Oxford, UK – 9 February 2011: Oxford BioMedica plc (“Oxford BioMedica” or “the Company”) (LSE: Oxford Biomedica), a leading gene therapy company, today announces the appointment of James Christie, BSc, MBA to the newly created role of Head of Manufacturing with immediate effect. This appointment follows the announcement on 31 January 2011 that Oxford BioMedica has agreed to acquire a manufacturing facility based in Oxford, UK from RecipharmCobra Biologics, the specialist biologics division of Recipharm AB.
James, a senior biopharmaceutical executive with over 30 years of experience in the industry, was most recently a member of the Leadership Team at BTG plc as Operations Director. He began his career in the biopharmaceutical industry in 1980 and worked with GlaxoSmithKline plc, Celltech Group plc and Centocor BV, before joining Therapeutic Antibodies Inc. in 1998. When Therapeutic Antibodies Inc. merged with Proteus International PLC in September 1999 to create Protherics PLC (“Protherics”), James was appointed to the Board of Protherics with responsibility for manufacturing, quality, process development and technical support operations in Australia, the UK and the US. James has extensive experience in the integration of group manufacturing operations following the acquisition of MacroMed, Inc. by Protherics in January 2007 and the acquisition of Protherics by BTG plc in 2008. Through the implementation of commercially viable processes he has also taken two products from research through clinical development, regulatory approval and to market.
John Dawson, Chief Executive Officer of Oxford BioMedica, said: “James is a highly-skilled addition to the senior management team at Oxford BioMedica. His operational and technical leadership will be instrumental as we bring our recently acquired proprietary manufacturing facility into operation during 2012 and seek to implement improved processes at increased scale for late stage clinical development.”
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