As CSO, Dr. Anderson will lead Synthon’s scientific strategy for biopharmaceutical R&D and advance the company’s leadership in its chosen technology platforms and therapeutic areas. Ian holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and brings extensive industry experience. Most recently, he served as Vice President Research and Global Head Respiratory Inflammation & Autoimmunity (RIA) at MedImmune. In this role he held responsibility for global leadership of the RIA Research Therapy Area, target identification and selection (for biotechnology and small molecule projects), delivery of candidate drugs for clinical development and over 20 drug research and development projects.
Before MedImmune, Ian worked at Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) in roles of increasing responsibility, lastly as Vice President Respiratory & Inflammation Research in which he was responsible for the pipeline and the alliance between AstraZeneca and CAT. He started his career at Glaxo.
Dr. Hooftman joins Synthon as Chief Medical Officer, with responsibility for leading the company’s Medical R&D Group and management of the portfolio of clinical trials. Leon’s broad experience in leading clinical development for key therapeutic areas – including transplantation and oncology – will be of great value to Synthon as the
company is taking its first products into the clinic.
Leon comes to Synthon following a successful career in clinical development including NDAs with both biologicals and small molecules. Most recently, he was CMO at Opsona Therapeutics. Before that, he served as CMO of Chroma Therapeutics, Head of Clinical Development at Celltech and Director of Oncology Clinical Science at Hoffmann-La Roche. Leon is an MD and trained in surgery and transplantation in the Netherlands and the UK.
Commenting on their appointment, Synthon CEO Rudy Mareel said: “I’m extremely pleased to have Leon and Ian joining our team. Their wealth of experience will advance Synthon’s ambition to become a recognized leader in specialty pharmaceuticals.”
About Synthon:
Synthon, with headquarters in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, is an
international fast-growing pharmaceutical company and a leader in the
field of generic medicines. Synthon has been working in biotechnology
since 2007 and is developing rapidly into a specialty pharmaceutical
company, focusing on the therapeutic areas of Multiple Sclerosis and
Oncology. Synthon employs more than 1,300 staff at 11 sites worldwide,
and in 2010 it recorded a turnover of EUR 230 million. For more
information, go to www.synthon.com.