Keith Blundy, 46, joined CRT - Cancer Research UK's development and commercialisation company - in 1998 and has been the company's chief operating officer since November 2003
Cancer Research Technology (CRT) has named Keith Blundy as its new chief executive officer.
Blundy will lead ambitious new plans to double the number of scientists employed within CRT's development laboratories, consolidating the company's leading global position in translational drug discovery and biotherapeutic development.
He takes up the new position with immediate effect.
He will oversee an expansion of CRT's drug discovery and biotherapeutic development teams, which are staffed by scientists drawn from academia and industry.
The expanded facilities will enable increased activities not only with Cancer Research UK scientists, but also with leading cancer research institutes worldwide.
Prominent in these collaborations will be CRT - the company's US subsidiary - and the new Cooperative Research Centre for Cancer Therapeutics (CRC-CT) in Australia.
Melanie Lee, chairman of CRT, said: "Keith has been integral to many significant developments at CRT - he is chairman of our US subsidiary and led the establishment of our new presence in Australia.
"He has the skills required to lead our ambitious plans for the future and I'm delighted to welcome him to his new position".
Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK's new chief executive and former CEO of CRT, said: "Cancer Research UK is proud to have created and developed such a world-leading technology transfer company.
"Bringing potential new treatments out of the laboratory to patients is a major priority for the charity, so we see CRT's expansion as a major step forward towards our vision to beat cancer".
Before joining CRT, Blundy worked in agricultural biotechnology for ten years.
He holds a BSc in genetics from Leeds University and a PhD from the John Innes Institute.
He undertook postdoctoral research in the USA as a Fulbright Scholar and has an MBA from London Business School.
At CRT Blundy has been involved in a number of high profile transactions, including the licensing of a programme targeting Hsp90 to Vernalis (now partnered with Novartis and due to enter clinical trials).
Blundy has been a director of Kudos Pharmaceuticals and drove the formation of Chroma Therapeutics.
He said: "This is an extremely exciting period of growth for CRT.
"Our plans will redefine traditional models of technology transfer".
"The expansion will make us better equipped to meet the diverse demands of our academic collaborators around the world.
"It will also create many new licensing opportunities with which we can target the pipeline gaps of leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies".
"Patient benefit is at the heart of all these developments and I am proud to have the opportunity to lead them".
The expansion from around 45 to 90 scientists will be phased, and will first focus on the current facilities at the Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research at University College London.
The expansion incorporates plans to bring CRT's expertise to Cancer Research UK institutes in Cambridge, Manchester and Glasgow, integrating CRT drug discovery activity with the charity's basic research.
