PLG Early Stage Healthcare Business Development

Keith Jones Photo

Keith Jones

Professor in Synthetic Chemistry

Institute of Cancer Research

Professor Jones is a medicinal chemist involved in designing, synthesising and optimising small molecules as inhibitors of various proteins and signalling pathways.

Professor Jones carried out his undergraduate studies in Natural Sciences at Cambridge University and followed this with a PhD in organic chemistry from the same institution. He was appointed to a lectureship at King’s College London where he stayed for 18 years, with the exception of a year carrying out research at Columbia University in New York. He is most widely known for his work in the area of heterocyclic synthesis and especially the way in which he and his group developed the use of carbon-centred free radicals in the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds.

Professor Jones has held a number of positions within the Royal Society of Chemistry including secretary and chairman of the Heterocyclic and Synthesis Group as well as vice-chair of the Organic Division. He has also been chairman of the Fine Chemicals Group of the Society of Chemical Industry. He has been involved in the organising and running a number of national and international meetings in the general area of organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Barcelona and the Australian National University in Canberra.

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John Jappy

Partner

Gill Jennings and Every LLP

John joined Gill Jennings & Every in 1996 after completing the MSc course in the Management of Intellectual Property at Queen Mary College (University of London). He qualified as both a Chartered and European Patent Attorney in 2001. John joined the partnership in 2003. He has particular experience in advising early-stage companies, helping them put in place procedures for managing growing IP portfolios and encouraging innovation.

Prior to Gill Jennings & Every, John worked for several years as a scientist in Celltech Plc (now part of UCB). John graduated from the University of Aberdeen with an Honours Degree in Biochemistry.

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Adrian Ibrahim

Head of Business Development and Technology Transfer

Sanger Institute

Adrian joined the Sanger Institute in 2011 to establish the Translation Office.  With a background spanning academic research, structured finance and technology protection, development and commercialisation, Adrian was recruited to optimise the ability of Sanger science to provide healthcare benefit.  The first quinnquennium of technology translation at Sanger has seen significant expansion and maturation of Sanger’s portfolio of spin out companies, establishment of the 50 FTE Centre for Therapeutic Target Validation and execution of licensing deals with major strategic benefits for the exploitation of key Institute assets.

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Stephen Aherne

Director

PwC

Stephen is a Director within the PwC Transaction Services practice. He specialises in pharmaceutical and biotechnology valuation and strategy projects.

He has over 17 years of experience within PwC, including 16 years specialising in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

Stephen has worked on numerous projects within the industries providing strategic advice to clients on topics such as R&D strategy, commercial due diligence, market reviews and valuation advice.

Stephen has worked with many industry participants including large pharma, small and medium pharma, niche players, vaccine manufacturers, biotechnology and medical technology companies.

His clients have included AZ, Shire, GSK, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, Cephalon, BTG, Crucell, Berna Biotech, Servier, MHRA, Celtic Pharma, Immunocore, Imperial Innovations, UCLB, International Biotechnology Trust, Invitrogen and GE Healthcare.

He holds a BSc in Biological Sciences, an MPhil in Microbiology and is a qualified Chartered Accountant. Before joining PwC Stephen spent three years in Applied Microbiology research.

Campbell Photo - Dec 2015

Dr Campbell Wilson

Campbell has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over 35 years. He is currently an independent business development consultant and part of Medius Associates. Campbell left AstraZeneca in 2014 where he held several senior business development positions. As former Executive Director of Science & Technology Licensing, his primary focus was on early stage R&D collaborations and licensing. His main therapy area deal expertise is Oncology. Campbell has experience of all aspects of business development, including search & evaluate and alliance management, but his main focus has been on transactions. He has successfully negotiated over 50 deals.

Campbell’s background is in science. He has a BSc in pharmacology from Edinburgh University and a PhD in cardiovascular pharmacology from the University of Wales. He was formerly with Beecham Pharmaceuticals (now GSK) before joining ICI Pharmaceuticals (now AstraZeneca) in 1989.

Campbell is Chairman of the UK Pharmaceutical Licensing Group (PLG), the association for UK based business development executives, and a Non-Executive Director of Frontier IP, a company that specialises in the commercialisation of academic innovation.

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Patrick Duxbury

Partner

Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co

Pat is a Partner at Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co LLP and head of the Life Sciences Team. Pat was originally a microbiologist and geneticist before re-qualifying as a lawyer in 1993 with first class honours.

Patrick specialises in all aspects of transactional intellectual property law in the life sciences sector.  Recent transactions include several licensing, collaboration and M&A deals for biotech and pharmaceutical company clients such as arGEN-X NV, Astellas, AstraZeneca, GSK, MedImmune, Heptares Therapeutics, Medivir, ProStrakan and others.

Pat teaches on a number of seminar programs including the BIO Advanced Business Development course in both Europe and the US.

The 2015 edition of the Chambers directory of leading lawyers ranked Pat as the number 1 life sciences transactional lawyer in the UK.

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Nigel Walker

Head of Access to Finance

Innovate UK

Nigel is responsible for Access to Finance at Innovate UK where he heads the organisation’s support for innovative SMEs in gaining access to business support and private sector funding to accelerate the journey from concept to commercialisation.

Nigel has a background in the financial services industry, having spent over 10 years at each of Deutsche Bank and GE Capital. At GE, he established the European ‘Access GE’ programme, advising, coaching and mentoring management teams of businesses owned by VC and private equity firms on operational excellence, acquisition integration, strategy development and leadership.

Keith Smith Photo

Keith Smith

Alliance Director, Worldwide Business Development

GlaxoSmithKline

Keith B Smith has more than 25 years experience in academia, fine & heavy chemical, forestry, music, food and pharmaceutical industries, including 3 business start-ups and various managerial, consultancy, novel technology and business development roles. Currently he manages key collaborations between GSK and academia, biotech and pharmaceutical companies. He studied natural sciences and chemical engineering at the University of Cambridge, UK.