LONDON, May 9, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Trigen Ltd. today announced the appointment of Tony Kennedy as VP Development and Oliver Boucher as VP Commercial Development.
"We are delighted that Tony and Oliver will be joining Trigen's Executive team," said Sanjay Kakkar, Chief Executive Officer of Trigen. "In addition to the outstanding product development and business development experience which they are bringing to Trigen, their appointment highlights another milestone in the transition of Trigen from a virtual operation to integrated company."
Tony Kennedy, formerly Global Head of Project Management at Roche Pharma and a Member of its Strategic Marketing Management Team, led the development team that successfully took Tamiflu from discovery to market in three and a half years. Prior to Roche, Tony led a number of international project teams as a Project Director at SmithKline Beecham. Tony received a BSc in Biochemistry from Surrey University, a PhD in Biochemistry from London University and was an MRC Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the School of Pharmacy, London University.
Oliver Boucher was formerly a Director of Business Development at GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals (previously SB Biologicals) where he was instrumental in the successful negotiation and execution of numerous licensing and other business development transactions. Prior to GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals he was a patent attorney practicing in Montreal and Paris. Oliver received an Honours degree and a Masters in Natural Sciences (genetics and biochemistry) from Cambridge University in 1984 and 1988 respectively and an MBA from INSEAD business school, Fontainbleau in 1994.
Trigen recently announced that it has transferred the Drug Discovery Group of the Thrombosis Research Institute to its own operations. The transfer included a key group of 13 scientists who were instrumental in the development of Trigen's lead programme, TRI 50b, which is currently in clinical trials.
Trigen is a private U.K. biotechnology company developing novel drugs for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases with a focus on thrombosis. Trigen has two products in clinical trials from its lead drug development program; an intravenous and an oral formulation of an anti-coagulant, direct thrombin inhibitor. In addition, Trigen has other programs focused on atheroma, thrombosis and inflammation in pre-clinical development. Trigen was founded in 1992 to invest in and develop the drug discovery technologies of the world-renowned Thrombosis Research Institute ("TRI") in London.