Board

Dr. Kay Tait has worked in the UK pharmaceutical industry for approximately 15 years and currently works as a Transaction Director in AstraZeneca’s Business Development and... Operations team. Kay is involved in all aspects of transaction negotiation and execution across multiple therapy areas. Prior to that, Kay worked as a Business Development Director covering both search and evaluation, as well as transaction, for AstraZeneca’s Oncology business.

Kay has a wealth of business development experience ranging from in and out-licensing, acquisition and partnering activities from early stage discovery through to on-market commercial opportunities. Before her business development career, Kay worked in R&D at AstraZeneca. She also holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology and a first class honours degree both from the University Manchester.
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Dan is a senior healthcare executive with 25 years international business development and commercial operations leadership experience in pharma, CRO, clinical diagnostics, biotech and life science... research.

Since joining Alliance in 2006 Dan has led Alliance’s M&A and licensing activity, completing over 15 acquisition transactions and several other deals. Dan has worked in a variety of roles including senior management in the clinical research (CRO), biotech research and diagnostic sectors as well as in sales operations. Dan has worked in Canada, Germany and France and graduated from Brunel University in Applied Biochemistry. In 2011 Dan won the PLG/AstraZeneca BD Executive of the Year award.
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Umaima is an Associate Transaction Director in the Business Development Operations function at AstraZeneca, focused on transaction negotiation and execution across multiple therapy areas including Oncology.... />
Prior to joining Business Development, Umaima practised as a solicitor. She worked in the legal field for 9 years, primarily as in-house legal counsel within the banking and finance sector including most recently at Citibank and, subsequently, within life sciences at Abcam.

Umaima holds an LLB (Hons) in Law with European Legal Studies from King’s College London and an MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge.
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Keith Buchanan Smith, PhD, has worked with GSK since 2005 in technical and corporate roles. He is currently Director of Worldwide Business Development for external collaborations.... Prior to joining GSK, Keith worked in various industries including fine & heavy chemical, forestry, music, food, biotech and consultancy as well as 3 business start-ups. He is also a professional touring musician. [More]

Sharon is the founder and CEO of Medius Associates and has worked in business development since joining the pharma industry in 1978. Sharon therefore has more... than 30 years experience in international pharmaceutical business development.
Sharon’s previous industry experience includes senior business development appointments in the Wellcome Foundation Ltd (Wellcome Research and Wellcome Diagnostics); at Medeva plc and Ono Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. In addition to her client work, Sharon is the Editor of the Business Development & Licensing Journal published by the Pharmaceutical Licensing Group and is also the Course Director for the MSc in Pharmaceutical Business Development and Licensing run by Manchester University.
Sharon holds a BSc in Chemistry and Administration and studied for an MA in Business Law. Sharon has worked in a wide range of therapeutic fields including diabetes, oncology, respiratory, critical care, cardiovascular and diagnostics. She is a past President of the European Pharmaceutical Licensing Group Council and former Chairman of the UK Pharmaceutical Licensing Group.
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Cora is the Head of Business Development & Alliance Management for ReViral Ltd, a clinical stage antiviral company, headquartered in Stevenage, UK. The Company's lead programme... is a Phase 2 respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) fusion inhibitor. Cora is also working in the business development function for Orbit Discovery, a peptide discovery platform company based in Oxford. Orbit's internal programmes are based on GPCRs and T cells.

Previously, Cora worked at the Finnish drug delivery and drug development company DelSiTech Ltd. The Company's lead internal programme is a long acting hepatitis B (HBV) product. Prior to DelSiTech, Cora had business development roles at the drug delivery company Q Chip and the AstraZeneca (AZ) subsidiary company Arrow Therapeutics. Cora obtained her PhD in Virology at the College of Medicine, Cardiff University and held a postdoctoral position at University College London.
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Dr Toby Richardson is an Associate Director, Business Development in the technology transfer office of the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.... These organisations are rated in the top four centres for cancer research and treatment worldwide. The ICR’s academic performance also ranks it as the top higher education institute in the UK.

He has worked in the business development team for ten years, leading all aspects of projects including the review, protection and exploitation of intellectual property generated by many different research teams. This has required the negotiation of numerous agreements with other academic organisations, charity funders, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in many different territories. These have typically been to enable major drug discovery and development collaborations.

Toby has also worked on secondment within AstraZeneca’s oncology strategic partnering and business development team. As well as a PhD in oncology Toby holds a first class double honours degree in biochemistry and chemistry.
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Frances advises leading life sciences companies and industry investors on a range of technology-based commercial matters, including complex licenses, collaborations, acquisitions, and divestments.
Frances provides sophisticated... commercial, transactional, and regulatory advice to multinational, European, and US-based companies and investors in the biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical devices sectors. Her work includes licensing and other complex commercial and intellectual property arrangements. She brings particular experience in relation to UK and EU regulations and data privacy, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Frances frequently writes on topics related to legal issues in the life sciences sector, including for industry publications such as Law360 and Privacy Laws & Business. She is a member of the firm’s Mentoring Committee, and previously served as a global leader of the Women’s Leadership Group.
Frances was identified as a Legal 500 Rising Star 2020 in Life Sciences and Healthcare: "Frances Stocks Allen stands out as a rising star. She is highly knowledgeable and always available, with a pragmatic approach, good business acumen and short response times." She was also part of a team of Latham lawyers who received TrustLaw’s Lawyer of the Year Award - an honour that recognizes outstanding pro bono service. [More]

Adrian is a seasoned IP lawyer who relishes immersing himself in his client’s technology, product roadmap and patent/IP strategy. He is regularly involved in the negotiation... and drafting of technology licence agreements and other contracts with a heavy IP element, such as R&D collaborations, joint ventures, grant funding agreements and other commercial arrangements. He also advises on the EC and UK competition law aspects of these agreements, and issues relating to technical standardisation, essential IPR and patent pooling.

Adrian has a wealth of experience in handling the IP aspects of University spin-outs, IPOs and other major corporate transactions and disputes, including for FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 corporations. He is also a valued patent litigator, having recently advised on disputes involving pharmaceuticals, somatic cell therapy, semiconductor chip design, inkjet printing technology, digital compression algorithms, LCD flat-panel technology, telecoms and pharmaceuticals. He also frequently helps clients with disputes involving confidential information, database rights, trade marks, copyright and designs.

Adrian publishes and speaks regularly on a variety of intellectual property issues. [More]