Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Announces Appointment of Roger J. Lias, Ph.D. as President of Avid Bioservices
September 11 2017 - 8:05AM
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:PPHM) (NASDAQ:PPHMP), a
biopharmaceutical company committed to improving patient lives by
manufacturing high quality products for biotechnology and
pharmaceutical companies and through its proprietary R&D
pipeline, today announced the appointment of Roger J. Lias, Ph.D.,
as the new president of Avid Bioservices, the company’s
wholly-owned contract development and manufacturing organization
(CDMO) subsidiary. Dr. Lias, who has more than 20 years of
CDMO management experience, will also join Peregrine’s board of
directors. In conjunction with this appointment, Steven King will
step down from his role as president of Avid on September 25, 2017
and remain as president and chief executive officer of Peregrine.
“We have been in the process of transforming the
company from a research and development focused organization
offering CDMO services to a pure play CDMO. We have been
looking for someone with a breadth of experience in the biologics
contract development and manufacturing industry. We are very
pleased to have the opportunity to bring someone with Roger’s
impressive track record within the CDMO industry to help guide
expansion and growth of the business,” said Mr. King. “Roger has a
solid track record of success in driving business expansion,
growing revenues and building stockholder value. We are
looking forward to seeing the positive impact Roger can have on the
Avid business and I look forward to closely working with him to
maintain the continuity of the business during the coming
transition.”
Throughout his career, Dr. Lias has held senior
management positions at several leading CDMOs including Cytovance
Biologics, KBI BioPharma, Diosynth RTP (formerly Covance
Biotechnology Services) and Lonza Biologics. At each of these
companies, he was primarily charged with overseeing commercial
operations, including growing and diversifying their respective
client bases. During this time, Dr. Lias’ achievements ranged from
building start-up Cytovance’s contract process development and
biopharmaceutical cGMP production business, to increasing revenues
at Diosynth from $16 million to $120 million over a four-year
period. Additionally, he has built a reputation as a highly
regarded CDMO industry advocate who has contributed to the
acceptance and growth of the biologics contract manufacturing
market. Dr. Lias earned his Ph.D. from Clare College at the
University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
“As someone with a long history in the CDMO
space, I was impressed by the level of sophistication of the
current Avid operation ranging from the recently opened
state-of-the-art Myford facility to the industry leading services
and capabilities available to its clients,” said Dr. Lias. “The
Avid team has successfully put the key pieces in place to allow the
company to become a significant player in the rapidly expanding
CDMO industry. I am excited work to build upon that foundation and
help the company take the next important step in establishing
itself as the CDMO of choice for high quality cGMP clinical and
commercial manufacturing services.”
Dr. Lias most recently served as executive
director, head of global biologics business development for
Allergan plc., where he was responsible for developing and
executing strategies designed to support the company’s business
development activities related to innovative biologics, biosimilars
and complex injectable products. In this role, he was instrumental
in identifying, structuring and negotiating a biosimilars
co-development collaboration with Amgen for four oncology
biosimilar monoclonal antibody products. Prior to Allergan,
Dr. Lias was president and group commercial director for Eden
Biodesign, an established biopharmaceutical contract manufacturer
and consultancy and wholly-owned subsidiary of Eden Biopharma
Group. During his time with Eden Biodesign, he successfully
transitioned the company’s CDMO client base from early-stage
biotechnology companies to established biotechnology and
multinational pharmaceutical companies, while also playing a key
role in the eventual sale of Eden Biopharma Group to Watson
Pharmaceuticals (now Allergan).
“We recently initiated a search for individuals
with relevant biologics contract manufacturing experience as part
of our efforts to expand and change the makeup of the board of
directors as we move toward a focus on growing the Avid CDMO
business. We were fortunate to identify Roger as an ideal
candidate early in the process and he quickly established himself
as the clear choice for not only joining the board but also as the
candidate for president. He has had a long and successful
career in the CDMO space, as well as a clear vision for achieving
success for Avid in the near and long-term,” said David H. Pohl,
member of the Peregrine board of directors and head of the
company’s nominating committee. “We look forward to having Roger
join the board and the contributions he can make to the continued
success of the business.”
Avid Bioservices was established out of
Peregrine’s internal biologics manufacturing and development
capabilities and began formal operations in January 2002. The
company has grown from an internal support operation to a full
service CDMO that manufactures bulk drug substance for products
that are approved and marketed in over 18 countries by leading
biopharma companies. Avid was recently recognized as a leading CDMO
by Life Science Leader as a recipient of multiple 2017 Contract
Manufacturing Leadership Awards for Quality, Reliability,
Capabilities, Expertise and Compatibility. The company has an
outstanding regulatory inspection history and state-of-the-art cGMP
manufacturing facilities. Mr. King has served as president of Avid
since its formation in addition to his role as president and CEO of
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals since 2003.
About Peregrine Pharmaceuticals,
Inc.Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical
company committed to improving the lives of patients by delivering
high quality pharmaceutical products through its contract
development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) services and
through advancing and licensing its investigational immunotherapy
and related products. Peregrine's in-house CDMO services,
including cGMP manufacturing and development capabilities, are
provided through its wholly-owned subsidiary Avid Bioservices, Inc.
(www.avidbio.com), which provides development and biomanufacturing
services for both Peregrine and third-party customers. The company
is also working to evaluate its lead immunotherapy candidate,
bavituximab, in combination with immune stimulating therapies for
the treatment of various cancers, and developing its proprietary
exosome technology for the detection and monitoring of
cancer. For more information, please visit
www.peregrineinc.com.
About Avid Bioservices, Inc. Avid
Bioservices, a wholly owned subsidiary of Peregrine
Pharmaceuticals, provides a comprehensive range of process
development, high quality cGMP clinical and commercial
manufacturing services for the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical
industries. With over 20 years of experience producing monoclonal
antibodies and recombinant proteins in batch, fed-batch and
perfusion modes, Avid's services include cGMP clinical and
commercial product manufacturing, purification, bulk packaging,
stability testing and regulatory strategy, submission and support.
The company also provides a variety of process development
activities, including cell line development and optimization, cell
culture and feed optimization, analytical methods development and
product characterization. For more information about Avid, please
visit www.avidbio.com.
Contacts:
Stephanie Diaz (Investors)
Vida Strategic Partners
415-675-7401
sdiaz@vidasp.com
Tim Brons (Media)
Vida Strategic Partners
415-675-7402
tbrons@vidasp.com
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