison represents companies in all stages of development, from start-up through initial public offering or acquisition. Mr. Bison regularly counsels his clients on general corporate matters and corporate finance, including venture capital transactions, public offerings of equity and debt, mergers and acquisitions, SEC compliance and corporate governance. He also regularly advises his clients on technology acquisitions, licensing, joint-ventures and strategic alliances. In addition, Mr. Bison spends a significant amount of time working with early stage and start-up companies assisting them with formation, seed financing and intellectual property protection. Mr. Bison also represents venture capital and private equity investors in connection with the making and monitoring of portfolio investments in the life sciences and high technology sectors. He has represented numerous investment banks and financial advisors in connection with private placements of equity and debt, including PIPES transactions, and underwritten offerings. A significant portion of Mr. Bison’s practice includes the representation of issuers and investors in connection with cross-border financings and commercial transactions, and in connection with the ongoing U.S. operations of these clients. Mr. Bison is a member, through the firm, of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, Massachusetts Biotechnology Council and MassMEDIC. He is also a member of the American and Boston Bar Associations. Prior to joining Goodwin Procter, Mr. Bison was a member of the Business Practice Group at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, LLP in Boston. Prior to beginning his legal career, he was a business and information systems consultant at Andersen Consulting, LLP (now Accenture Ltd.).
Chief Financial Officer, Syntaxin
Philip joined Syntaxin as CFO in March 2007, from Evotec AG, where he was Senior Vice President, Finance and UK Finance Director. A chartered management accountant, Philip has extensive financial and business experience from industry and consulting that is complemented by a scientific background. Prior to Evotec, Philip was Finance Director at Cambridge Discovery Chemistry, which was subsequently acquired by Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. Before this, he spent six years as a management consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, specialising in areas of operational and financial management across a wide range of industries, including pharmaceuticals. Philip received his BSc (Hons) degree in biotechnology and his PhD in genetics from University of Leeds, UK.
CEO, Pharmaterials Ltd
Graham has BPharm, PhD and DSc degrees from the University of London UK. He is Professor of Pharmaceutics at the School of Pharmacy, University of London and his research has covered materials science and its impact in a wide range of drug delivery systems, including solid oral dosage forms and inhaled therapeutics. He research has been recognised with numerous awards, including the Pfizer Award, the Sunner Award, and the British Pharmaceutical Conference Science Medal. He is Editor of International Journal of Pharmaceutics and has served on the editorial board of many journals. He has been a member of the Committee on Safety of Medicines and chaired its Chemistry, Pharmacy and Standards sub-committee (the body that reviews product licence applications in the UK) and as such has a good regulatory knowledge. He is a British Pharmacopoeia Commissioner and has chaired the BP excipients committee. Graham was the first Chairman of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Great Britain and has been awarded an Academy Medal, he is a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, The Royal Society of Chemistry and the AAPS. He has run many training courses for learned societies and has been an invited lecturer across the world on the themes of materials properties and drug delivery. He has acted as consultant to companies in Europe, USA and India. Graham is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pharmaterials Ltd.
Chief Scientific Officer, Avecia Biologics Ltd
Dr Mark Carver was appointed Chief Scientific Officer for Avecia Biologics Ltd in March 2007, having previously been Head of Research and Development since the company's formation in 1999. He has over 20 years' expertise with ICI, Zeneca and Avecia in designing research and development programmes to develop scaleable and validatable manufacturing processes for recombinant protein products based on microbial expression in bacterial, yeast and filamentous fungal systems. Prior to joining ICI in 1984, Mark studied for a Biochemistry degree at Liverpool University, before gaining a PhD from the University of Warwick, and undertook Post Doctoral Research and Teaching at St Andrews University and The University of Leicester.
Executive Vice President, Chief Business and Financial Officer,
La Jolla Pharmaceutical
Niv E. Caviar joined the Company in May 2007 as Executive Vice President, Chief Business and Financial Officer. Prior to that, Mr. Caviar worked at Allergan as Vice President from 2002 to 2007. At Allergan, Mr. Caviar served as Vice President of Marketing for the Medical Dermatology business where he led all operational and strategic marketing functions. Brands under his responsibility included Tazorac® and Botox® for medical dermatology indications. Previously, he served the same company as Vice President of Business Development, responsible for licensing, deal alliance formation, and negotiations for Allergan’s ophthalmology, dermatology and neurology business units. During this tenure, he led Allergan’s efforts to establish the existing Botox, Imitrex® and Amerge® Neurology Alliance with GlaxoSmithKline. From 2001 to 2002, Mr. Caviar was Vice President of Business Development and Marketing at Immusol Biopharmaceuticals. From 1999 to 2001, he was Director of Corporate Development at Affymetrix, Inc. Prior to Affymetrix, Mr. Caviar was a management consultant in Accenture's Pharmaceutical and Health Care Strategy practice. Mr. Caviar served as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force where he worked as a Solid Rocket Motor Engineer and was a Project Manager for the U.S. Space Command on both the Titan IV Rocket and the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motor Programs. Mr. Caviar received an M.B.A from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy.
CTO & Co-founder, Amphora Research Systems
Simon's involvement with ELNs began as a consultant to Kodak in 1996, resulting in the earliest fully-electronic ELN in the world. Amphora Research Systems was formed to continue this work, and the company now supplies ELNs to companies worldwide from big pharma to small biotechs. As a world leading authority on ELNs, Simons experience ranges from design and implementation to the legal and regulatory considerations essential to any successful ELN project. A regular contributor to industry conferences, Simon holds a Masters in Information Systems Engineering and numerous technical qualifications. Simon Coles MEng CTO & Co-founder, Amphora Research Systems Simon's involvement with ELNs began as a consultant to Kodak in 1996, resulting in the earliest fully-electronic ELN in the world. Amphora Research Systems was formed to continue this work, and the company now supplies ELNs to companies worldwide from big pharma to small biotechs. As a world leading authority on ELNs, Simons experience ranges from design and implementation to the legal and regulatory considerations essential to any successful ELN project. A regular contributor to industry conferences, Simon holds a Masters in Information Systems Engineering and numerous technical qualifications.
Partnering & Licensing Manager, Biocompatibles International plc
Donald joined Biocompatibles in 2003 and is responsible for Biocompatibles' global partnering & licensing together with market research . Recent activities include the CellMed AG acquisition and several distribution agreements around the world for Biocompatibles DC Bead, an interventional oncology medical device product, that can be loaded with doxorubicin for the treatment of hypervascular tumours, e.g. liver cancer. Currently he is involved with the out-licensing of a proprietary GLP-1 peptide for diabetes, PCylation, a novel drug conjugation technology, and other drug eluting bead products. Donald has a PhD from the University of Southampton and a MBA from the Cranfield School of Management.
Manager, AST Associates
Peter Crocker first studied biochemistry, then trained in engineering, marketing and finance. He has over 20 years experince with the bio/pharmaceutical industry through senior posts at Millipore, AEA Technology where he managed teams in R&D, Applications Development and Business Development of novel separations technologies, sterile+antiviral filtration and nano-separations used in manufacture of many bio/pharmaceuticals and ultra-pure water systems. Latterly at Imprint Pharmaceuticals he is reponsible for new product development and manufacturing of novel drug delivery technologies from concept through manufacture and regulatory approval. Peter is a founder member of AST Associates, specialising in consultancy, licensing, marketing and application develoment of anti-infective technologies to detect or eliminate bacteria and viruses. Presenting at Biotrinity Technology Showcase Day 1 15.45 - a recently licensed, novel broad-spectrum antiviral pharmaceutical with a unique mechanism of action that prevents virus entry into the cell. It has been in development and trials for 6 years and has proved effective against all 9 envelope viruses (HepC, HepB, Influenza, HIV, herpes, ebola etc including all genotypes of same) tested so far in vivo. It achieved complete prophylaxis/clearance with no detected toxicity in animal studies. The formulation is expected to enter the clinic in 2008 for the lead application. Partners/investors/grants are sought in developing additional indications for this and other anti-infective products.Business Development Managerm Chroma Therapeutics
Scott has the role of Business Development Manager at Chroma Therapeutics, a position he has held for over 3 years. He has over a decade of experience in industry having held senior research positions at Roche Discovery, Welwyn, UK and at OSI Pharmaceuticals, Oxford, UK. In addition to working in the industrial sector, Scott spent a number of years in academia gaining his PhD in Medical Sciences at The Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and had post-doctoral stints at The Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow and the UW Comprehensive Cancer Center in Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
CEO, Eden BioDesign
Crawford co–founded Eden Biodesign in 2000 from Celltech–Medeva where he was Director of Product Development responsible for developing and manufacturing the biotech product pipeline. Among his achievements Crawford managed and led a successful pan–European submission for a complex recombinant vaccine which included an EMEA sponsored pre–approval inspection. Crawford has held senior technical management positions in both biotech and pharmaceutical companies and has been actively engaged in commercial biopharmaceutical development for over 20 years. As well as leading the company, he retains a major role in Eden Biodesign's consultancy services.
Asset Manager, MEPC
Philip is responsible for all the properties at Milton Park with a specific focus on customer support and leasing and renewals. Philip works closely with both existing and prospective occupiers to ensure their evolving business needs are catered for by MEPC’s proactive and dynamic leasing approach. Contact Philip if you are interested in taking space at Milton Park on pcampbell@mepc.com
Director, Lein Applied Diagnostics
Graeme Clark co-founded Lein Applied Diagnostics in 2003 and has over 20 years experience in the medical device and communications markets with companies such as Agilent Technologies and Marconi. His career started in engineering and has included programme management, strategy and marketing roles. At Lein, Graeme is primarily responsible for business development in Lein’s glucose monitoring and biometry markets and leads the engineering team that is developing its innovative optical technologies. He has a Ph.D. in physics and an MBA from Cranfield School of Management.
Vice President and Senior Consultant BioProcess Technology Consultants, Inc
Susan Dana Jones, Ph.D., has more than 20 years of discovery, product development, and strategic planning experience in biotechnology. She co-founded two biotechnology companies and has managed discovery and product development programs in multiple organizations and for multiple disease areas. She currently manages several outsourced biopharmaceutical process development and manufacturing programs for client products, assists and advises clients and vendors regarding applicable cGMP regulatory guidelines, performs regulatory compliance audits, prepares CMC sections of client regulatory submissions to FDA, EMEA, and other competent authorities, and performs due diligence of manufacturing and analytical operations for investors or clients considering acquiring products in development. In addition, Dr. Jones serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, as a member of the Board of Directors of Virginia-based start up company Gene Solutions, and as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of BioProcess International. Prior to joining BioProcess Technology Consultants, Dr. Jones was Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Serenex, Inc, where she worked with other senior managers to complete a $15M Series B financing. She was previously Vice President of Product Development at Waratah Pharmaceuticals, where her responsibilities included management of outsourced product development and manufacturing activities for a combination protein and peptide therapeutic. Before Waratah, Dr. Jones held development and management positions of increasing responsibility at Peptimed Inc., Virus Research Institute (now Avant Immunotherapeutics), IntraImmune Therapies Inc., and Dyax Corp. Dr. Jones received her Bachelor's degree from Harvard University, her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Francisco, and performed post-doctoral research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute of Harvard Medical School.
Business Development Manager, Pharmidex Pharmaceutical Services
Alistair Dixon obtained his PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Cambridge, investigating the potential role of Adenosine receptors as potential therapeutic targets in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Alistair has held a number of senior roles in both contract research organisations and drug discovery focused companies. These include Parke-Davis Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer and Neurosolutions Ltd. Alistair is currently managing Business Development at Pharmidex Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a solution provider in brain medicines research. Headquartered in London, Pharmidex specialise in predicting and assessing the ability of compounds to cross the blood-brain barrier.
Solicitor, Manches LLP
William is a partner in Manches employment department and provides day to day employment law advice to a wide range of clients, including those in the life sciences sector and those that arise in connection with corporate transactions. He also has extensive experience of dealing with contentious employment matters.
Vice President and General Manager, Genzyme UK and Ireland
Paul Drohan joined genzyme Corporation, in July of 1996. He is currently the General Manager & Vice-President of genzyme UK & Ireland. In this position, Mr. Drohan is responsible for company’s financial success in UK & Ireland through his management of Sales & Marketing, Finance, Operations, Medical & Regulatory Affairs, Public & Government Affairs and Legal Affairs. Paul has been in this current role since April 1. 2005. Prior to assuming responsibility for the genzyme UK & Ireland, Paul was the General Manager & Vice President of genzyme Canada. Working to establish genzyme in his native land, he worked with patients, healthcare professionals and government to provide access to genzyme’s novel therapeutics. These activities culminated in working to establish a new approach for access of ultra-orphan diseases with, and within, both the provincial and federal governments’ healthcare responsibilities. Paul is a Director of Genzyme Therapeutics Ltd and is a member of the UKSC (UK Steering Committee) and the EMC (European Management Committee). Prior to joining genzyme Canada, Mr. Drohan held the position of Group Product Manager at Pharmacia & Upjohn. In 10 years at Upjohn, Mr. Drohan moved through sales & marketing function beginning in sales, specialty sales, medical sciences liaison, product management, product director and finally group product manager. He served as a consultant to the College of Family Physicians of Canada and worked with the Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons to implement the MOCOMP (Maintenance of Competency Programme) with Canadian specialists. During his tenure in the pharmaceutical / biotechnology industry he has successfully led the launch of 7 products into the Canadian and UK/Ireland markets. He has led the negotiation and execution of two successful co-marketings agreements. His increasing level of responsibility has provided him with the insight into managing an overall operation and he was an architect of the resent DoH-NCG agreement for NCG sustainability. A critical requirement to success in any healthcare system is the responsibility for companies and their personnel to work with Government in the establishing a positive and progressive relationship that is beneficial to patients. Paul is married and a father of 4 girls. An active cyclist, tennis player and downhill skier provide challenges outside of his on-going career.
Project Team Leader, Isis innovation
Dr David Eastham originally trained as a metallurgist followed by a doctorate in electrodeposition of thin Permalloy films, both from the University of Nottingham. His subsequent industrial career has developed interests in the wider field of surface engineering and tribology. After university he spent time in the electronics industry with Plessey where he was responsible for evaluating the technology and the longer-term strategy for the production of processed aluminium foil used in capacitors. For the major part he has been involved in components supply to the automotive industry with Glacier Metal and T&N, where he had responsibility for the development of new products involving surface technology. This required technology transfer from laboratory to full-scale production, patenting, licensing of product/process and interaction with main representatives of the global automotive industry. Latterly he has been at the National Physical Laboratory as Head of Commercial Programmes in the materials centre where the emphasis was on developing non-government funded projects. Such work required management of change, interaction with scientists, technology transfer to industry, licensing of NPL designed products, interaction with the DTI Engineering Industries Directorate and development of marketing strategy. Currently David is the Immediate Past President of the Institute of Metal Finishing, and is a member of the EPSRC Structural Materials College. David joined Isis in January 2000.
Chief Medical Officer, Phynova
John practiced as a physician and clinical academic in London and Oxford University teaching hospitals, specializing in both general and respiratory medicine. His biopharmaceutical development experience extends over 16 years and more than 150 clinical trials in a diverse range of therapeutic areas (e.g. respiratory, rheumatology, oncology, neurology, dermatology, infectious diseases). He has managed a broad range of global drug development programmes and teams at GSK, Novartis, Genzyme, Almirall and Phynova, in senior research and development roles. He is an expert in the field of respiratory disease and has published over 50 primary papers and book chapters.
Team Leader, Biotech and Pharma Team, UKTI
Harriet is a member of Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service, with 20 years experience of working on international matters. She has worked in Europe, Africa and Asia, from the Congo to the Czech Republic. She believes her current role, supporting UK biotech, pharma and healthcare companies to internationalise, is her most rewarding and interesting to date. Her team (which includes business specialists) are able to support companies with mentoring advice as well as partnering opportunities. Their access to the global Embassy network means they are well placed to access up to date information and leads from all lifescience markets for UK companies.
Project Manager, Isis Innovation
Having completed his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at The University of Edinburgh, Jamie joined BP in 1996. There he worked on a number of oilfield, fuel and polymer products within the Organic Chemistry Consultancy before leaving in 1999 to join the Cambridge inkjet printing start-up Patterning Technologies Ltd (PTL). On spinning out the Jetmask business from PTL, he became its Director of Business Development setting up and overseeing a number of the company’s commercial relationships within the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) market. Jamie played a key role in licensing Jetmask’s proprietary technology to Fujifilm Electronic Imaging Ltd (FFEI) in 2002 and consequently took up a product management position there with responsibility for PCB and inkjet based developments. Within FFEI, he led the FineTrak FT300 laser photoplotter development and subsequently set up and managed the worldwide business. Jamie successfully obtained DTI funding under the Micro and Nanotechnology (MNT) Initiative and managed the collaborative research programme to develop an innovative hybrid imaging technology aimed at fine structure production. Jamie joined Isis Innovation in September 2006 as a Project Manager and expects to complete his MBA in November 2006.
CEO, Hybrid Systems Ltd
Kerry is a translational specialist, bridging industry and academia for over 10 years. He is CEO and founding Scientist of Hybrid Systems Ltd, (est. 1999) developing new technologies for the delivery of vaccines and therapeutic DNA. Kerry has a proven track record for raising finance from a variety of competitive sources (including industry, UK research councils, charities and NIH) and working in partnership with pharmaceutical companies. Kerry graduated from Aberdeen with a degree in Biochemistry and a PhD for the University of Birmingham.
Chief Executive Officer, Solace Pharma
Eliot was born in the North East of England and has lived and worked in both the UK and USA. He is a graduate from the University of Liverpool, where he gained a BSc and PhD in Neurophysiology and has a MBA from Henley Management College. Eliot is an advisor to the UKTI Biotech and Pharmaceuticals group and also works with universities in support of their Enterprise activities. Eliot has three children, three chickens, several sheep and active interests in running, politics, food and wine. Eliot was most recently Vice President and Head of Development Europe and Asia for Pfizer.
Director, Licensing Europe, External Science Technology & Licensing
Bristol-Myers Squib
Lubor is Director, External Science, Technology and Licensing for Research and Development, Bristol-Myers Squibb. Based at the UK headquarters in Uxbridge, United Kingdom, Lubor is responsible for the licensing or acquisition of drug programs or platform technologies to support the company's drug development efforts in all therapeutic areas, with a focus on European Companies. Lubor has many years of international pharmaceutical and biotech experience in the US and in Europe. Prior to joining Bristol-Myers Squibb, Lubor was Head of Business Development for Neuro3d, a CNS drug development company in France and CBO of Vectron therapeutics AG, an oncology company in Germany. In the US, Lubor was Director of Corporate Business Development at Berlex Laboratories in New Jersey, where he was responsible worldwide for Cardiovascular and CNS Licensing of Schering AG. He was instrumental in completing a number of late stage licensing deals including a worldwide marketed drug. Before joining Berlex, he worked for Burrill and Company, a Merchant Bank in San Francisco where he advised companies from start-up biotech companies to large pharmaceutical companies on business development strategies and execution. Lubor received his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California at Berkeley and his B.Sc. in Neuroscience from the University of Sussex in Brighton, U.K. He started his studies in biology at the University of Mainz and the University of Tuebingen in Germany.
CEO, Dotmatics
Steve obtained a first degree in biochemistry and a doctorate in biophysics and molecular modelling. After completing his post-doc at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, Steve joined Merck in 2000. During his time at Merck, Steve was responsible for delivering global applications in data-mining, information management, decision-making support tools and text-mining. Steve left Merck in 2005 to found dotmatics Limited.
Project Team Leader, Isis Innovation
Mairi is a chemist by background, studying biosynthesis during her PhD at Bristol after graduating from Oxford. She then spent several years working in the fine chemicals industry developing aqueous dyes for use in photorealistic printing, for which she is named inventor on 7 patents. Within this role Mairi managed a team of chemists and also negotiated funding to access the chemistry search engine Beilstein Crossfire. Since joining Isis in 2002 Mairi has worked on a number of exciting projects including the spin-out Oxford Catalysts, which successfully floated on AIM in 2006.
Vice President, Deal Management, Strategic Planning and
Business
Development, AstraZeneca
Mr. Grady has been Vice President Deal Management, Strategic Planning and Business Development of AstraZeneca PLC since June 2006. Previously, he held the post of Global Lead, People Strategy Programme of AstraZeneca PLC from March 2004 to June 2006 and of Assistant General Counsel, Corporate of AstraZeneca PLC from January 2000 to March 2004.
Partner
Abingworth
Tim has more than 23 years of international management experience in the life sciences industry. Before joining Abingworth in 2005 he was Chief Executive of the Abingworth portfolio company, Astex Therapeutics. Tim was with Astex for more than five years and was instrumental in establishing it as one of the leading UK biotechnology companies. During his time at Astex, the company accessed more than £50 million in venture capital and closed over $1 billion in deal value potential with pharmaceutical companies. Previously, Tim was Chief Executive of two divisions of the publicly-listed medical technology company, Datascope Corp. Prior to Datascope, he held a number of other senior management positions in the US and Europe. Current and past board positions include Astex Therapeutics, Fovea, IMI, PowderMed and XCounter. Tim has a BSc from Exeter University and an MBA from INSEAD. At Abingworth, he identifies and creates new businesses and provides support for portfolio companies.
Business Development and Research, Physiomics plc
Adam Hardy obtained his PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Bristol before undertaking postdoctoral cancer research in Philadelphia, USA. Having also worked for SmithKline Beecham, he identified a commercial application for his research in drug discovery and subsequently set up his own company based around building computational models of his research. He has since joined Physiomics PLC where in addition to basic research and development of the company’s computational model portfolio, he also performs an important business development role.
CEO, Biotech-IgG
Profesionally, I was a Product Manager with Biotech-IgG in Denmark in the period 1992-1996, responsible for our range of liquid chromatography products, liquid handling instrumentation and cell culture systems. In 1996 I acquired the company and since then have been the CEO of the Biotech-IgG group (Biotech-IgG A/S [Denmark]; Biotech-IgG AB [Sweden] and Biotech-IgG (UK) Ltd. [UK]). Since 2004 I have also been the Managing Director of Raytest Nordic AB [Sweden] which is part of the German company Raytest Isotopmessgeräte GmbH.
Managing Director (Life Sciences), Canaccord Capital
Karl Keegan joined Canaccord Capital in July 2003, from Banc of America Securities where he developed a European Life Sciences franchise. He has also served as an analyst with UBS Warburg and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson. Prior, Karl gained practical industry experience in both research and strategic product development at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals. He earned a degree in Pharmacology from University College, Dublin, followed by a MPhil and PhD in Biophysics from Cambridge University. Karl completed his postdoctoral training at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas.
CEO, Karus Therapeutics
Simon is a business professional with substantial experience of creating and developing innovative life-science companies. Before joining Karus in early-2006, Simon was Director of Business Development at Ablynx (Ghent, Belgium), where he was responsible for securing a number of key alliances with major pharmaceutical companies. Prior to Ablynx, Simon was Director of Business Development at Isogenica (Cambridge, UK) and Active Biotech (Lund, Sweden) and has held other key commercial appointments at Actinova and Actigen (both Cambridge, UK) and at CAMR (Salisbury, UK). Simon has a PhD in medicinal chemistry and an Executive MBA from Loughborough University Business School.
Cluster Analyst, OBN
Kurt has been a key part of the OBN team in 2007, focusing on Business Development and also OBN's BioCluster Report Project, the most in depth analysis of the Oxford & South-East BioCluster that has been carried out, providing a rich seam of data on the companies, finance and the people who are responsible for the growth and success over our sector in the last 3 years. The final product will be the cluster's exhaustive equivalent of Burrill's annual report. Kurt studied for his MBA at Southampton University with particular focus on corporate strategy and mergers & acquisitions in the financial industry, having previously graduated in Business Economics and Business Law from Portsmouth University.
Founding Director, Celleron Therapeutics
Nick has over 20 years of experience in the biotechnology and healthcare sectors. He founded Prolifix in 1995, a successful spin-out from the UK Medical Research Council, which focussed on cancer drug discovery. Nick was CSO of Prolifix until its merger with the Scandinavian oncology company, TopoTarget. Acting as Chief Business Development Officer in TopoTarget, Nick was responsible for completing a number of significant deals with both large and mid size companies. Nick has extensive scientific, commercial and financing experience. He is currently Professor of Cancer Biology at the University of Oxford and was previously Cathcart Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Glasgow. Before that, Nick was a scientist at the Medical Research Council. Nick studied for his Ph.D at University College London and carried out post-doctoral work at Imperial College London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Member of EMBO. Nick has authored over 140 publications and is an inventor on an extensive number of granted patents.
Chief Executive Officer, Summit plc
Dr Lee joined Summit plc as CEO in September 2004. Prior to this, he held a number of senior commercial and business development roles with major UK biotechnology companies including British Biotech plc, PA Consulting Group, Chiroscience Group plc and Datamonitor plc. From 2001 until 2004, Dr Lee was Executive Director of Life Sciences at the commercialisation specialists IP2IPO Ltd (now IP Group plc). He has also acted as a consultant on product strategy to major pharmaceutical companies including Zeneca, Glaxo Wellcome, Novartis and Johnson & Johnson. Dr Lee holds a PhD in parasite epidemiology from Kings College London.
Purchasing Manager, OBN
Chris joined OBN as Purchasing Manager in December 2007 . Chris has extensive purchasing experience in such diverse manufacturing industries as aerospace , defence , instrumentation , process machinery , and electronics . He brings this experience to OBN and is developing the Purchasing Consortium for the benefit of members . OBN has successfully started this process by going to tender for lab supplies with a potential spend of £1.5M , and is continuing to grow the membership of the purchasing consortium.
SVP Product Development, BioVex
Colin Love, Ph.D. , has served as BioVex's Senior Vice President, Product Development since 2000. Dr. Love was Director of Manufacturing Development at the Celltech Group, a global biopharmaceutical company, where he worked from 1992 to 2000. Dr. Love received a B.Sc. in biochemistry and a Ph.D. from Glasgow University.
Executive VP, President (OSI) Prosidion
Dr. Lundemose was appointed Executive VP, OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and President, (OSI) Prosidion, in March 2005 having been the CEO of Prosidion Limited since the Company became operational in February 2003. Dr. Lundemose is co-founder of several companies including Prosidion Limited and Symphogen A/S. He has broad and extensive experience within Medical Sciences and business obtained from his positions held in both academia and the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Previous positions include Chief Executive Officer at Pantheco A/S from December 1998 to August 2002, Associate Director, Business Development, Novo Nordisk from October 1997 to November 1998, Manager, Business Development, Novo Nordisk from January 1996 to September 1997 and Head of Diabetes Biology, Novo Nordisk from June 1994 to December 1995. He received an MD in 1988 from University of Aarhus, Denmark and continued at University of Aarhus to 1992 as a Post Doctoral Fellow. During this period, in 1992, he was awarded a Wellcome Trust Fellowship at University of Birmingham, England. A Ph.D. degree (Molecular Microbiology) was obtained in 1990 and a Doctor of Science (Dr.Med) degree in 1994, both from University of Aarhus, Denmark. Dr. Lundemose holds a Diploma in "Management of Drug and Device Development" from Scandinavian International Management Institute and is a member of the Board of Directors of Prosidion Limited and also OSI Pharmaceuticals (UK) Limited. Anker joined the OBN Advisory Board in 2007.
Non-Executive Director, PharmaVentures
Mr. Macfarlane spent 40 years in the Procter & Gamble Company, primarily in the International Divisions, starting in consumer products marketing and later in general management. He transferred to join the group that took P&G into the Pharmaceutical industry in 1978 and led the international start-up. In 1985 Mr. Macfarlane led the successful acquisition of the French pharmaceutical group, Nativelle, and went on to serve as its President and Director General for six years in Paris. From this position Mr. Macfarlane also served as P&G’s pharmaceutical executive responsible for Southern Europe (86-91). In 1991 he established the pharmaceutical Business Development role in Europe and relocated to London (91-96). In 1996 Mr. Macfarlane assumed responsibility for all Alliance, Licensing and Acquisition activity of P&G in the expanded Health Care Global Business Unit (incorporating Pharmaceuticals, OTC medicines, Oral Care, Iams Pet Care, and Pur Water Treatment). While retaining this global responsibility. He retired in September 2006. Mr. & Mrs. Macfarlane continue to reside in London. Since 1998 he has served as a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of British American Business (the merged American Chamber of Commerce and British American Chamber of Commerce) and serves as the head of the British American Business Policy group on behalf of BAB and the larger British American Business Council. He is a member of the Board of Directors of PharmaVentures, an Oxford based pharmaceutical publishing and consulting company.
CEO, Spirogen
Chris is CEO and a founder of Spirogen. He joined Spirogen in 2000 and has worked in the healthcare and biotechnology sectors for over 20 years. He has a BSc and DPhil in chemical engineering and an MBA from IMD, he is a Sainsbury Management Fellow and Chartered Director. In addition to his role at Spirogen Chris is non-executive Chairman of Sciona inc and Crescent Diagnostics. He is a also a Director of RCM Technology Trust PLC.
Director, Epidyme
After completing his MSc. In immunology, Simon came to work with his family business manufacturing Enzyme Potentiated Desensitisation (EPD). He was responsible for developing a Quality Management System in order to comply with pharmaceutical regulation. In 2004, he proposed that EPD could be transferred as a platform to produce desensitisation in autoimmune diseases and set up a proof of concept trial using collagen-induced arthritis as a model autoimmune disease. This experiment lead to the patent application which enabled the formation of Epidyme Ltd, of which Simon is a founding director and remains chief scientific officer. Simon is a member of the British Society for Immunology, the Institute of Biology and is currently the treasurer of the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Sciences Society. He is also on the editorial board of the European Journal of Parenteral and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Consultant, RDP Associates
As a consultant retained to RDP & Leyton Associates, Simon works with a cross section of UK business, from enterprise start-ups, top-tier banks, a major infrastructure and construction group, and many IT companies to advise and help secure R&D tax relief entitlements. Prior to returning to the UK, Simon was most recently CEO of a risk management and auditing company in the US and Canada, specialising in the insurance industry. Simon has over twenty-five year’s experience in financial services and IT business in the US, Canada, and Australia.
Managing Director, The Braff Group
Andrew M. Meadow is a Managing Director at The Braff Group. Andrew founded Meadow Partners LLC, a health care products and services merchant banking firm based in Chicago. Andrew was responsible for the firm's execution efforts in private placements and mergers and acquisitions resulting in the commercialization of more than twelve new medical technology products and therapeutics that have altered the way physicians approach patient care and treat debilitating diseases within the CNS, pulmonology, and oncology fields. Over the last sixteen years, Andrew has been involved in a variety of senior management roles with a focus on defining appropriate strategies and valuing the financial implications of product development and launches, both in the US and abroad. He has also used his skills to monetize business plans and provide exits for private company shareholders. Andrew has been a part of the Essex Woodlands Health Care Ventures team, a Manager for Baxter International's Corporate Business Development Team, where he evaluated emerging treatments and products for joint venture, acquisition, technology transfer, new product development and licensing opportunities. Prior to joining Baxter, Andrew was a member of the Global Healthcare Investment Banking group at UBS Warburg where he worked on M&A, high-yield debt, private placement, follow-on and IPO transactions. Andrew earned an MBA in Finance and Strategy from Case Western Reserve University 's Weatherhead School of Management where he was a merit scholarship recipient, completed graduate studies in International Economics at the Rotterdam School of Management's Erasmus University, and completed his undergraduate degree at Franklin and Marshall College where he graduated with Academic Distinction and Honors. Andrew has been a frequent lecturer on venture capital and corporate strategy for emerging growth and middle market health care product and service companies.
Sales Manager Life Sciences, semgine GmbH
Thomas joined semgine in 2006 and manages the sales of semgine® solutions into the life science market. During the past 3 years he was responsible of worldwide sales and business development activities at Biomax Informatics AG and earlier at thinXXS microtechnology AG. During his tenure at Novartis Pharma AG, Basel and LION Bioscience he gained a solid understanding of the drug discovery process and the need to integrate IT solutions into R&D activities.
Asset Manager, MEPC
Diane Moore is part of the asset management team at Milton Park, having a specific focus on customer liaison and support. Contact Diane if you are interested in taking space at Milton Park on dmoore@mepc.com
Vice President, MP Healthcare Venture Management, Inc.
Jeff Moore is Vice President of MP Healthcare Venture Management. Previously, Dr. Moore was a Kauffman Fellow with the venture firm Research Corporation Technologies. He has held various business and scientific roles at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Scriptgen (now Anadys). He received his DPhil from Oxford (Dunn School of Pathology), postdoctoral training at Harvard and MBA from MIT. MP Healthcare Venture Management is a lifesciences venture firm investing in seed to late stage companies developing innovative therapeutics, platform technologies and diagnostics. It is the venture group of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma and Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Company, and is based in Boston.
Chairman and CEO, Ablynx
After completing his post-doctoral research in Germany, Edwin began a commercial career with successful periods spent at Amersham International, Enzymatix and Raggio-Italgene. From 1993-2001 as CEO and then Chairman he was responsible for the growth of Oxford Asymmetry (OAI) through a series of venture rounds cumulating in a floatation (LSE) in 1998 at a value of €175M (£120M) followed by a sale of the company to Evotec Biosystems in 2000 for €460M (£316M). During this period, OAI grew from 4 people to over 250. Over the past five years Edwin has played an important role at Board level (primarily as Chairman) in over 15 European life science companies. During this time he has been involved in financing rounds totaling in excess of €200M, a series of M&A transactions and three IPO's. In March 2006, Edwin accepted the offer by Ablynx's Board to extend his role as Chairman to include that of Chief Executive Officer. Edwin has been Chairman of Ablynx since 2004.
CEO, Momentum Bioscience
Bill has worked in the in vitro diagnostics industry for most of the past 25 years. In 1999, while at Angle Technology he founded Acolyte Biomedica as a rapid bacterial detection business, becoming CEO in 2002. Acolyte raised £7.3m in venture capital and launched the BacLite® MRSA test in 2005, providing cost-effective screening for MRSA with results in 5 hours. In February 2007 Acolyte was acquired by 3M Healthcare. Bill also founded Nutrition Enhancement (now Provexis plc) and NeuroTargets Ltd while with Angle. In 2006 he started Barford Biosciences Ltd to provide life science consultancy and co-founded ProKyma Technologies Ltd, developing methods to concentrate and purify cells and bacteria. Previously Bill worked for Abbott Laboratories in the US as Technology Acquisition Specialist, Rowett Research Services as CEO and Cambridge Life Sciences as head of R&D.
SVP Commercial Development, Oxford BioMedica
Peter Nolan was appointed to the Board of Oxford BioMedica in May 2002, having been a senior member of the Company since its foundation. He is also a Director of the UK Bioindustry Association and is a past Chairman of the Oxfordshire Bioscience Network. He has broad experience and knowledge of the biotechnology sector. Prior to joining Oxford BioMedica, he was Head of the Biotechnology Unit at the UK Department of Trade & Industry for eight years. In that role he was responsible for establishing and managing complex collaborative research programmes involving industry, research councils and other Government departments. Previously he held senior positions in the Laboratory of the Government Chemist and also the Metropolitan Police Laboratory in London where he was a senior forensic scientist.
Chief Executive, SEHTA
David Parry was appointed Chief Executive of SEHTA on February 1st 2006. Immediately prior to this he ran his own life sciences consultancy company and was a SEEDA enterprise hub director for 3 years when he actively helped 20 small technology-based businesses to grow. Davids' earlier background was in research and development. He has held positions of Head of Entomology and Plant Pathology at East Malling Research Station and Reader in Plant Pathology at Harper Adams University College. David has a track record in attracting funding from commercial, government and EU sources. His research work is widely published and he has written 2 books. David is a graduate of Imperial College and obtained his PhD from Imperial College at Wye.
CEO, Glide Pharma
Charles is the inventor of the Glide technology and founder of Glide Pharma. He holds an engineering degree and PhD from Cambridge University. Charles spent six years undertaking research within the Transplant Unit at Papworth Hospital, a specialist cardiothoracic centre, where he gained extensive medical experience. Charles then joined PowderJect Pharmaceuticals where he saw the company grow from just five employees to over 1000. After more than five years at PowderJect Charles joined another Oxford University spin-out company, Oxford BioSignals, where he worked for nearly three years as a project manager. It was during his time at BioSignals that Charles came up with the idea for the Glide technology and he founded Caretek Medical Ltd in late 2001. Caretek Medical was rebranded as Glide Pharma in 2006 and Charles holds the position of Chief Executive Officer.
Pharmaceutical Profiles
Dr Andrew Rankin joined Pharmaceutical Profiles in 2007 to lead and develop the company’s medical scientific innovation. Andy brings considerable managerial and strategic R&D experience from 14 years in leadership roles with Pfizer, from pre-clinical and exploratory drug development through to successful global regulatory approval. In addition to experience leading the clinical design and execution of studies at all stages of drug development spanning translational/experimental medicine through to Phase 3, his expertise includes the development of efficient, registerable and cost-effective global development programs across a number of therapeutic areas including urology, nephrology, cardiovascular, dermatology and neurology. Andy was most recently Executive Director leading Pfizer’s late stage analgesic drug development programs. His extensive experience enables him to build on existing strengths in human drug absorption and oral formulation development at Pharmaceutical Profiles, streamlining methods, saving time and improving the cost efficiency of the drug development process.
Network Director, OBN
Jon has been the Network Director of OBN since 2005, and is responsible for the strategic and operational management of OBN: an innovative cluster network, which as a business unit has delivered significant measurable growth over recent years. Jon has led the strategic diversification of OBN's activities in preparation for spin-out, including business planning, with support and advice from a 5-member executive board and 12 member advisory board. Jon is responsible for implementation of strategy, project management, fundraising, and business development. He conceptualized and delivered BioTrinity, now OBN's flagship one-to-one partnering event and company showcase. Jon has several years' background in Project Management, which he moved into after having worked as a post-doctoral research officer in the Dept. of Plant Sciences (Univ. Oxford). Jon is also a member of UKTI's Biotech and Pharma Sector Advisory Group, and a member of the advisory committee of a number of MSc and BSc biotech degree courses which have business as a component, and sits on the Promoting Oxfordshire committee of the Oxford Economic Partnership. In his spare time he has a keen interest in cycling and gardening.
CEO, Oxford Genome Science
Dr Rohlff received his Ph.D. from the Department of Pharmacology at Georgetown University in 1994. After two appointments at the National Cancer Institute he joined Oxford GlycoSciences and was appointed Director of Proteome Research Collaborations in 2001. As manager of the Proteomics Division's commercial collaborations he gained expertise in the implementation of clinical proteomics programmes to identify novel therapeutic protein targets and protein biomarkers with many pharmaceutical companies and academic partners, including Pfizer, GSK, Bayer, Wyeth, Takeda, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Oxford University and the FDA. These studies have investigated many disease areas including Alzheimer's disease, arteriosclerosis, dermal ulcers, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, various metabolic, inflammatory and neuropsychiatric disorders, toxicology, and oncology. Dr Rohlff co-authored over 20 protein patents originating from these studies. Dr. Rohlff is founder of Oxford Genome Sciences, a proteomics service partner for the pharmaceutical companies offering services, that are either not available in house or are not of sufficient scale, as part of the drug discovery and development process with broad applications for the wider academic community and pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Rohlff is also a founding member on the board of the South East Health Technologies Alliance (SEHTA), whose mission it is to catalyse innovation and international competitiveness in south east England's health technologies sector.
Solicitor, Manches LLP
Catherine is a senior associate in Manches technology & media department and specialises in non-contentious intellectual property and commercial law in the life sciences sector. She advises clients ranging from spin-out companies to multinational pharmaceutical companies on a wide range of IP and commercial issues.
Senior Business Development Manager, Chroma Therapeutics
Elizabeth Roper joined Chroma in July 2006. Previously she was part of a team of two that had responsibility for a life science venture capital portfolio in the investment division of The Wellcome Trust. During this time, she led Wellcome's investments in Nabriva Therapeutics and Fovea Pharmaceuticals, as well as being a key part of the team that invested in a further 10 companies in the US and EU, including Chroma Therapeutics. Prior to this, she worked as an analyst on the life science team at Atlas Ventures. She attained a biochemistry degree from University College Cork and a Ph.D from the Imperial Cancer Research Fund.
Director, Business Development, Cresset BMD Limited
Dr Sally Rose has >30 years experience in the pharmaceutical and related industries, with extensive knowledge of computational chemistry and out-sourcing drug discovery. She obtained her PhD in Molecular Diversity and Multivariate Statistics from the University of Reading, UK in 1993. Sally began her career at Wellcome in Beckenham, UK (now GlaxoSmithKline) where she trained in computational chemistry and QSAR, eventually running the computational chemistry group there. In 1997 she founded the public company BioFocus Discovery with 6 colleagues and was a board member for 4 years. BioFocus was one of the first European companies to provide support services for drug discovery to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. She was Director of Molecular Informatics at BioFocus for 7 years, while it grew from a company of 7 to >150. Sally joined Cresset BioMolecular Discovery Ltd as Business Development Director in 2004.
CEO, APA Parafricta
George Sampson became CEO of APA Parafricta in 2006 and has greater than 25 years experience in the Medical products segment of Healthcare. The majority of this has been in Corporations such as American Hospital Supply, Baxter Healthcare and Stryker. He has also participated in the construction of commercial organizations in newer ventures – The Urotech Division of Biocompatibles International, Tissuemed Ltd. and SIRTeX Medical. His functional responsibilities have included General Manager – Europe, Sales & Marketing VP responsible for European markets via direct and distributor channels and Product Development for new, innovative products. In addition to this George has experience in managing regulatory and reimbursement activities and a Board role responsible for all global marketing, commercial activities and partnership relationships. He participated in a successful institutional fund-raising of £6M+.
Founder and CEO, International Bioscience
UK
Dr. Kevin J. Scanlon has thirty years of experience and expertise enhancing the relationships among the Life Science Community. Currently, he is mentoring and supporting entrepreneurs through the venture capital community as a member of the Pasadena Angels and the Tech Coast Angels of Los Angeles. These organizations support entrepreneurs with seed round investments for their novel technology. Dr. Scanlon's background includes: academic medicine, pharmaceutical industry management and a faculty educator for graduate students combining science and business. He has been a guest lecture in the Entrepreneurial Programs of several national and international universities. He has been consulting for international governments in Europe and Asia that are developing Centers of Excellence in Bioscience.
Project Manager, Isis Innovation
UK
Emma studied for her undergraduate (M.Sci.) degree in Chemistry (with a year in Industry) at Bristol University. Her year in industry was spent at the DuPont Central Research & Development facility in Wilmington, Delaware (USA) researching homogeneous and heterogeneous organometallic catalysis. Upon graduating from Bristol in 2002 Emma obtained a scholarship to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she researched small molecule activation chemistry mediated by organometallic transition metal complexes. In 2004 Emma graduated from MIT with a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree and commenced her doctorate studies in Chemistry at the University of Oxford. Emma completed her D.Phil. research, which has focused on theoretical calculations of carbon nanotubes filled with molecules and one-dimensional crystals, in August 2007. Emma joined Isis in May 2007.
President and CEO, ChemoCentryx
Thomas J. Schall, Ph.D., is the founder of ChemoCentryx, Inc. and has served as President, Chief Executive Officer and Director since November 1996. From December 1993 to November 1996, Dr. Schall worked at the DNAX Research Institute, a division of Schering-Plough Corporation, a pharmaceutical company. Prior to his work at the DNAX Research Institute, he worked as a scientist with Genentech, Inc., a pharmaceutical company. Dr. Schall participated in some of the earliest discoveries of chemokine system function and activities. Dr. Schall cloned one of the first chemokines to be discovered, and provided some of the earliest data for the existence of the previously unknown family of molecules which later came to be called the chemokines. Dr. Schall’s laboratories have been responsible for the discovery or co-discovery of almost one-third of all known chemokine receptors. Dr. Schall received his B.S. in biology from Northern Illinois University and his Ph.D. in cancer biology from Stanford University.
VP European Operations, CambridgeSoft
UK
Rob studied Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Oxford and received his D.Phil in 1994. He began his professional career with Oxford Molecular, moving from software development to product and project management. Rob joined CambridgeSoft in 1998, and since then Rob has overseen the development of the CambridgeSoft European organisation. As Vice President, European Operations, Rob mostly works in pre- and post-sales support of CambridgeSoft’s Pharma and Biotech clients, and has been extensively involved in working with clients such as GSK, AstraZeneca, Novartis and Organon, providing product support, and project experience to ensure successful E-Notebook implementations.
Programme Manager, BFAS
UK
Originally a Microbiologist with a PhD in the Immunology of Infectious Disease, Cheryl has over 15 years Sales and Business Development experience, covering a wide variety of products and services and engaging with all areas and levels of the Health technology/Bioscience Sectors. She gained considerable all-round experience of building and running a small business as shareholder and Technical Director of the highly successful Prior Laboratory Supplies Ltd, and subsequently as Technical Sales Director following the company’s trade sale to Jencons Scientific in 1997. In 2002 she moved on to assist other healthcare companies and subsequently the University of Brighton with Business Development covering antimicrobial products, B2B services, biomaterials and medical devices technologies. Cheryl is currently working with Finance South East as a Bioscience sector specialist for their Regional Investment Readiness and Finance Advisory service, helping companies develop the viability of their business propositions and become “Investment Ready” prior to sourcing and engaging with suitable sources of finance. In addition, she has her own interventionist management and consultancy business Minerva Science, focusing on business development and sales for Bioscience and Health Technology companies.
Head of Business Development, Technology Transfer, Wellcome Trust
Richard is a founding member of Technology Transfer, Wellcome Trust, where he is Head of Business Development. He is also an advisor to the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and Genome Research Limited. Richard has extensive experience with early-stage funding of life science technologies, commercial transactions and intellectual property management, Board, SAB and government agency advisory roles.
Partner (Life Sciences), Sofinnova Partners
Graziano Seghezzi is a Partner and he invests in life sciences. He started with Sofinnova Partners in April 2006. He started his career in venture capital working for Sofinnova Partners in 2001 and 2002 in Milan for one and a half years, identifying new investment opportunities in pharmaceutical and medical device companies in Italy. Graziano then joined Index Ventures in Geneva where for three years he invested in biotechnology and biopharmaceuticals companies. Currently, Graziano is a board member of Glycovaxyn. After graduating from the University of Pavia in Genetics and Microbiology, he spent five years as a biomedical researcher at New York University's School of Medicine. He also has an MBA from RSM Erasmus University.
Senior Tax Manager, Grant Thornton UK
Mike Shearan is a tax manager with many years of experience in advising technology-based companies. These include start-ups, spinouts, and VC-backed businesses. The tax issues that arise with such companies are considerable, both for the company itself and the shareholders. Mike has advised founder shareholders, investors and management on minimising and optimising their tax position on acquiring and selling their shares. He has advised many companies on being able to obtain (and retain) their status under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and as Venture Capital Trust (VCT) holdings, and carries out compliance work for a number of VCTs with regard to their holdings in companies.
CEO, Oxford Biomaterials
Dr Nick Skaer joined Oxford Biomaterials in 2004. A graduate of Oxford and Strasbourg Universities, he has held positions in the UK, France and the USA. Nick has secured over £1.5 million to fund the development of Oxford Biomaterials’ silk biomaterial technology platform: Spidrex®. He has overseen the formation of two equity financed Oxford Biomaterials spin out companies, Neurotex Ltd. and Suturox Ltd. which are commercialising Spidrex® based medical devices for nerve repair and wound closure respectively. Nick also coordinates an EU FP6 consortium and a Department of Health grant. Nick is leading the funding drive for a third spin out company, Orthox Ltd., which will commercialise Oxford Biomaterials Spidrex® cartilage and bone tissue repair scaffolds.
Associate Director, Scientific Liaison, Merck Sharp and Dohme
Tim works in the Licensing & External Research, Europe team of Merck Sharp & Dohme (the UK subsidiary of Merck & Co. Inc.) and identifies potential licensing opportunities in all relevant therapeutic and technology areas in the UK, Ireland & South Africa. A key responsibility is to establish and maintain relationships with pharmaceutical, speciality and biotechnology companies in addition to academic and governmental institutions. Previously he worked in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry for Merck Sharp & Dohme in CNS basic research.
Director Quality Affairs and Qualified Person, Synco Bio Partners B.V.
Rob joined Synco Bio Partners B.V. in 2002 as Director Quality Affairs. He is final responsible for Quality Assurance and Quality Control. Rob is involved in regulatory support, and the establishing of Quality Agreements between contract givers and SynCo as a CMO for both clinical and market authorized biotech derived drug substances and medicinal products. Rob has more than 19 years of experience in (bio)pharmaceutical and medical device industry in both production and QA/QC positions. Rob holds a M.Sc in Pharmacy and is Qualified Person.
Isis Innovation
Dr Adam Stoten gained a first class honours degree in Biology from the University of Nottingham in 1997. He remained at Nottingham to undertake a PhD in molecular immunology, investigating novel T-cell independent mechanisms of allergic inflammation. His research was co-sponsored by AstraZeneca and Adam worked for the latter two years of his PhD at the company's Charnwood R&D site in Loughborough. On completion of his PhD, Adam conducted further research at Nottingham on behalf of DERA, before joining Talentmark, a specialist life science recruitment consultancy, as a Researcher. After 18 months with Talentmark, he joined its sister company Technomark, a specialist consultancy operating in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors. Joining as a Research Analyst, Adam was promoted to Head of Research in 2004, and worked on various due diligence, market analysis, strategic marketing and outsourcing projects. During his time at Technomark, Adam passed both the UKSIP Investment Management Certificate and Part I of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) programme. Adam joined Isis as a Project Manager in February 2005.
Director, Chief Scientific Officer, Capsant Neurotechnologies
Prof. Sundstrom is Chief Scientific Officer and a Co-founder of Capsant Neurotechnologies. He was previously Director of the Division of Clinical Neurosciences, Southampton University and before that an Associate Professor, at the University of Bordeaux II, in France. He obtained a BA in Biochemistry and a DPhil both from Oxford University.
Territory Account Manager, Thomson Scientific
Rob Swan is the Account Manager responsible for the UK, Eire and Netherlands within Thomson Scientific. He joined Thomson Scientific in 2007 and is based in London, where he is responsible for developing and managing strong business relationships with a variety of BioTechnology, Pharmaceutical and Chemical clients. He works with a wide range of clients from Business Development, Scientists, Regulatory Professionals, Information Professionals and Intellectual Property Specialists. Prior to Thomson Scientific, Rob worked as a Clinical Chemist at the Hammersmith Hospital, Medical Information Manager at both Oxford GlycoSciences and InforMed Direct and Account Manager at etrials Worldwide.
Business Development Director, Giles Insurance Brokers Ltd
Andrew is a Chartered Insurance Practitioner with more than 20 years experience in the insurance industry. Joining Miller’s life science team in 2002 and moving to Giles with its acquisition in January 2007, he now heads up business development for Giles’ life science practice. His principal focus in this role is the provision of insurance consultancy and due diligence services to life science and venture capital companies.
Director, Tessella Support Services plc
Jon Tilbury is a Main Board Director of scientific software specialist Tessella (with offices in the UK, US, and the Netherlands). Jon joined Tessella in 1986 and now heads one of the three operating divisions of the company, which includes Tessella’s clinical trials centre of excellence. The company leads in the implementation of advanced statistical techniques in clinical trials and, over the last seven years, has worked for several top ten pharmas in this area. Jon has an excellent understanding of the issues confronting Tessella's life sciences clients, from big pharma to innovative biotechs, across the whole discovery, development, testing and registration pipeline. Jon has a degree in Material Science from Oxford. He is a member of the Institute of Directors.
CEO, G-Nostics UK
g-Nostics Ltd, was spun-out from Oxford University in July 2004. The Company was formed around a genotyping technology developed by Cancer Research UK. This provides an enabling software platform and supply chain for pharmacogenetic biomarkers to all clinicians and pharmacists to allow them to personalise medical prognostics for their patients, and to organize, collate and compile their medical reports entirely through the web. During 2006/7 g-Nostics Ltd piloted NicoTest®, its first product, in over 20 NHS pharmacies and UK’s 2nd largest employer to demonstrate Clinical Utility to statistically significant levels. The clinical data submitted to the National Institute of Health & Clinical Excellence (NICE) on June 8th 2007 undertakes a detailed review of this novel intervention with a view to augmenting existing NHS ‘Best Practice’. Mark has secured a strong US distribution partner that reaches 90% of all US physicians and expects market launch of NicoTest® after FDA approval during 2008. Various development projects, with international academic and blue chip partners, are also in hand. Mark has five patents granted, or pending, to his name and has been involved with the smoking cessation sector since 1986. The earliest transdermal product launches in this sector involved 3rd party Intellectual Property that he helped commercialise and license to a well known brand.
Tax Partner, Grant Thornton UK
Sam leads Grant Thornton's team of R&D specialists and is a tax partner based in the Oxford office. She trained with one of the Big 4, is qualified as both a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser, and has been working in the corporate tax arena for over 17 years. Since R&D tax relief was first introduced in 2000, Sam has been advising a broad range of clients across the technology and manufacturing sectors on putting together robust R&D claims which maximise the relief available. Activities carried out by the companies within her current client-base include leading-edge technology and engineering work. Sam is a regular speaker on R&D issues at seminars and conferences. She also represents Grant Thornton at the highest level with the HMRC Specialist Units and with the Treasury on the operation of and potential improvements to the R&D regime.
CEO, SynCo BioPartners
Pierre joined SynCo in June 2000 and is responsible for the overall management of the company. He brings to the company over 15 years of successful financial management and restructuring experience, in the pharmaceutical and graphic arts industries. Previously, Pierre held financial and project management positions with Chiron, Centocor and Kodak Polychrome Graphics. He received an MBA from the Business School Nederland, Buren and holds a bachelors degree in Business Economics from the Higher Institute of Business and Economics, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
European Patent Attorney, Frank B Dehn
Dr. Webber obtained his first degree from Cambridge University (Natural Sciences, Genetics) and then carried out research on the regulation of brain-specific genes at Warwick University, where he obtained his PhD. He qualified as a UK Chartered Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney with Frank B. Dehn & Co. and is now a partner in their Life Sciences Group. He is an active member of the Biotechnology Committee of the UK Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys. He has spoken at a number of European conferences and on BBC Radio on the patenting of biotech inventions, as well as publishing a number of papers in this area.
Product Manager, Thomson Scientific
Colin Williams is the Product Manager for Biology and Bioinformatics at Thomson Scientific. He studied Biochemistry at the University of Sheffield before completing a PhD in protein X-ray crystallography. Following post doctoral work he moved to ASM Scientific, a start-up biotechnology company in Cambridge UK. Here, as part of a team of three, he developed a novel isothermal DNA amplification technology for use in point of care pathogen detection and contributed towards patent applications for the technology. Subsequent to this he joined Thomson Scientific as manager of the database of patented biological sequences, GENESEQ, in November 2005. In June 2007 he moved into his current role where he is responsible for the development of solutions for those working with all types of Biological data.
Managing Director, De Facto Communications
Mike Wort has held senior management positions in the UK and overseas with Glaxo, SmithKline and Wellcome. He was appointed head of IR at Wellcome for the £2.4 bn global secondary offering of Wellcome plc shares by the Wellcome Trust. On leaving Wellcome he was responsible for the setting up of Genus Communications, Europe’s first specialist IR agency for the emerging biotechnology sector. Mike has been involved in more than 50 successful IPO's, secondary funding rounds and pre IPO investments in the UK, Europe and the US, raising from £500k to US$75m.
BioTrinity 2007 Speakers
Dr Reinhard J AmbrosTom Amies
Dr Mark Ashton
Dale Athey
Damian Bond
Dr Tony Bradshaw
Richard Bungay
Dr Kerry Burton
Neil Butler
Dr Alex Chanas
John Clarkson
Piers Clayden
Dr Scott Cuthill
Kam Dhaliwal
Suzanne Dilly
Dr Nick Dunster
Dr John Efthimiou
Dr Graeme Frith
Dr Sanjeev Gogna
Chris Granger
Dr Dominic Griffiths
Tim Haines
Dr Rob Hockney
Dr Nick Housby
Michael Hunt
Jim Kinnier-Wilson
Dr David Knowles
David Laskow-Pooley
Peter Lawes
Dr Brenda Lee
Adam Levy
Tony Longstaff
Dr Anker Lundemose
Larissa Milne
David Mott
Dr Tony Mulcahy
Ian Oliver
Dr David Parry
Dr Charles Potter
William Powlett Smith
Dr Steve Rakovic
Dr Andy Richards
Dr Christian Rohlff
Dr Graham Ruecroft
Dr Bruce Savage
David S. Schechner
Dr Cheryl Scott
Michael Short
Dr Bronwyn Siim
Julie Silvester
Andrew Sinclair
Prof Derek Terrar
Dr Jon Tinsley
Dr Howard S Tranter
Anil Vaidya
Colby Walker
Dr Fintan Walton
Dr. Philip M. Webber
Mike Whelan
Dr Reinhard J Ambros
Executive Director, Novartis Venture Fund
Reinhard Ambros was appointed global head of the Novartis Venture Fund in April 2006 after being Managing Director of the Novartis BioVenture Fund, Cambridge, USA. Before he worked with Novartis Corporate Finance where he held the position of Head of Group Strategic Planning for several years. Previously he was responsible for post merger integrations at Novartis Corporate M&A and prior to that held the position of global head BD&L cardiovascular and metabolic diseases at Novartis Pharma. Earlier in his career he had global leadership positions with increasing responsibilities for key drug development projects at Novartis and Roche. He trained as a pharmacist, has a Ph.D in medicinal chemistry and pharmacology and focused postdoctoral training on clinical pharmacology.
Assistant Director, Corporate Finance, Ernst & Young
Tom has extensive corporate finance experience as an advisor and as principal. He has advised public and private companies on acquisitions, divestments and fundraisings. He joined Ernst & Young in August 2006 as an Assistant Director in the Mergers and Acquisitions team. His focus is on the pharmaceutical, consumer health and healthcare services sectors. Between 2002 and 2006 he was a director of a specialist M&A boutique and advisor to various UK and European companies in the Pharmaceutical and Consumer Health sectors. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte in 1997, he worked in Corporate Finance predominantly on mid-market MBOs, MBIs and trade sales. In 1999 he joined the AIM-listed venture capital group NewMedia Spark plc as CFO.
Executive VP, Business Development, Evotec (UK) Ltd
Dr Mark Ashton, 38, has been Executive Vice President Business Development Services Division since 2005 and a Member of the Executive Committee of Evotec since 2004. Before taking over responsibility for Business Development, Dr Ashton held a number of positions within Operations at Evotec: In 1995 he joined the Company as one of the initial employees of the Discovery Division. He became Department Manager in 2001, Director of Chemistry Services in 2002 and took over responsibility for Evotec's entire Discovery Services in 2004 running Evotec's screening, parallel synthesis and medicinal chemistry operations. During his time at Evotec, Dr Ashton has managed a wide range of pharmaceutical and biotechnology related projects, including medicinal chemistry projects, design and synthesis of screening libraries and technology transfer projects and has been involved in the advancement of a number of compounds to the clinic. Dr Ashton has authored and co-authored a number of peer reviewed papers and articles in addition to being named on a number of pharmaceutical patents. He is now responsible for all of Evotec's commercial and marketing activities for the Companies' Drug Discovery and Development Services Division. Dr Ashton is trained as a medicinal chemist and completed a medicinal chemistry post-doctoral at Bath University on the synthesis of spider toxins as Ca+ channel blockers in 1995 following gaining his PhD for the design and synthesis of novel steroidal anesthetics. Prior to joining Evotec Dr Ashton also had spells at ICI Pharmaceuticals and Organon Laboratories.
CEO, Orla Protein Technologies Ltd
Dr Dale Athey co-founded Orla Protein Technologies Ltd in 2002 with Jeremy Lakey, Professor of Structural Biochemistry at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK. Dr Athey led Orla to a first round of venture capital finance from Northern Fund Managers in April 2003, taking the post of full-time Managing Director in 2004. Dale has over 20 years of experience in clinical diagnostics, initially as a Clinical Biochemist in the NHS. He gained industrial R&D experience with Cranfield Biotechnology Ltd, and Cambridge Life Sciences plc, and in a commercial role with Chiron and Bayer Diagnostics, as Product Manager for the ACS and ADVIA range of instruments.
CEO, ProKyma Technologies Ltd
BSc, aged 42, has specialised in the diagnostics industry for 19 years in sales, marketing and business development roles. He was the founder of Platform Diagnostics, taking it from conception of a digital immunoassay technology through to a working prototype on £1.4 million of investment. His consumer marketing experience and initial knowledge of the point-of-care sector was gained at Unilever (Unipath). Thereafter he held positions at Tepnel Life Sciences, Trinity Biotech, International Diagnostics Group and Acaris. At International Diagnostics Group he helped raise £.2.2 million and restructured the company, launching 32 new products over a 2-year period and licensing a core technology to Sigma Chemicals.
Director, BioProcess UK
Tony has a PhD in Life Sciences from Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh. He has been involved in Biotechnology Business Development working for British Sugar, University College London and in executive search for Ruston Poole and Harvey Nash. He was appointed to the Board of UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) for the period 1999-2001. He has been involved in bioprocessing since 1994. From 1994 -1999 he was Director of Business Development for University College London’s Advanced Centre for Biochemical Engineering. He developed the industrial collaboration strategy at UCL which involved setting up an industrial training programme (MBI Training) which attracted over 500 people from 100 companies across the world. He is the Director of bioProcessUK, a Knowledge Transfer Network funded through the DTI Technology Programme, and managed by the BIA. It is dedicated to the advancement of the bioprocessing sector in the UK.
CFO, Chroma Therapeutics
Richard joined Chroma Therapeutics as Chief Financial Officer in October 2004. Prior to this, he was Director of Corporate Communications and Strategic Planning at Celltech with responsibility for investor relations, communications, M&A and strategic planning. During this time Richard worked on projects including the acquisition of Oxford GlycoSciences in 2003 and the sale of Celltech to UCB in 2004. Prior to this he was Finance Director for the Respiratory and Inflammation Therapeutics Area within AstraZeneca R&D, and before that was group financial controller at Celltech. He holds a degree in Chemistry from Nottingham University and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
Science Director, Prospero Therapeutics Ltd
Kerry is a co-founder of Prospero Therapeutics Ltd, an early-stage spin-out from Warwick University which is developing platform technology for the biomanufacture of therapeutic proteins in mushrooms. He has degrees in Biochemistry (BSc, Bristol University), Applied Plant Sciences (MSc, London University) and Microbiology (PhD, London University). Kerry has 28 years experience in multidisciplinary research conducting strategic and applied research of fungi and plants at the gene, protein, cellular and whole organism levels. He has produced a large portfolio of achievements including scientific papers, conference presentations, and two patent applications. He also has considerable involvement with commercial companies by consultancy and the instigation and completion of commercial research contracts.
Chief Executive, Vivacta Ltd
A mechanical engineer with an extensive career in medical and material science related businesses. His early career was spent in management of polymer related businesses within large Corporates. In 99 on returning from North Carolina where he was Vice President of Rexam’s Coated Films business, his interests in new business creation led him to the role of Managing Director of Oxford Biosensors. As the first employee in the company Neil raised $15m of venture capital funding, he focused the company’s multianalyte electrochemical technology on lipid testing. Improved methods for lipid testing are vital in addressing the number 1 killer: cardiovascular disease. In 2004 Neil joined Tim Carter and Steve Ross to form Vivacta, a company with exciting technology for rapid yet highly sensitive Point of Care testing of immunoassays. They raised a Series A funding of $5m and are now developing their first commercial application: Point of Care test for thyroid function, the world’s largest value test within the lab today.
Senior Director, Worldwide Licensing and Business Development Group, Pfizer Inc
Dr Chanas joined the Pharmaceutical industry 25 years ago in a development role after an academic career in Virology. Since moving into business development approximately 10 years ago, he has led multi-disciplinary teams evaluating opportunities for in-licensing and acquisition in a number of therapeutic areas including infectious diseases
CEO, Atlas Genetics
BSc., PhD with 20 years in genetics, molecular biology and microbiology. Faculty member at the University of Bath before co-founding Molecular Sensors Ltd, and Molecular Sensing plc where he was Technical Director. Following successful development of the ‘genedrive’ DNA analysis system, he joined Osmetech plc as Instrument Systems Director when they acquired Molecular in 2004 and coordinated development teams across Osmetech’s US and UK sites. Led spin out of Atlas Genetics and managed company formation and £1 million seed financing.
Partner, Manches LLP
Piers joined manches in 2001and has since specialised in IP - related commercial agreements such as patent licensing, brand licensing, various publishing agreements and confidentiality agreements. Piers has advised a holder of a major gene - related patent family on licensing agreements and licensing models in general, as well as advising Owen Mumford Limited, an OEM medical devices manufacturer, in relation to its standard terms of supply, international distribution and supply agreements, development and manufacture agreements with large multinational pharmaceutical companies and in-licensing of technology. He is experienced in advising on a wide range of issues relating to 'e-commerce' such as contract formation, regulatory and compliance issues arising from, for example, the distance selling regulations, e-commerce regulations and data protection legislation. Piers has also acted for several 'spin-out' companies form the University of Oxford in connection with the technology transfer agreements (technology licence, consultancy arrangements, research agreements etc) required on their establishment, and subsequent licensing arrangements.
Business Development Manager, Chroma Therapeutics
Scott has 10 years experience of working in the Pharma/Biotech sector. He obtained his first degree in Pharmacology from The University of Glasgow before studying for a PhD in Medical Sciences at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. After a period of post-doctoral study at The Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow and a position of Research Associate at The Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison he began his Industrial career at Roche in the UK where he was Team Leader in Viral Diseases and latterly was responsible for the papillomavirus disease area. After 5 years at Roche, Scott joined the UK division of OSI Pharmaceuticals in the role of Research Investigator where he managed cancer drug discovery programs. Scott joined Chroma Therapeutics over 2 years ago as Business Development Manager where, amongst other things, he has responsibility for the partnering of key company assets as well as establishing key collaborations, particularly in the chromatin target area.
VP, Business Development (Europe), Evotec (UK) Ltd
As an experienced member of the Evotec business development group I am responsible for Discovery Biology and Chemistry Services in Belgium, Netherlands, Spain and the UK. Prior to joining Evotec in 2003, I was Head of European Commercial Development for Acumen Bioscience Ltd (a subsidiary of The Technology Partnership) and apart of the management team that successfully positioned and established the Acumen brand within the competitive high throughput screening market. After completing my postgraduate studies at University of Kent, I joined Quadrant Healthcare Ltd and helped establish a strong IP position around the company's proprietary technology platform before moving into more commercially-orientated roles. I left Quadrant in 1999 to join Huntingdon Life Sciences Business Development group where I was primarily involved in selling pharmaceutical analysis and toxicology programmes.
Director, a2sp Ltd
Suzanne Dilly is one of four founding directors of a2sp Limited, an emerging chemical genomics company. a2sp Limited has developed Magic Tag Immobilisation Technology, a suite of photoactive chemistries that can be used to optimise the bio-orientation of small- and macro-molecules immobilised on surfaces or films. a2sp Limited is currently offering a contract screening service and making Magic Tag technology available via coated microtitre plates and magnetic beads. Technology licenses are available in a number of applications. The company plans to exploit the technology internally by identification and development to POC of existing drugs suitable for Therapeutic Switching
Director (Global Professional Relations), Oxford Immunotec
Nick graduated with a degree in Biochemistry from Bristol University and followed this with a PhD in antibiotic biosynthesis at Cambridge. During his period in the Biotech sector he has worked in a variety of areas of preclinical drug discovery including cardiovascular, anti-infectives, oncology and inflammation. In his current role, Nick negotiates contracts with companies/academic institutions and establishes the monitoring of existing programme-related investments associated with both a £91m preclinical ‘Seeding Drug Discovery’ fund and an £8m rolling annual fund earmarked for more general translational biomedical projects.
Chief Medical Officer, Phynova Group Plc
John practised as a physician and clinical academic in London and Oxford University teaching hospitals, specialising in both general and respiratory medicine. His biopharmaceutical clinical research experience extends over 15 years and over 100 clinical trials in a diverse range of therapeutic areas (eg respiratory, rheumatology, oncology, neurology, dermatology, infectious diseases). He has managed a broad range of drug development programmes and clinical development teams at GSK, Chugai, Genzyme and Almirall in senior global development roles. He is an expert in the field of respiratory disease and has published over 50 primary papers and book chapters.
CSO, Exocyte
Graeme has a research background in molecular virology, antibody technologies, pathogen detection, and, in pre-clinical R&D focusing on novel anti-Bacterial therapeutics, vaccines and screening technologies. He co-founded Exocyte in order to commercialise the novel technologies and target the Bio-Defence and anti-Bacterial markets. Exocyte is working with the US DOD to demonstrate efficacy of our technologies against specific Bio-Threat agents. Exocyte continues to provide consultancy services to the US DOD working on Bio-Defence projects in Russia. We are further developing our commercial anti-Bacterial screening service. Exocyte is currently seeking investment and partners to help accelerate both our technologies and services.
CEO, Incentec Ltd
Sanjeev is a qualified pharmacist with a PhD in Molecular Medicine. Having been awarded the prestigious fellowship from the Royal Academy of Life Sciences Sanjeev is undertaking a MBA at Warwick Business School. Sanjeev is a serial entrepreneur and after the formation of several University spin outs he is now CEO of a Diagnostic/biomarker discovery company based in the UK. After successfully managing a new Pharmacy start up Sanjeev currently is a Business Development Manager and Medici Programme Manager at Warwick Ventures, University of Warwick. Sanjeev currently sits on the board of directors for a local charity dealing with regeneration to the surrounding area and deals with financial and management issues.
Business Analyst - Wellcome Trust Technology Transfer
Chris Granger has spent almost 20 years in the diagnostics industry specialising in Sales, Marketing and Business Development. He has held senior sales & marketing roles at Amersham International, Boots Celltech Diagnostics, Becton Dickinson and ICN Biomedical Division. He has been responsible for taking many products through the regulatory process in both Europe and the US and has built up and managed pan-European direct sales forces. He has managed product lines in infectious disease, autoimmune disease, allergy and cytokine detection. Chris has a graduate degree in pharmacology and a masters degree in business administration.
Director of Business Development, Phoqus Pharmaceuticals
Dominic Griffiths joined Phoqus in 2003 and is responsible for Phoqus’ business development activities. He has more than eight years experience in the Life Sciences sector having worked previously as a management consultant for PharmaVentures and Gemini Consulting where he provided strategic and operational advisory services to a wide range of companies in this sector. Dominic has a DPhil in Biochemistry from the MRC (Sussex).
Partner - Abingworth Management Limited
Tim Haines has more than 23 years of international management experience in the life sciences industry. Before joining Abingworth in September 2005 he was Chief Executive of the Abingworth portfolio company, Astex Therapeutics. Tim was with Astex for more than five years and was instrumental in establishing it as one of the leading UK biotechnology companies. During his time at Astex, the company accessed more than £50 million in venture capital and closed over $1b in deal value potential with pharmaceutical companies. Previously, Tim was Chief Executive of two divisions of the publicly-listed medical technology company, Datascope Corp. Prior to Datascope, he held a number of other senior management positions in the US and Europe. Tim has a BSc from Exeter University and an MBA from INSEAD. Current and past portfolio Board positions include Astex Therapeutics, Fovea SA, X-Counter AB (AIM-listed), Powdermed (acquired by Pfizer), Akubio and IMI AG.
Director - Alliance Management in Strategic Planning & Business
Development, AstraZeneca
Rob Hockney has over twenty years experience in the pharmaceutical industry and is currently Director of Alliance Management in Strategic Planning and Business Development with AstraZeneca. His accountabilities include the development and implementation of leading practices in alliance management as well as the management of a number of key strategic alliances with projects in Discovery and Clinical Development. Recently, Rob has been leading the development of new methodologies for the valuation of, and value realisation from, early, pre-clinical investments in science and technology. Rob has a Discovery background and prior to joining the Alliances Function headed-up AZ’s Enabling Bioscience and Technology group in the UK and before that the Biotechnology group in Zeneca. He is a graduate of the University of Leeds in the UK where he took a 1st in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Genetics
Chief Executive Officer, Novolytics Limited
Nick has over 17 years experience in technology oriented research in both academia and industry. In the academic sector Nick worked at both Harvard (USA) and Oxford (UK) University developing novel technologies for human genomic analysis. In the commercial sector Nick worked as a Principal Scientist at Oxagen Limited (UK) which was followed by various roles in Biotech Business Mentoring (Manchester Innovations) Business Development and Technology Transfer (University of Warwick) and more recently as the CEO of Novolytics Limited a University of Warwick spin-out company.
Chief Executive Officer, ReNeuron
Michael Hunt ACA has been a director of ReNeuron since January 2001. He joined ReNeuron as Chief Financial Officer, and was appointed Chief Operating Officer in September 2003 and Chief Executive Officer in July 2005. Prior to ReNeuron, he spent six years at Biocompatibles International plc where he held a number of senior financial and general management positions. His early industrial career was spent at Bunzl plc. He read Economics at University College London and qualified as a chartered accountant with Ernst and Young in London.
Partner, Manches LLP
Jim has a degree in both Biochemistry and in Biochemical Engineering. He intended going into pharmaceutical manufacturing, before being seduced by law. Jim has been a solicitor, specialising in intellectual property, since 1987. He has a focus advising science - and engineering - based clients on the protection and exploitation of their IP rights. He advises and negotiates agreements for those involved in setting up or spinning out businesses, through the range of R & D agreements and licenses, and subsequent commercial agreements such as Clinical trial agreements and out-licensing of products, to agreements relevant for companies floating, or preparing for trade sale. For those unlucky enough to be involved in litigation, Jim has handled a large number of cases involving patents, designs and industrial copyright, on a wide range of technologies and subjects, over his near 20 year career. Jim has been recommended as a biotechnology specialist by a number of legal directories.
Director, Piramed Ltd
David obtained his PhD from Imperial College, London (1977). His early industrial experience was with May & Baker, a division of Rhone Poulenc and since then, he has established an international reputation in anti-infectives R&D, working in several major pharmaceutical companies. Prior to his career in the biotech sector, David was Director of Molecular Microbiology at SmithKline Beecham (now GSK) in Pennsylvania. In 1999, he became a Director and CSO of RiboTargets plc in the UK, where he successfully transformed the scientific basis of the company from one based on the discovery of anti-infective molecules targeting discreet RNA structural motifs into one predominantly focused on the discovery and development of anti-cancer agents. Following the merger of RiboTargets and British Biotech, he became Director of R & D of the combined organization. After overseeing the merger of British Biotech with Vernalis, David consulted for a number of private equity investors in Europe/USA and was temporally CEO of CellCentric. He is currently CSO and R&D Director of Piramed Ltd, based in Slough. David is a past Member of Council of the American Society for Microbiology and on the editorial board of Current Opinions in Microbiology. He also serves on several biotech Scientific Advisory Boards and continues to advise members of the worldwide private equity investment community.
Chief Executive, Surface Therapeutics Ltd
David, a Pharmacist by profession, joined Surface Therapeutics Ltd, a drug discovery and development company in 2004. Having successfully completed seed and series “A” rounds he is currently undergoing a series “B” financing. Prior to this he has held a number of senior and general management posts in both small and major multinational companies including GSK, Abbott, Amersham plc, Life Technologies and OSI. These have spanned the full range of activities ranging from discovery, through manufacturing to sale of pharmaceutical products and devices. During his time he has already been involved with 2 previous spin outs from within Pharmaceutical companies. He is chair of the steering group of the Oxfordshire Bioscience Network and an independent Governor of Oxford Brookes University.
CEO, Teox
Peter Lawes is an independent consultant to the Medical Devices Technology Industry advising on intellectual property, design, manufacturing, regulatory and marketing matters. He is Interim CEO of TEOX Ltd a Tissue Engineering spin out from the University of Oxford and Chairman of BIME, the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering. Peter was founding CEO of ApaTech Ltd, a synthetic bone graft substitute materials company and spin out from Queen Mary University of London. Previously he was a Vice President of Pfizer’s Medical Technology Division, Vice President of Howmedica International and President of IAPM, the Brussels-based International Association of medical Prosthesis Manufacturers. He is immediate past Chairman of the Medical Engineering Division of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He obtained his PhD from the University of Strathclyde, Bioengineering Unit, based on his research into lower limb amputee biomechanics.
Senior Manager, Ernst & Young LLP
Brenda has been preparing R&D tax claims for over six years in both Australia and the UK. She has experience in preparing large company R&D claims in a cross section of industries. She specialises in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, biotechnology and consumer products sectors and has prepared two of the largest R&D claims in the pharmaceutical sector in the UK. She works regularly with HMRC to obtain approval of claims for many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Brenda has a PhD in medical research.
Commercial Director, Amplion Ltd
Graduating from Cambridge University, where he studied Pathology, Adam has worked in scientific and commercial roles within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry since 1994. He has an MBA from Insead, Paris, where he specialised in the management of healthcare organisations, and entrepreneurship. Prior to founding Amplion, Adam was responsible for biotechnology and North American licensing for Weston Medical plc, completing license agreements with value in excess of £250m, and playing a key role in Weston’s IPO on the London Stock Exchange. After leaving Weston Medical in October 2002, Adam led an expedition to the Geographic North Pole.
Director, MEPC Milton Park
For many years Tony worked in marketing and operational management within the retail sector. He was at Currys, part of the DSG Stores Group, and Rumbelows, part of Thorn EMI, before becoming managing director of NSI Ltd. This new start-up business was created to provide satellite equipment installation prior to the launch of the SKY and BSB satellites in the late 1980s. NSI outperformed all of its market rivals, but after three hectic years Tony briefly returned to Rumbelows before being appointed chief executive of thecentre:mk shopping centre in Milton Keynes. There, Tony helped develop the site into one of the UK’s leading shopping venues, with over 200 retail units and the facilities to host large-scale events and shows. The shopping centre also won many accolades for its CSR initiatives, and became a key player within the local community. Under Tony’s stewardship, thecentre:mk engaged with educational institutions, community groups and the public sector both locally and nationally, and was particularly valued for its outstanding levels of customer service. Tony is now director of MEPC Limited, and oversees the company’s marketing strategy. He is also managing director of Milton Park, the largest of MEPC’s sustainable business communities. Outside work, Tony expends any energy he has left through marathon running and triathlons.
Executive VP, President (OSI) Prosidion, OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. President, Prosidion Limited
Dr Lundemose was appointed Executive VP, OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and President, (OSI) Prosidion, in March 2005 having been the CEO of Prosidion Limited since the Company became operational in February 2003. Dr. Lundemose is co-founder of several companies including Prosidion Limited and Symphogen A/S. He has broad and extensive experience within Medical Sciences and business obtained from his positions held in both academia and the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Previous positions include Chief Executive Officer at Pantheco A/S from December 1998 to August 2002, Associate Director, Business Development, Novo Nordisk from October 1997 to November 1998, Manager, Business Development, Novo Nordisk from January 1996 to September 1997 and Head of Diabetes Biology, Novo Nordisk from June 1994 to December 1995. He received an MD in 1988 from University of Aarhus, Denmark and continued at University of Aarhus to 1992 as a Post Doctoral Fellow. During this period, in 1992, he was awarded a Wellcome Trust Fellowship at University of Birmingham, England. A Ph.D. degree (Molecular Microbiology) was obtained in 1990 and a Doctor of Science (Dr.Med) degree in 1994, both from University of Aarhus, Denmark. Dr Lundemose holds a Diploma in "Management of Drug and Device Development" from Scandinavian International Management Institute and is a member of the Board of Directors of Prosidion Limited and also OSI Pharmaceuticals (UK) Limited.
President and CEO, Parsortix, Inc
Ms. Milne has over 20 years of experience in the Life Sciences, developing and implementing growth strategies for emerging companies. In 2005 she was interim CEO of Neuro Diagnostic Devices, where she secured seed funding and facilitated the company’s sale from family owners to a venture capital group. From 2001 to 2004 Ms. Milne was with BTG and managed a team in Diagnostics and Drug Delivery. While at BTG Larissa created and managed the company’s Prenatal Diagnostic portfolio of intellectual property. Prior to BTG she held significant positions in sales, marketing, business development and corporate strategy with Coulter Corporation (now Beckman Coulter), Bioject and Fujirebio Diagnostics. Ms. Milne holds a BS in Biology from Muhlenberg College and an MBA with highest honors from the LeBow College of Business at Drexel University.
Investment Director, Oxford Capital Partners
David is the co-founder of Oxford Capital Partners and has led over 30 venture capital transactions since 1999 in science and technology companies. His investment experience covers a range of sectors, from software to cleantech and from medical devices to novel materials. David has been named as one of the Top Ten young venture capitalists to watch. Previously, at Result Ventures, a European strategy consultancy, he specialised in advising and supporting technology companies on international expansion. Prior to this he worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers in corporate finance. His early career was as an equities analyst with Jardine Fleming in Asia and later with Deloitte & Touche in London where he trained as an accountant. David holds a BA in Economics and Japanese from the University of Durham. Oxford Capital Partners has invested in a portfolio of healthcare companies including Oxford Genome Sciences, Veryan Medical, Avidex, G-Nostics, Sphere Medical, Scancell and OrthoMimetics.
General Manager, Cobra Biomanufacturing
After gaining an honours degree in Biochemistry and Physiology at the University of Sheffield, Tony completed a PhD at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, while conducting research over a period of seven years on autoimmune diseases. He joined the research and development division of Cobra in 1994 and was involved in developing reliable, stable, high-level gene expression systems and cell-based delivery systems during seven years of research. In 2001, Tony joined the biopharmaceutical manufacturing division and was involved in setting up the Business Development and Account Management functions within the Group. During his time in the Business development group he held the positions of Associate Director of Business Development, European Director of Business Development and Director of Customer Relations and Marketing before his recent promotion to the current position.
Senior Audit Manager, Ernst & Young LLP,
UK
Ian has been with Ernst & Young for over twelve years and has significant experience of advising UK and US public and private health sciences companies. Ian spent two years in the San Francisco area practice working with public and private clients including succession through to IPO. From his current base in the Reading UK office, he continues to focus on the health sciences sector. Ian graduated from Oxford University with bachelors and masters degrees in Chemistry, with research focusing on genetic engineering.
CEO, SEHTA
David Parry was appointed Chief Executive of SEHTA on February 1st 2006. Immediately prior to this he ran his own life sciences consultancy company and was a SEEDA enterprise hub director for 3 years when he actively helped 20 small technology-based businesses to grow. Davids' earlier background was in research and development. He has held positions of Head of Entomology and Plant Pathology at East Malling Research Station and Reader in Plant Pathology at Harper Adams University College. David has a track record in attracting funding from commercial, government and EU sources. His research work is widely published and he has written 2 books. David is a graduate of Imperial College and obtained his PhD from Imperial College at Wye.
CEO, Glide Pharma
Charles is the inventor of the Glide technology and founder of Glide Pharma. He holds an engineering degree and PhD from Cambridge University. Charles spent six years undertaking research within the Transplant Unit at Papworth Hospital, a specialist cardiothoracic centre, where he gained extensive medical experience. Charles then joined PowderJect Pharmaceuticals where he saw the company grow from just five employees to over 1000. After more than five years at PowderJect Charles joined another Oxford University spin-out company, Oxford BioSignals, where he worked for nearly three years as a project manager. It was during his time at BioSignals that Charles came up with the idea for the Glide technology and he founded Caretek Medical Ltd in late 2001. Caretek Medical was rebranded as Glide Pharma in 2006 and Charles holds the position of Chief Executive Officer.
Audit Partner, Ernst & Young LLP, UK
William’s career with Ernst & Young in the UK has spanned three offices - Edinburgh, London and Reading - and a number of disciplines - audit, corporate finance, entrepreneurial services, as well as a secondment to the UK Government’s Department of Trade and Industry. As a result of his extensive work with biotechnology and pharmaceutical businesses, and his strong international connections, particularly with E&Y’s offices on the east and west coast of the USA and throughout Eur