Concept Life Sciences forms Scientific Advisory Board

Concept Life Sciences, the integrated drug discovery and development and analytical services company, today announced the formation of its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) for the drug discovery and development side of the business. The members are leading experts in a diverse range of therapeutic areas, including oncology, immuno-oncology, inflammation, aging, and gastrointestinal. The SAB will provide Concept with unbiased advice to help ensure an objective, external perspective, highlighting critical issues and emerging global trends in basic research and medicine to guide the Company’s strategy.

The SAB will be chaired by Prof. Trevor Jones CBE FMedSci, along with Prof. Stephen Anderton (Group Head of Translational Biology) and Dr Paul Doyle (Chief Scientific Officer) from Concept. They are joined by three external experts: Prof. Christian Ottensmeier, Professor of Experimental Medicine, University of Southampton; Prof. Janet Lord, Director of the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, University of Birmingham; and Dr Ian Cox, CEO, Zebra Therapeutics Ltd and Director, IDACO Consulting Limited.

Dr Paul Doyle, Chief Scientific Officer, Concept Life Sciences, said: We are delighted to have such high calibre scientists join our SAB, and would like to thank all of the members for working with Concept. Their expertise and counsel will be invaluable as we move forward with delivering effective, high quality, integrated drug discovery and development projects.”

Prof. Trevor M Jones has a distinguished career in both the pharmaceutical and biotech industry and academia. He is a visiting professor at King's College London, and non-executive director of life science investment fund Arix Bioscience Plc. He was formerly R&D Director of The Wellcome Foundation, a Director of Allergan Inc., member of The UK Government Regulatory Agency, The Medicines Commission, and Chair of the UK Government Advisory Group on Genetics Research.

Prof. Christian Ottensmeier has been a consultant in medical oncology since 2000 and is Professor of Experimental Medicine at the University of Southampton where his core academic interest is in early translation of immunotherapeutic strategies to the clinic. He has co-developed a number of national NCRI studies in lung cancer and manages a broad portfolio of active clinical trials in lung cancer and melanoma. He has also served on a number of advisory boards and DSMBs for industry-led studies.

Prof. Janet Lord is Director of the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing at Birmingham University, a multidisciplinary research institute which brings together scientists and clinicians to translate understanding of the inflammation process into new treatments for chronic age-related inflammatory disease and the consequences of major trauma. She is also Director of the MRC-Arthritis Research UK Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research. Prof. Lord was awarded the Lord Cohen of Birkenhead medal for her outstanding research by the British Society for Research into Ageing in 2013, and was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2015.

Dr Ian Cox has 25 years' experience working with companies in the life sciences, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device sectors across the UK, Europe, Asia and North America. Ian spent 19 years working for Norgine, a pan-European pharmaceutical company, most recently as VP R&D, working in gastroenterology and hepatology. As Founding Director of IDACO Consulting Limited, Dr Cox supports the development and commercialisation of bio-pharmaceutical products and medical devices, together with providing expertise in due diligence and business development activities. As CEO of Zebra Therapeutics he oversees the development of a novel early-stage asset licensed as a potential treatment for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a chronic and progressive disease currently without approved therapy.

Prof. Stephen Anderton is Group Head of Translational Biology at Concept Life Sciences, following the acquisition in 2017 of Aquila BioMedical of which he was founder and CSO. He is also Professor of Therapeutic Immunology at the University of Edinburgh where he is an investigator at the Centre for Inflammation Research and the Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre. Steve is an internationally renowned immunologist with 120+ publications on T-cell activation, T-cell tolerance, Treg biology and immunotherapy of inflammatory disease and cancer.

Dr Paul Doyle is Chief Scientific Officer at Concept Life Sciences. He has a strong scientific leadership record, including 15 years in a wide variety of therapeutic discovery programmes at The Wellcome Foundation, founding one of the first UK discovery CROs, BioFocus, (now part of Charles River). He joined Peakdale as COO in 2008 (now part of Concept Life Sciences) and has been CSO of Concept since 2017.