Speakers

Keith Blundy, Chief Executive Officer Keith joined CRT in 1998, became COO in 2004 and was appointed CEO in 2007. Since then he has overseen the launch of a £50m Cancer Research Technology Pioneer Fund in partnership with the European Investment Fund (EIF) to bridge the UK funding gap between cancer drug discovery and early treatment development. He has initiated risk sharing discovery alliances with AstraZeneca and Teva (formerly Cephalon), the establishment of CRT Inc in Boston (USA) as a business development arm of CRT and the further globalisation of CRT’s cancer IP development and commercialisation through becoming a partner of Cancer Therapeutics Pty in Melbourne, Australia.

Meindert was trained as a pharmacist in the Netherlands and joined NICE in 2004 as a health technology analyst in London. In 2006 he accepted the post of associate director with the responsibility of setting up the new Single Technology Appraisals programme for NICE in Manchester. Since August 2009, Meindert is responsible, as programme director, for the delivery of the Technology Appraisals programme at NICE, the Patient Access Schemes Liaison Unit, and from April 2013 onwards, the Highly Specialised Technologies programme. He previously worked as a pharmacist in hospital in the Netherlands, and in roles in health outcomes and sales in the pharmaceutical industry. He completed the MSc in Health Policy Planning and Financing at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the London School of Economics & Political Sciences and worked briefly for the King's Fund before starting at NICE.

Roel Bulthuis joined the biopharmaceutical division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany in 2006 and started MS Ventures in 2009. Previously, Roel was a Director in the Biotech Investment Banking Team at Fortis Bank, where he was responsible for the origination and execution of a wide range of financing and strategic transactions in the biotech sector based out of Amsterdam and New York. Before joining Fortis Bank, Roel worked at Devgen NV in Gent, Belgium, as a business analyst. Roel holds a Msc. in Biopharmaceutical Sciences from Leiden University, the Netherlands, and an MBA in Finance from the Helsinki School of Economics, Finland.

John joined PolyTherics in November 2010, initially as Chief Business Officer, before becoming CEO in May 2011. Following the acquisition of Antitope and creation of Abzena, he is the Chief Executive Offices of the group.

In 2004 John co-founded Thiakis, with Professor Sir Steve Bloom (Imperial College), which John led as Chief Executive Officer through to its successful acquisition by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in December 2008. Previously, John held a range of roles covering finance, technology licensing and business and corporate development roles with Vanguard Medica plc (now part of Vernalis plc), Glaxo Wellcome plc, GlaxoSmithKline and Imperial Innovations Group plc. John gained a DPhil (molecular biology) from University of Oxford, following his first degree in the Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge.

Darrin is a life scientist who has been involved in the start-up and growth of a number of business ventures. He has a track record of raising business financing from grant, angel, corporate and venture capital sources as well as closing high-value product, service, and licensing deals. In 2012, he was named Business Leader of the Year at the European Life Science Awards. Darrin holds a PhD in Biotechnology from the University of Cambridge has been the author of numerous papers, patents and conference abstracts and has been an advisor on biotech commercialisation strategies around the world.

Mr. Dunlop has over twenty years of experience successfully delivering competitive returns to international investors. Prior to co-founding Epidarex Capital, Mr. Dunlop raised and managed MASA Life Science Ventures, LP (“MLSV” – www.mlsvfund.com). MLSV’s investors include several leading institutions and corporations in Japan and Korea, including a ‘top-ten’ Japanese Pharmaceutical company, the largest distributor of cardiac-health medical devices in Japan, a global financial institution and one of Japan’s leading publicly-traded Biotechnology companies.

Sir Chris is regarded as one of Europe's leading biotechnology entrepreneurs.

He has a proven track record of establishing successful, high-quality science companies, 20 of which have been taken public. These companies have made substantial returns for their venture capital and institutional backers and employ more than 3,500 people. Of particular note is Chiroscience plc, started by Sir Chris with £1m in 1992 and grew to £600m by 1997 before merging with Celltech plc, which in turn has merged with UCB to create one of Europe's flagship bioscience enterprises.

Sir Chris's considerable contributions to the biotechnology industry have been honoured with a Knighthood in the 2001 New Year's Honours List and an OBE in the 1995 New Year's Honours List.

George was elected to Parliament in 2010 after a 15 year career across the life sciences sector, in particular working with hospitals, clinical researchers, patient groups, and biomedical research companies to pioneer novel healthcare innovations.

Following his election to Parliament in 2010, George served as PPS to the Minister of State for Climate Change. He was appointed Government Adviser on Life Sciences in July 2011, working closely with the Department of Health and coordinating the Government’s Life Science and Innovation, Health and Wealth Strategies (2011), and the Agri-Tech Industrial Strategy (2013). Following that, he was appointed to the post of Prime Minister’s UK Trade Envoy.

On July 15, George was appointed as Minister for Life Sciences, a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. His mission is to make the UK the best place in the world to discover and develop 21st Century healthcare innovations.

Founder & CEO of an advisory firm assisting orphan drugs development focused start-ups raise seed funding through international equity crowdfunding (€200K-€3M range). From initial equity crowdfunding readiness assessment to social media campaign and investor deck material production.

Peter Grant was appointed Chief Executive Officer on 31 January 2012. He joined the Company and was appointed to the Board as Chief Financial Officer in November 2006 and, on taking the Chief Executive role, retained responsibility for the Group's financial matters up to 25 November 2013.

Previously, Peter Grant was Interim Chief Executive Officer of Voice Commerce Group, Group Finance Director at Eurodis Electron PLC, Chief Financial Officer at WorldPay plc and Group Finance Director, then Group Chief Executive at Molins PLC. Prior to this he held a variety of senior commercial, financial and general management roles in the General Electric Company plc group of companies. He holds an MA in Mathematics from Oxford University and is a Chartered Accountant.

David joined Index in 2012 as a Venture Partner in the life sciences team. On behalf of Index Ventures, David has co-founded E3Bio, Methusalah, Purple therapeutics and Stx Pharma. He also founded Funxional Therapeutics and XO1. He is interested in disruptive early-stage technologies, particularly in inflammation and cardiovascular biology. Prior to joining Index, David led an internationally-recognised research group in Cambridge University's Department of Medicine, where he published more than 80 first author papers in leading journals including Nature, Science and Nature Medicine. He is an inventor on more than 150 patents and patent applications.

Dr. Deborah Harland, Ph.D. is a Partner at SR One. She joined the firm on September 1, 2005. She established the European investment office. Dr. Harland was part of GSK's worldwide business development team, where she was responsible for sourcing and evaluating in-licensing opportunities in the psychiatry, neurology, and gastrointestinal therapeutic areas. During her time with business development, she led due diligence teams associated with successful in-licensing of preclinical and marketed products as well as multiple-asset research and development collaboration. Prior to GSK, Dr. Harland held positions of increasing responsibility within SmithKline Beecham's development organization covering clinical development, medical affairs, medical communications, medical marketing, and business development support.

Steven Harris is CEO and co-founder of the company. He is a bioscience entrepreneur with extensive experience of founding and leading specialty pharmaceutical companies. Prior to co-founding the company on 19 March 2006, he was a founding member of the management team that grew Zeneus Pharma Ltd into a leading specialty pharmaceuticals company following the acquisition of Elan Corporation plc’s European oncology and critical care business for U.S.$110 million. As Zeneus’ Chief Financial Officer and subsequently Chief Executive Officer, he played a key role in refocusing the business, turning around under-performing products and managing Zeneus’ acquisition by Cephalon Inc. (now part of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd) for U.S.$360 million in 2006. Prior to Zeneus, he spent seven years at PowderJect Pharmaceuticals plc (PowderJect) as Chief Financial Officer, where he was a key member of the management team that grew the private biotechnology organisation into an integrated, profitable public company, which became the world’s fifth largest vaccines business before being acquired by Chiron Corporation (now Novartis International AG) for U.S.$1 billion in 2003. He holds an MSc from Southampton University and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW) and of the Association of Certified Accountants (ACA).

Tony Hickson BSc, MBA,CLP joined the Group in early 2002 and is Managing Director of the Technology Transfer team, responsible for intellectual property sourcing, management and licensing for technologies arising from Imperial College London.

Tony has over 16 years of commercial IP and licensing experience in bioscience companies including Wellcome Group R&D;, Murex Biotech, Abbott Laboratories and Kalibrant Limited. He has been a board director or observer for a number of start-up companies including Emcision, Polytherics, Acublate and Respivert Ltd, acts as chairman of the Intellectual Property Board for the European Climate Change KIC and is a Certified Licensing Professional.

Rob has been involved in the exploitation of early stage intellectual property for 20 years since he completed his PhD in Biochemistry in 1990. Rob worked for Cancer Research Campaign Technology for seven years before moving to Prelude Ventures, one of Europe’s oldest early stage venture capital investors. He was a Founding Partner of DFJ Esprit. Rob has been involved in many technologies and businesses which in aggregate have raised well over £200m in financing. Notable achievements have been: involvement in licensing Temodal to Schering Plough prior to it becoming a billion dollar cancer drug, financing a new method to purify DNA and RNA called Charge Switch Technology, which is now globally available via Life Technologies and financing the global launch of a new diagnostic product for latent TB via Oxford Immunotec which is now a NASDAQ quoted company. Rob founded Sixth Element Capital (6EC) with his partners Ian Miscampbell and Ralph Villiger as a Fund Manager designed to find innovative ways to invest in biotechnology. The CRT Pioneer Fund is 6EC’s first fund.

Simon is a business professional with two decades’ experience of creating and developing innovative life science businesses. Before joining Karus as the Company's first CEO in 2006, he was Director of Business Development at Ablynx NV (Ghent, Belgium), where he was responsible for securing a number of research, development and licensing agreements with major pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer and Novartis. He also played a key role in Ablynx's development from early-stage to one of Europe's most promising antibody fragment companies.

Dr. Zahid Latif began his career as a pharmacist in 1992, and after a stint in hospital pharmacy, went on to complete a PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry. He then spent 11 years in R&D; and operations management, working with biotech companies such as Xenova, MNL & Integrin and multinationals such as Wyeth.
He joined the UK Technology Strategy Board in Oct 2007 as Lead Technologist in Medicines and Healthcare, becoming Head of Healthcare in 2010.

Eddy left GSK in 2000 to join Medivir as Senior Director of Lead Discovery and Head of their UK operations. Whilst at Medivir he played a significant role in several deals, including the outlicensing of the HCV protease inhibitor programme to Tibotec. The total value of deals converted at Medivir was $360M. Eddy became the Chief Executive Officer of Domainex in May 2008. Eddy is a member of the SAB of Tibotec and a member of the Infection and Immunity Board and the Translational Research Group at the MRC.

Dan joined Polar Capital to set up the Healthcare Investment team in 2007. He has more than 11 years’ investment experience in the healthcare sector, with over 2 years as a portfolio manager and 9 years as a sell-side analyst. Prior to joining Polar Capital, he was head of the European healthcare research team at Morgan Stanley, which covered the European biotechnology, medical technology and healthcare services industries. Dan was ranked second in the Institutional Investor Magazine All-Europe Research Team survey in 2003. He also previously worked in New York for ING Barings Furman Selz following the US biotechnology sector. Before working in the investment field, Dan worked as a research scientist for 7 years with the majority of his time at Schering Plough Corporation in California. Dan acts as co-manager of the Polar Capital Healthcare Opportunities Fund alongside Gareth Powell. He has primary responsibility for medical devices, diagnostics, and healthcare services company sectors on a global basis.

Dr. François Meyer is currently Advisor to the President of the French National Authority for Health (HAS, Haute Autorité de Santé), with a particular focus on International Affairs. He is a member of the board of HTAi, the international professional society for HTA, and INAHTA, the international network for HTA agencies. Dr Meyer joined HAS in 2005 with the responsibility of setting up the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Division.

In this role, he oversaw the grouping of the 5 major health technology domains (pharmaceuticals, medical devices, interventional and diagnostic procedures, and public health actions and programs) under one roof, and led HAS’s expanding role of economic analysis in the field of HTA in France. Prior to joining HAS, Dr. Meyer worked for 5 years at the French Health Products Agency, initially as Deputy Director of the Regulatory Division and then as Director of the Drugs and Devices HTA Division. Before this position, he worked for 5 years in the R&D; Division of a pharmaceutical company.

Dr. François Meyer earned his MD degree from the University of Montpellier Medical School in France. He served for more than 10 years the teaching hospitals of Montpellier as a practicing physician. Dr. Meyer is qualified in endocrinology and metabolic disorders and internal medicine.

Carole Nuechterlein has headed the Roche Venture Fund since 2001, but even after a decade at the top of the Switzerland-based drugs company’s corporate venturing unit, she said her challenges remain “exits and finding the diamonds in the rough”.
Prior to her current position managing Roche’s SFr500m ($530m) venture fund and its 30 portfolio companies spread across 10 countries, she worked in Roche as an attorney for 10 years.
She joined Roche from SangStat in Fremont, California, where she was general counsel. She began her career working at law firm Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom in its mergers and acquisition (M&A;) group. From there, she worked at Syntex/Roche in Palo Alto, California, focusing on M&A;, research collaborations and licensing deals.

Mene Pangalos, Ph.D. is Executive Vice President, Innovative Medicines and leads AstraZeneca’s small molecule discovery research and early development activities. Mene is a member of the company’s Senior Executive Team. Mene has published more than 120 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals and has served as an editor of books and journals in neuroscience. In the UK, Mene sits on the MRC (Medical Research Council), the Innovation Board for the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, the Enhancing Value Task Force for CIHE-UK (Council for Industry and Higher Education) and the Prime Minister’s Research Champion Group for Dementia. He is also a Fellow of the Society for Biology, an Associate of the Royal College of Science and holds memberships with the American Society of Neuroscience and the British Pharmacology Society.

Nigel is the Chief Investment Officer, and is responsible for the Group’s investment activities. He joined Innovations in January 2012. He was previously a Partner at DFJ Esprit, and prior to that spent 12 years at 3i, becoming a Partner in 2006, and ultimately leading the venture team's healthcare activities across Europe and the US. As well as sitting on the board of Imperial Innovations Group plc, Nigel is also a board member of Oxford Immunotec Global plc (Nasdaq: OXFD), Veryan Medical, Polytherics, Psychology Online and Epsilon 3 Bio.

David has over 30 years of experience in private equity and investment banking. He has in-depth experience investing in, and advising on, a wide range of companies. Prior to co-founding Apposite in 2006, David worked on a number of large LBOs with Nomura's Principal Finance Group, including Angel Train Contracts and Married Quarters Estate (now Annington Homes). He then founded and headed Nomura International's healthcare investment and corporate finance groups where he generated consistently high Life Sciences returns. He has been CEO of a number of companies, including an authorised bank. David is very involved in the UK healthcare industry, having served as a member of the UK government’s Health Reform Group looking at reforms to the provision of healthcare to NHS patients and was Chairman of the Audit Committee and Board Member of the UK BioIndustry Association for four years. David has a degree in Chemistry from Oxford University.

David practiced medicine for 5 years before entering the Pharmaceutical Industry. He has held significant leadership roles in his pharmaceutical career, with general management, research, development and commercial responsibilities. He was formerly SVP, Head of Research for Pfizer's European R&D.; Since he left Pfizer in early 2011, David has been Chief Medical Officer and a Non-Executive Director to a number of Biotechs. He also serves on the Major Awards Committee of the UK's Biomedical Catalyst Fund.

Iain leads the Life Sciences team at Cambridge Enterprise, the University of Cambridge’s technology transfer company. Cambridge’s life science product portfolio includes alemtuzumab (Sanofi), breast cancer markers (Brevagen) and mouse touch screen chambers (Campden Instruments). Recent spin-outs include Mission Therapeutics and Cambridge Epigenetix and, recent transactions include licences in fields as diverse as therapeutics, diagnostics, biofuels, IVF and epigenetics. Iain lead discussions with GSK in respect of the University of Cambridge – GSK open innovation drug discovery initiative.

Keith Thompson was appointed Chief Executive of the Cell Therapy Catapult, part of a Technology Strategy Board initiative to improve UK economic capability by bridging the gap between academic invention and commercialisation, in May 2012.
Keith joined the Catapult from the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service where he was National Director, focusing on modernising the blood supply, and expanding the service into cell therapy. Prior to this, Keith held various senior domestic and international positions where he grew several biomanufacturing businesses to become global players.

Patrick Verheyen is Head of the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center in London – a new organization dedicated to identifying, fostering and on-boarding early-stage science, technology and products to Johnson & Johnson businesses in the Pharmaceutical, Consumer and MD&D; sectors.

Patrick was most recently Vice President, New Ventures within Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. In this role, he led a nimble and diverse team that facilitated divestitures, established strategic collaborations and identified investments that provided Janssen with access to external innovation and early product flow. Prior to that, Patrick was Vice President, Mergers & Acquisitions within the Pharmaceuticals Group.

Martin is CEO responsible for all the investment and business activities of Excalibur and its subsidiary companies. In addition to managing Excalibur's existing activities, this involves the evaluation, implementation and oversight of new initiatives conceived with and by group chairman, Professor Sir Chris Evans OBE.
Martin joined the company in early 2011 after a 25-year career in the capital markets, as an investment banker for several major banks and also as an investor in medical and other sectors, having run investment and trading businesses, private equity portfolios and hedge funds with assets in excess of $8bn, in the UK, USA, Ireland, Canada and China.

An experienced Board Director and entrepreneur with over 25 years' experience in biotech and healthcare/hospital management; multiple start-ups; raising angel, grant and VC investment and an authority in introducing innovative technologies into mainstream medicine.