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CDRD and CDRD Ventures Inc. Re-Structure, Optimize Operations
Thursday, August 20, 2015Company Profile | Follow Company
Vancouver, BC, August 19, 2015--(T-Net)--The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD), Canada's national drug development and commercialization centre, and its commercialization company CDRD Ventures Inc. (CVI), today announced re-structuring and integration of their respective Boards and management teams.
(both organizations are located in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Building at UBC - pictured above)
This restructuring will better position CDRD and CVI as a global leader in bridging commercialization gaps and translating early-stage discoveries into new cutting-edge therapies for patients, according to the companies.
The changes will see CDRD and CVI operating as one fully-integrated organization with Ms. Dawn Svoronos serving as Chair of the integrated organization.
At the management level, the Board announced that the integrated CDRD and CVI will be led by Karimah Es Sabar, President and CEO of CDRD.
CDRD Chair, Dawn Svoronos commented, “We are excited by the positive changes being announced today because they will put us in the best position possible to deliver tangible results with our stakeholders in the national health sciences community. With Karimah's leadership we are entirely confident that her strong vision and track record will allow CDRD/CVI to solidify its position as Canada's world-leading centre in this highly competitive space.”
Natalie Dakers, President and CEO of CVI, has made the decision to leave CVI and commit her time fully to leading Accel-Rx, Canada's National Health Sciences Accelerator.
Natalie Dakers, President and CEO, Accel-Rx
Bob Butchofsky, outgoing Chair of CVI acknowledged Natalie's leadership, “We need to sincerely thank and recognize Natalie for all that she has done in leading CVI for the past three years, and for being the driving force behind the successful establishment and initial growth of CDRD going back almost 10 years. This is an exciting time for Natalie as she focuses all her energies into growing Accel-Rx into the same kind of critical piece of Canada's health sciences ecosystem that CDRD/CVI has become, and it will be a tremendous resource for all of Canada under her leadership.”
Since being launched in 2007 and 2012 respectively, CDRD and CVI have worked together to evaluate over 1,200 early-stage discoveries/technologies for their commercial potential, undertaken development on 215 of those, with 12 having reached the point of commercial transaction to date. These value-added technologies are forming the foundation of a critical mass of new health sciences companies such as Kairos Therapeutics — thus creating long-lasting, high-paying jobs, and helping grow our national health sciences industry into a wholly-optimized generator of economic prosperity for Canada.
About CDRD
CDRD is Canada's fully-integrated national drug development and commercialization centre, providing expertise and infrastructure to enable researchers from leading health research institutions to advance promising early-stage drug candidates. CDRD works in partnership with academia, industry, government and foundations, to identify and de-risk promising discoveries, and transform them into commercially viable investment opportunities for the private sector — thus successfully bridging commercialization gaps between academia and industry, and translating research discoveries into new therapies for patients. Canada's Networks of Centres of Excellence Program has recognized CDRD as a Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR). www.cdrd.ca
For additional information, please contact:
Barry Gee
Director, Communications
The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) & CDRD Ventures Inc. (CVI)
bgee@cdrd.ca
Direct: (604) 827-1223
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