ViroCell strengthens senior management team with appointment of Nick Maishman as COO
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
London / New York
22 November 2022
ViroCell Biologics (“ViroCell”), founded by the UK’s most prolific academic viral vector manufacturing team, today announces the appointment of Nick Maishman as Chief Operating Officer (“COO”).
ViroCell, an innovation-driven Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (“CDMO”), is today addressing the global viral vector supply demand imbalance that constrains the timely manufacture of novel cell and gene therapies. ViroCell focuses exclusively on the design and GMP manufacture of viral vectors and gene modified cells for clinical trials.
ViroCell aims to be the global viral vector supplier of choice for the translational development phase of novel cell and gene therapies. The appointment of Nick as COO is another significant milestone in ViroCell’s continuing operational development as a future leader in the clinical trial CDMO market. His appointment follows shortly after the successful onboarding of Susan B. Nichols as Chief Business Officer (“CBO”) in September.
Nick brings to ViroCell over thirty years of commercial manufacturing, operations and quality management, and leadership experience. He has served as Site Head, General Manager, VP, and COO roles within pharmaceutical, biotech, vaccine and CDMO companies, such as GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Valneva, Alexion and Recipharm respectively. Nick has worked across the globe including in the UK, Ireland, France, Greece, Austria, and USA.
Nick also has significant experience leading the construction and start-up of new manufacturing sites, securing regulatory approval for CT and commercial GMP manufacturing, including among others for complex biologics such as monoclonal antibodies and vaccines. His regulatory experience includes new product submissions to FDA and EMA and hosting site inspections from FDA, MHRA, European and International regulatory authorities.
Nick was a key member of the start-up site leadership team at Pfizer, Grange Castle, a significant investment in vaccine and antibody manufacturing in Ireland. He also led the construction and start-up of the Alexion site in Dublin that manufactures products for ultra-rare diseases. Nick was Vice Principle of manufacturing for the vaccine company Valenva, where he also led the construction of a new facility for their successful Covid-19 vaccine.
Prior to joining ViroCell Biologics, Nick was Interim Chief Scientific and Operations Officer for Alliance Pharmaceuticals, a consumer health business with international operations. Nick has a BSc from Imperial College, London, and an MBA from the University of Warwick Business School.
John W Hadden II, CEO at ViroCell, commented: “We are delighted that Nick has joined our senior leadership team. It continues to be a very exciting time for ViroCell as we continue to rapidly scale the organisation globally to meet the explosive demand from clients for viral vectors seeking clinical trial. His impressive track record in leading operations and commercial manufacturing will enable ViroCell to further develop and cement market leading status in the short term. We look forward to Nick’s keen insights and contributions as ViroCell begins a new chapter of growth in 2023.”
Nick Maishman, COO at ViroCell, added: “I am delighted to join ViroCell’s senior management team to further drive its acceleration as a leader in cell and gene therapy as a dynamic and rapidly growing CDMO. I have had the privilege of being part of many leading biopharma organisations and I am confident that ViroCell will become a market leader in this truly vital field. Together, ViroCell will seek to expand its CDMO manufacturing capability and to advance novel platforms to genetically modify cells for therapeutic use.”
-ENDSNOTES
TO THE EDITOR:
ViroCell (www.virocell.com)
ViroCell Biologics’ mission is to be the design and GMP-compliant viral vector manufacturer of choice for corporate and academic cell and gene therapy innovators preparing for and during their clinical trials. ViroCell specializes in batch sizes between 1L and 200L, deploying adherent or suspension cell processes.
ViroCell is an active in-licensor of proven manufacturing technologies to enable clients to start clinical trials on a scalable platform, anticipating future scale-out to larger CDMOs upon successful clinical development, with an eye to deliver value to clients by reducing cost, and most importantly saving time and reducing regulatory risk. Initially, ViroCell will manufacture lentivirus, gamma-retrovirus, and AAV vectors and genemodified cells for clients.
ViroCell is also investing to develop the next generation of viral vectors for the targeted introduction and expression of therapeutic genes in specific cell types, including vectors for direct injection as drug products to patients.
For more information, please contact:
ViroCell
John W. Hadden II, CEO
jhadden@virocell.com
EQ (for media enquiries)
James Culverhouse
+44 20 7223 1100 / +44 (0)7912 508 322
james.culverhouse@eqcorp.co