Glide Pharma has strengthened its board with the appointment of Charles Swingland, and its senior management team with the appointment of Simon Bennett
Charles Swingland, an experienced, former director of leading pharmaceutical companies such as PowderJect Pharmaceuticals and Zeneus Pharma, has joined Glide Pharma as a non-executive director and also taken an equity stake in the Oxfordshire based company.
Simon Bennett, who has held senior management positions in public and private life sciences companies, including the University of Oxford spin-out, Oxagen, and genomics specialist, Solexa, has been appointed business development director.
The new appointments follow Glide Pharma's successful £2.1m fundraising last December, and the company's recent announcement that it is pursuing a twin-track strategy of co-developing new drug products with pharmaceutical partners based on the Glide technology, in addition to a pipeline of its own brand Glide Pharma products.
The company has consolidated this strategy with its re-branding, changing its name from Caretek Medical to Glide Pharma in September 2006.
Both Swingland and Bennett are expected to play key roles in the negotiation of agreements that could see Glide Pharma formulate the proprietary drugs of partners into new solid dosage formats suitable for injection with the needle-free Glide technology - providing major pharmaceutical companies with a range of new products.
Big pharma partners could also use the user-friendly Glide actuator device to deliver their own brand products, particularly those intended for home administration, in place of the conventional needle and syringe.
Glide Pharma is progressing well with the development of its first own-brand product, an injectable form of sumatriptan, which is used to relieve migraine attacks.
Most migraine sufferers take sumatriptan as an oral tablet or nasal spray but when faster or more reliable relief is needed, the drug must be administered as an injection.
The only injectable form of sumatriptan currently on the market is delivered via a needle-based auto-injector but if Glide Pharma's plans come to fruition, migraine sufferers could use the needle-free Glide device to administer a solid form of sumatriptan and obtain fast relief from their symptoms.
The Glide device, which has been endorsed by both trial volunteers and GPs, eliminates the hazards of needle stick injuries and disposal problems associated with syringes.
It is reusable and has a prefilled, disposable drug cassette attached.
This cassette section can be thrown away with normal household waste after use and replaced with a fresh cassette holding the next dose.
CEO of Glide Pharma, Charles Potter, said: "We are making good progress with our own brand products and expect to start clinical trials with our first product in early 2007.
"Charles and Simon combine valuable deal making expertise with significant pharmaceutical experience - skills that will enable us to take forward the substantial commercial opportunities for co-development of new drugs with major pharmaceutical players.
"I am delighted that they have joined the team".
Charles Swingland, 53, was formerly executive director and general counsel at PowderJect Pharmaceuticals, with responsibility for the negotiation of major transactions including licensing agreements, joint ventures, acquisitions and sales.
He oversaw two public fundraising rounds totalling £77m and the sale of PowderJect to Chiron for £550m.
Swingland was also an executive director and general counsel at Zeneus Pharma, a European specialist in hospital products for critical care, oncology and pain management, where he led the sale of Zeneus to Cephalon for $360m in December 2005.
Swingland said: "I look forward to working with Charles and the other members of Glide Pharma's management team.
"The company has demonstrated that it has the opportunity to develop generic products for use with the Glide technology with much shorter development times than for new drugs, and I am excited by the real potential for Glide to deliver a range of drugs in solid form, from insulin to vaccines and emergency pain relief".
Simon Bennett, 40, has over 16 years experience in the life sciences sector including senior management positions with three university spin-outs including business development director roles at Solexa , a public company pioneering novel systems for genomics, and Oxagen, where he developed the commercial strategy for the women's health programme and negotiated commercial deals in osteoporosis with a major pharmaceutical company.
Bennett has been involved in over 40 commercial deals with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and has also played a pivotal role in several venture capital led funding rounds.
Bennett said: "I am very pleased to be joining Glide Pharma at such an exciting time.
"The Glide technology has huge potential and I look forward to exploring opportunities with a number of potential pharmaceutical partners as well as leading the development of more Glide brand drug products."
