— Dr Paul Blake to take Executive Role as Chief Development Officer —
Oxford, UK – 15 August 2014: Oxford BioMedica plc (LSE: OXB), (“OXB” or “the Company”) a leading gene and cell therapy company, today announces that Dr Paul Blake, a Non-Executive Director of the Company, has been appointed to the Executive Management team as Chief Development Officer of Oxford BioMedica with effect from 1 September 2014. Paul will remain a member of the Board and will assume responsibility for the clinical development of Oxford BioMedica’s pipeline of gene and cell therapies.
Paul, 66, joined the Board of Oxford BioMedica in January 2010. He is a senior pharmaceutical executive with more than 30 years’ experience gained from roles in international pharmaceutical and biotech companies and he has been involved in the development of many drugs and vaccines including Requip, Coreg and Provigil®.
Most recently, Paul was Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Æterna Zentaris Inc., a global biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology and endocrine therapy, from 2006 to 2014. Paul was a Member of the Board at Memory Pharmaceutical, Inc., until it was purchased by Roche in 2009, was a founding Board member of Protez Pharmaceuticals, Inc., until it was purchased by Novartis in 2008, and was also a Director of ViaCell, Inc., until its purchase by Perkin Elmer in 2007. From 2001 to 2006, he held senior management positions at Cephalon Inc., including Executive Vice President, Worldwide Medical & Regulatory Operations from 2005. Dr Blake’s previous positions include Senior Vice President and Medical Director, Clinical Research and Development at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, now GSK. Prior to that, he worked for ICI Pharmaceuticals, which later became AstraZeneca, and also at GD Searle. Currently Paul is also a Non-Executive Director of Y-Prime Llc, a clinical trials software and software-as-a-service company.
He qualified in medicine from the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London University. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and a fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians and also a fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology. He has also served as a member of the Inter-Company Collaboration for Aids Drug Development and as a trustee of the Children’s Health Fund.
John Dawson, Chief Executive Officer of Oxford BioMedica, said: “We are delighted that Paul has accepted the position of Chief Development Officer and chosen to take an Executive role within the Company at this exciting time for Oxford BioMedica. His insight and guidance as a Non-Executive Board member have been invaluable and his extensive experience in the strategic clinical development of innovative therapies will be important to Oxford BioMedica as we continue to develop our broad pipeline of novel gene and cell therapies.”
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