C4X Discovery Holdings PLC (AIM:C4XD) has hired as its new chief scientific officer an executive whose forte is forging commercial relationships between drug companies and academia.
Previously, Dr Catherine Jane Tralau-Stewart was the senior director in charge of alliances at Japanese group Takeda Pharmaceuticals.
Here she was responsible for tie-ups between the business and major universities in the US, Australia, Japan and Europe.
Having started her career at GlaxoSmithKline, she then held senior leadership roles building drug discovery portfolios through to phase III clinical studies at Imperial College London, the University of California San Francisco and the Stanford University-Takeda Alliance for Innovative Medicines.
"Cathy is a highly respected scientific leader with strong and deep drug discovery expertise and we are delighted and proud that she will be joining the team here at C4XD,” said Clive Dix, chief executive of C4X.
“Her experience in building drug discovery portfolios and advancing programmes into clinical development will enhance the work of the team here at C4XD and expand our portfolio through her strong academic and industry network. We warmly welcome Cathy and look forward to working alongside her."
The drug developer’s business model focuses on replenishing big pharma discovery pipelines and driving returns through revenue-generating pre-clinical licensing deals.
In 2018, C4XD successfully out-licensed a pre-clinical programme in addictive disorders to Indivior in a deal worth up to US$294mln, which is now in a phase I clinical study.
In 2021, C4XD signed an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with Sanofi worth up to €414mln, for C4XD’s oral pre-clinical IL-17A inhibitor programme.