Coulter Partners has placed Dr Neil Brewis as Chief Scientific Officer and Michael Davies as VP Protein Science at F-star

“It has been a great pleasure to work with everyone at Coulter Partners – an outstanding search team, whose professionalism has impressed us throughout. These two appointments will greatly strengthen our experienced management team and I would like to thank all those involved,” Chief Executive Officer, Dr John Haurum, MD, DPhil.

F-star asked Coulter Partners to conduct global searches to identify world experts in the discovery and development of complex biologics; individuals who could strategically lead the company’s current and future research programmes through pre-clinical development and into the clinic. The roles presented a fantastic opportunity to use F-star’s innovative platform technology to build an exciting and differentiated R&D pipeline. Coulter Partners was also able to attract world class candidates with the enticing prospect of being in Cambridge, UK, at the heart of the foremost biotech cluster in Europe and key hub for biopharmaceutical companies and academic excellence within antibody drug discovery and development.

Dr Brewis joins F-star from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) where as Vice President, Head of Biopharmaceutical Research he led a global team of 300 scientists who advanced numerous monoclonal antibodies, antibody fragments, and protein therapeutics from target validation into early clinical development. This involved leading teams focused on pipeline discovery, platform innovation, translational medicine, clinical immunology, manufacturing process research, and cell line development.

Dr Brewis has 20 years’ experience in drug discovery and development and prior to joining GSK, he played a key leadership role, as Head of Research, in the success of building Domantis until the company was acquired by GSK in 2007. He has a PhD in Biochemistry from Dundee University and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science from Hertfordshire University in 2014.

Michael Davies was formerly Head of Analytical Strategy, Biologics at the Centre for Process Innovation before joining F-star. This UK-based technology innovation centre is part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult set up by the government to stimulate innovation and the introduction of new processes into manufacturing. Prior to this, Michael held a number of leadership roles within Lonza, culminating in his appointment as Head of Analytical Services. Michael has extensive experience in leading Biopharma CMC programmes, the management of regulatory submissions and regulatory inspections for clinical & commercial products and the application of operational excellence tools. He also has considerable expertise in the development and manufacture of recombinant protein therapeutics.

Dr Brewis, recently appointed Chief Scientific Officer of F-star, adds:

“F-star is an emerging world leader in bispecific antibody drug discovery and I am delighted to join the company at this exciting time to help maximise the potential of the technology and progress compounds into clinical development.”