ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Edward J. Schutter, RPh, MBA, President and CEO of Arbor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and James W. Wagner, PhD, President of Emory University, are the recipients of the 2012 Georgia Bio Industry Growth Awards.
The Industry Growth Awards are the highest honors bestowed each year by Georgia Bio (GaBio). They recognize individuals in the public and private sectors who have made extraordinary contributions to the growth of Georgia’s life sciences industry. Mr. Schutter is the recipient from the private sector, Dr. Wagner from the public sector.
Mr. Schutter is being honored as a successful entrepreneur and leader of Georgia’s bioscience community. Under his leadership, Arbor Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharma company focused on cardiovascular and pediatric medicines, has experienced rapid growth since moving to Atlanta from North Carolina in 2010. Arbor now has 175 employees and expects to exceed $125 million in revenues this year. The company filed its first NDA earlier this month and has multiple products in development.
Before taking over Arbor Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Schutter transformed Sciele Pharma (formerly First Horizon Pharmaceuticals), into a fully integrated pharmaceutical company with almost $500 million in sales, more than 900 employees, and with multiple NDA filings and other projects in development when it was purchased by Shionogi Pharmaceuticals for $1.4 billion in 2008. Mr. Schutter also is being recognized for his leadership of Georgia’s bioscience community as a member of the GaBio Board of Directors and Executive Committee, and as Chair of the 2011 Life Sciences Summit and CEO Roundtable
Dr. Wagner is being honored for his leadership in helping transform Emory University into one of the top life sciences research universities in the world, attracting and producing some of the world’s finest health sciences leaders. Discoveries of new technologies at Emory have led to important licenses and have generated numerous companies, adding to the growth of Georgia’s industry; and these companies, in turn, have succeeded in commercializing life-saving medicines and devices that improve the health and well-being of people in Georgia and around the world.
In addition, Dr. Wagner’s position as vice chair of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues draws favorable attention to Emory, Atlanta and Georgia as a thought leader on issues of the utmost significance to the future of the bioscience industry and its fight against society’s most debilitating and intractable diseases.
Mr. Schutter and Dr. Wagner will be honored at the GaBio Annual Awards Dinner, January 26, 6 pm to 9 pm, at the Atlanta Fox Theater. Learn more and register at www.gabio.org/awards.
Biographies of Honorees
Edward J. Schutter, RPh, MBA
Edward J. Schutter has 30 years of pharmaceutical industry experience and served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Sciele (Shionogi) Pharmaceuticals before joining Arbor Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Schutter also served as Vice President of Global Business Development at Solvay Pharmaceuticals based in Basel, Switzerland, and held several other senior management roles in commercial operations at the U.S. subsidiary of Solvay during his 20 years with the organization. Before launching his career in the industry, Mr. Schutter owned and operated an independent retail pharmacy in Roswell, Ga. He began his pharmaceutical career with Reid-Provident Labs, a small entrepreneurial pharmaceutical company based in Atlanta, Ga. Mr. Schutter has a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from Mercer University and an MBA from Kennesaw State University.
In addition to his roles with GaBio, Mr. Schutter is a member of the Arbor Pharmaceuticals Board of Directors and serves on the Board of the American Diabetes Association and Mercer University Alumni Board. He was previously a Board member of Addrenex Pharmaceuticals before its sale in 2010.
James W. Wagner, PhD
James W. Wagner, an award-winning teacher and scientist, became the nineteenth president of Emory University on Sept. 1, 2003. Dr. Wagner earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1975 from the University of Delaware and a master’s degree in clinical engineering in 1978 from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In 1984, he completed his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Johns Hopkins. Following a distinguished tenure on the faculty of Johns Hopkins, Dr. Wagner served as dean, provost, and interim president of Case Western Reserve University.
Dr. Wagner has authored more than 115 publications and has served as editor or editorial board member for several serial publications. His research interests and activities have stemmed in part from his early employment with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, where he developed quality-assurance methods and performed failure analyses on medical devices. At Johns Hopkins, his research focused on optical and microwave methods for sensing strains and displacements in materials and structures. In 2007, Dr. Wagner received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering and the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association. In the spring of 2009, he was elected as a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Dr. Wagner was honored to receive the President’s Award of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators for Region III in the summer of 2011.
Dr. Wagner serves on the boards of The Carter Center, the Georgia Research Alliance, SunTrust Banks, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, and the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education. In 2009, he was honored to be appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as Vice-Chair of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues.
For a list of past GaBio Industry Growth Award recipients, click here.
Georgia Bio (www.gabio.org) is the private, non-profit association representing the life sciences industry. Members include pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies, medical centers, universities and research institutes, government groups and other business organizations involved in the development of products that improve the health and well-being of people, animals and the environment.
Note to Editors: Credentialed members of the news media are invited to attend. Registration is complimentary. Please contact Maria Thacker (404-920-2042; [email protected]).
CONTACT:
Georgia Bio
Charles Craig, 404-920-2043
[email protected]
KEYWORDS: United States North America Georgia
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Health Biotechnology Pharmaceutical
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