VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 07/31/14 -- CDRD Ventures Inc. (CVI), the commercialization vehicle of The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD), Canada's fully-integrated national drug development and commercialization centre, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Michael Lincoln as Chief Financial and Business Officer, and Dr. Patricia Beckmann as Chief Technology Development Officer effective immediately.
Now responsible for the financial business strategy of CVI and its spin-off companies, Mr. Lincoln has held Principal, CFO and senior management positions over the last twenty-five years with organizations of all sizes from health sciences start-ups to multi-national pharmaceutical companies. Through such positions with MedGenesis Therapeutix Inc., Transition Therapeutics Inc., Healthlinc Corp., and Merck Frosst Canada Inc., he has built extensive experience in accounting and financial management, and a proven track record in supporting the growth of small- and medium-sized business through all stages of development. This broad experience includes accounting, public and private equity financing, initial public offerings, business development, marketing, business planning and start-ups. He has negotiated multiple international partnerships, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and licensing agreements.
Dr. Patricia Beckmann serves as CVI's Chief Technology Development Officer, responsible for defining the project portfolio and commercialization strategy of the organization. This includes overseeing the selection and development of projects, managing the related scientific relationships as well as all strategic and operational research and development efforts and initiatives. Her nearly thirty-year career spans research, operations, law and venture capital, having spent much of it with Immunex Corporation (and Amgen) in addition to Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's Vulcan Capital and the Accelerator Corp. in Seattle. She was also the founding Chief Scientific Officer at proteomics and biomarker company Homestead Clinical (now Integrated Diagnostics), and the President of the Oregon Translational Research and Development Institute (OTRADI) where she developed an incubator model for university bioscience start-ups. Dr. Beckmann is also the co-inventor of the drug Enbrel for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (worldwide 2013 sales $8.8B) for which she was awarded National Inventor of the Year in 2000 by the Intellectual Property Owners Association.
Natalie Dakers, President and CEO of CVI commented, "Both these individuals represent highly-valuable additions to the CVI team as we amplify our focus on commercial outcomes, and move forward to our next stage of development as an organization. Their collective experience and track records are truly impressive as they have each demonstrated impactful results for the organizations they have served. We are excited to be able to now draw upon their distinct experience to build new companies and advance cutting-edge technologies into the clinic - and in doing so, making a real difference to Canada's health sciences industry," she said.
Click here for full bios of Michael Lincoln & Patricia Beckmann.
About CDRD Ventures Inc. (CVI)
CVI is the commercialization vehicle of The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD). With a first right to negotiate for any of the technologies developed at CDRD, CVI has a continuous and unparalleled pipeline of the most innovative and commercially-promising pre-validated and thus de-risked technologies in Canada. From CDRD's drug development projects and external opportunities, CVI licenses select promising technologies with the goal to further advance them to a stage where they can attract licensing partners, form the foundation for a new spin-off company, or secure the investment needed for clinical development. CVI then returns its share of resulting commercialization revenue to CDRD in order to ensure its long-term self-sustainability. http://www.cdrd.ca/cvi-home/
Contacts:
CDRD & CDRD Ventures Inc.
Barry Gee
Director, Communications
Direct: 604-827-1223 or Mobile: 604-619-4805
bgee@cdrd.ca