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Board of Directors

The Company is controlled by the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors has overall responsibility for the Group. Its aim is to represent the interests of the Group's shareholders and to provide leadership and control in order to ensure the growth and development of a successful business.

 

The Board is responsible to shareholders for the proper management of the Group, and Board meetings are held at least six times a year to set the overall direction and strategy of the Group, to review financial and operating performance and to advise on senior management appointments. Financial policy and budgets, including capital expenditure, are approved and monitored by the Board. All key strategic decisions are subject to Board approval. The Company Secretary is responsible for ensuring that Board procedures are followed and that applicable rules and regulations are complied with.

 

Directors are subject to election by shareholders at the first opportunity after their appointment. In addition, one third of the Directors are subject to retirement by rotation at each Annual General Meeting.

Executive Directors

Dr Geoffrey Guy - Executive Chairman, 55
Plus

Dr Guy founded Ethical Holdings plc, in 1985 and led that company as Chairman and Chief Executive to its NASDAQ flotation in 1993 before leaving in 1997. He received 3i's "Venturer of the Year" award in the science and technology category. In 1990, Dr Guy co-founded the plant-medicines company that became Phytopharm plc, of which he was Chairman until 1997. Dr Guy served as Director of Clinical Development at Napp Laboratories from 1983 to 1985 and as International Clinical Research Co-ordinator at Laboratories Pierre Fabre from 1981 to 1983.

Dr Guy has over twenty five years experience in pharmaceutical development covering new chemical entities, biotechnology products, plant-based medicines, controlled drugs and drug delivery systems. Dr Guy has been the physician in charge of over 200 clinical studies including first dose in man, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, dose-ranging, controlled clinical trials and large scale multi-centred studies and clinical surveys.

Dr Guy gained a BSc in pharmacology from the University of London in 1976, a MBBS at St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1979, a MRCS Eng. and LRCP London in 1979, a LMSSA Society of Apothecaries in 1979 and a Diploma of Pharmaceutical Medicine from the Royal Colleges of Physicians in 1984.

Justin Gover - Managing Director, 38
Plus

Mr Gover has been Managing Director of GW since January 1999. In this time, he has successfully managed the Group through this period of rapid growth, including responsibility for the Group's equity financing and business development activities. He was previously Head of Corporate Affairs at Ethical Holdings plc, a NASDAQ-quoted drug delivery company. In this role, he was responsible for the company's strategic corporate activities, including mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments, equity financing and investor relations. Transactions included acquisitions and disposals in North and South America, public listings of group companies in London and the US, and strategic investment in Asia.

He previously worked as a consultant with BDO Management Consultants in Hong Kong and also in China establishing a pharmaceutical joint venture. Mr Gover holds an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. He received a BSc (Hons) from Bristol University in 1992.

David Kirk - Finance Director, 56
Plus

Mr Kirk joined GW as Finance Director on 11 September 2001. He joined Arthur Andersen in 1975, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 1978 and becoming a partner in 1988. At Arthur Andersen he specialised in entrepreneurial growth companies and worked across a range of sectors. He was responsible for launching the UK Arthur Andersen Biotech Programme in 1994 whilst Head of its UK Technology Team.

In early 1997 he became the first Finance Director of CeNeS Limited, the company developing drugs for CNS disorders and pain control, playing a significant role in its development, including its reverse into Core Group PLC (which subsequently became CeNeS Pharmaceuticals Plc). He left CeNeS in summer 2000. He was also a founding Director of Amura Limited, an antibacterial research company, and was until June 2001 a non executive Director of Avlar Bioventures, a biotechnology venture capital fund based in Cambridge.

Dr Stephen Wright - R&D Director, 57
Plus

Dr Wright joined GW’s senior management team in January 2004 as Research & Development Director and was promoted to the Board in March 2005.

Dr Wright has more than 15 years of experience in medicines development, having worked on both sides of the Atlantic, in large and small pharmaceutical companies. He joined GW from Ipsen, where he was Senior Vice President of Clinical Research & Development and a member of the UK Board of Directors. In this role he led teams responsible for regulatory success in both the US and EU. Dr Wright has US drug development experience, firstly as Medical Director of Immunosciences, then Venture Head of Neuroscience at Abbott Laboratories, based near Chicago. He also spent some years at Glaxo in the UK as Associate Medical Director with special responsibility for sumatriptan and for the Glaxo range of topical steroids. His industry experience started when he joined Scotia Pharmaceuticals as Director of Immunology, Inflammation and Dermatology Research in 1988. He has experience across a range of therapeutic areas, but his particular expertise lies in the fields of neurology and oncology.

Dr Wright has an MA in Social and Political Science from the University of Cambridge, where he also won a ‘Blue' for representing the University at Cricket and Soccer. He qualified in Medicine (MB BS) at The Royal London Hospital. His other higher degrees include an MD, also from The University of Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and was elected to FFPM in 2000. His early medical career in the NHS culminated in him becoming Consultant Senior Lecturer at The Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine. He has authored more than 100 publications.

Non-Executive Directors

James Noble - Deputy Chairman, 50
Plus

Mr Noble has extensive experience in the biotech industry and is currently CEO of Immunocore Limited and Adaptimmune Limited, two companies involved in T cell receptor technology. Mr Noble was previously CEO of Avidex Limited, a private biotech company, which was sold to MediGene AG in 2006, where he subsequently served as a member of the Supervisory Board. Mr Noble is also a non-executive Director of Astaire Securities plc and Evolve Capital plc, two AIM-listed companies, 3D Diagnostic Imaging plc (PLUS-markets) and Axellis Ltd, a UK biotech company. He recently stepped down as a director of CuraGen Corporation, a NASDAQ-listed biopharmaceutical company, following its acquisition by Celldex Therapeutics.

In 2003, Mr Noble was a member of the UK government committee on funding the UK biotech industry. From 1997-2001, he held numerous non-executive director positions including PowderJect Pharmaceuticals plc, Oxford GlycoSciences plc (OGS), Advanced Medical Solutions plc, as well as number of other private UK, European and US biotech companies. At PowderJect and OGS, he was a director prior to and following flotation of these companies, and in particular played a key role in the secondary IPO of OGS on NASDAQ, which raised £175m.

Prior to this, Mr Noble was a director of corporate finance at Kleinwort Benson (1983-90) and Finance Director of British Biotech Plc (1990-7). He started his career at PriceWaterhouse, where he qualified as a chartered accountant.

Richard Forrest - Non-Executive Director, 61
Plus

Richard Forrest has extensive commercial experience in the international pharmaceutical industry, gained over a period of over 25 years. This included 19 years with the Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Group (now Sanofi-Aventis), where his most senior position was Senior Vice-President, Europe. His roles have included responsibility for General Management, Marketing and Sales and Business Development in Europe and Rest of the World (South America, Africa, Middle East and South-East Asia).

Mr Forrest was also a member of the Pharmaceutical Operations Committee which had responsibility for worldwide operational performance, as well as the Pharmaceutical Development Committee, which had responsibility for all R&D portfolio decisions and major licensing. Subsequently, his most recent position was Chief Operating Officer of Novuspharma SpA, an Italian biopharmaceutical company, which merged with Cell Therapeutics Inc. in January 2004.

Tom Lynch- Non-Executive Director, 53
Plus

Tom Lynch most recently served as Chairman (from 2000) and Chief Executive Officer (from December 2007) of Amarin Corporation plc, a NASDAQ listed biotechnology company specializing in cardiovascular disease, until December 2009. He continues to serve as a non-executive director of Amarin. Tom became CEO of Amarin following the failure of its major CNS research programme in 2007. Between 2007 and 2009, Tom executed a turnaround from CNS to cardiovascular research and raised $100 million for the company.

From 1993 to 2004, Tom worked in a variety of capacities in Elan Corporation plc. From 1993 to 2001, he served as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice-President; from 2001 to 2002 as Vice-Chairman; and from 2002 to 2004 as a senior adviser. Tom led Elan’s transformation from a drug delivery company to a biotechnology company through a series of corporate and product acquisitions and joint ventures from 1996 to 1999, including the acquisition of Athena Neurosciences Inc. in March 1996 which gave Elan leading discovery research into Alzheimer’s disease and auto-immune diseases.

In 1994, Tom founded a company which became Warner Chilcott, plc (having negotiated and financed the acquisition of the Warner Chilcott division from the Warner-Lambert Company in 1996). Tom was a board member of that company from 1994 through 1999 and from then until 2002 as a director of Galen plc, which acquired Warner Chilcott in 1999.

Tom currently serves as a director of the IDA Ireland (an agency of the Irish government responsible for inward investment); senior independent director of ICON plc, (a clinical research company); Profectus BioSciences Inc., (a company conducting research into immunological diseases); and is Chairman of Chronetech AB (a Swedish company conducting research in infectious diseases). From 1980 to 1993, Tom worked in the international accounting firm of KPMG, including three years as a partner in that firm from 1990 to 1993. He is a graduate in Economics from Queen’s University, Belfast and a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.

 

This section of the website was last updated to comply with Rule 26 on: 22 October 2009.

 
 

© GW Pharmaceuticals 2009

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