Rentschler Biopharma appoints Mark Caswell as Vice President, Site Head for US Facility

LAUPHEIM, Germany and MILFORD, Mass., Aug. 18, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rentschler Biopharma, a leading global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) for biopharmaceuticals, today announced the appointment of Mark Caswell as Vice President, Site Head. Mr. Caswell joined in July 2022 and is managing all operations at the company’s U.S. facilities in Milford, MA, including the completion of the new state-of-the-art Rentschler Biopharma Manufacturing Center (RBMC) adjacent to the existing site.

Mr. Caswell has more than 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Rentschler Biopharma, he worked for over six years at Lonza Biologicals, most recently as Head of Operations at the Portsmouth, NH site. At Lonza, he supported the design, construction, start up and transition to operations of a facility based on single-use technology, including responsibility for the entire site operations of nearly 1,400 people as the interim Site Head. Before that, he worked for many years at Sanofi Genzyme (previously Genzyme) in positions of increasing responsibility, most recently as Director, Global Engineering and Technology. While there, he led the transformation of a local engineering organization into a global center of excellence for operational, technical and reliability engineering and maintenance. He worked cross-functionally to deliver new and innovative technologies to operations and was also responsible for global energy reduction.

“I am excited to welcome Mark Caswell to the Rentschler team. His many years of experience in the biopharma and CDMO space and diverse background in various areas of operations make him the perfect leader to run our U.S. operations,” said Dr. Frank Mathias, CEO of Rentschler Biopharma. “An important part of his responsibilities will be overseeing the completion of our state-of-the-art RBMC facility, the largest expansion in Rentschler Biopharma’s 150-year history. Under Mark’s leadership, I look forward to this new facility becoming client-ready and to ensuring we are well prepared to address our U.S. clients’ growing needs to bring innovative therapies to patients.”

Mark Caswell, Vice President, Site Head, added: “Rentschler Biopharma has a longstanding history of success and a strong commitment to clients and their patients. This is what first drew me to the company, but I was even more impressed by the team and the clear vision that Rentschler Biopharma has for the future. This is an exciting time in the life sciences industry, and Rentschler Biopharma is growing rapidly and well positioned as an industry leader. I am truly honored to be a part of this organization.”

Rentschler Biopharma has had a U.S. footprint since 2019, acquiring an existing manufacturing facility in Milford, MA. Since then, the company has expanded capacity and gained certification as a multi-product site, and, in the summer of 2021, broke ground for a new facility that will double the company’s commercial manufacturing capacity. The largest expansion in the company’s 150-year history, the Rentschler Biopharma Manufacturing Center is adjacent to the current site and will add 22,000 square feet of manufacturing cleanroom space and house four new 2,000 L single-use bioreactors, in addition to being highly automated and leveraging industry 4.0 solutions.

With the appointment of Mark Caswell and Rentschler Biopharma’s growth in the U.S., the company has implemented changes to its governance structure. The responsibilities of Dr. Martin Kessler in his role as CEO of Rentschler Biopharma Inc. have been transferred to Mark Caswell. Dr. Kessler said: “I am extremely happy to welcome a capable and experienced leader like Mark to our organization. We are now able to execute planned changes in our U.S. governance structure which are in line with our philosophy of flat hierarchies and efficient organizational models. I look forward now to putting my full attention to Rentschler Biopharma’s transformation program.”

“I would like to thank Martin Kessler and his team for their work in Milford. They have contributed to shaping the planning process of our new RBMC and in driving the build-out,” said Dr. Frank Mathias, CEO of Rentschler Biopharma. “I very much look forward to continuing to work with Martin as he focuses on the critical task of driving our transformation program. To stay ahead of our clients’ needs and expectations, we strive to constantly improve our capacity, capabilities and offerings, and our transformation program is at the core of this.”

About Rentschler Biopharma SE

Rentschler Biopharma is a leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) focused exclusively on client projects. The company offers process development and manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals as well as related consulting activities, including project management and regulatory support. Rentschler Biopharma's high quality is proven by its long-standing experience and excellence as a solution partner for its clients. A high-level quality management system, a well-established operational excellence philosophy and advanced technologies ensure product quality and productivity at each development and manufacturing step. In order to offer best-in-class formulation development along the biopharmaceutical value chain, the company has entered into a strategic alliance with Leukocare AG. Rentschler Biopharma is a family-owned company with about 1,100 employees, headquartered in Laupheim, Germany, with a second site in Milford, MA, USA. In Stevenage, UK, Rentschler Biopharma has launched a company dedicated to cell and gene therapies, Rentschler ATMP Ltd.

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