iBio Taps Pharmaceutical and Biotech Research Leader Terence E. Ryan, PhD To Drive New Business Development
Move Comes As Disruptive Plant-based Protein Technology Platform Readies for 4Q10 Clinical Trials Ryan to drive licensing agreements for iBioLaunchTM in familiar turf of Medium and Big Pharma
July 27, 2010 - Newark, DE - iBio, Inc. (OTCBB: IBPM) - eyeing rapidly approaching, significant therapeutic protein opportunities for its disruptive plant-based technology platform in orphan biologics, bio-similars and bio-betters - announces today the appointment of Terence (Terry) E. Ryan, PhD as Senior Vice President, Business Development.
Highly accomplished in recombinant protein expression and with a PhD in Microbiology, Ryan's distinguished 20-year career includes serving as lead biological technology evaluator for pharmaceutical business development groups. Ryan has worked for such industry leaders as Wyeth (Pfizer) Research, GlaxoSmithKline, Celera Genomics, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.
"Terry's substantial experience with commercial implementation of technology combined with his scientific pedigree and understanding of the needs of medium and big pharma make him the ideal addition to the iBio executive team," said Robert B. Kay, CEO and Executive Chairman of iBio, Inc. "He will have a key role in the current commercialization of our revolutionary plant-based technology platform."
Ryan will be directly responsible for all aspects of new business development including cultivating relationships with major pharmaceutical companies and procuring grants and awards from government agencies. Additionally, Ryan will be interfacing with iBio's development collaborator, Fraunhofer USA CMB, on ongoing development and refinement of the iBio-proprietary iBioLaunchTM platform for broad applications in the growth markets of orphan biologics; bio-similars and bio-betters, and vaccines.
"The low-cost, high-quality iBioLaunch platform has moved past the research bench to clinical trials, and is soon expected to make possible cost-effective medicines for a wide variety of diseases in the first world as well as the third," said Ryan. "I am thrilled to be onboard to help bring this game-changing biologics technology to the benefit of patients via pharmaceutical companies, governments and health organizations on a global scale."
Ryan's career includes most recently serving as Assistant Vice President and formerly Senior Director, Biological Technologies, Discovery Research with Wyeth (Pfizer) Research. He was previously GlaxoSmithKline's Director, Integrative Biology (Department of High Throughput Biology, Discovery Research), and founded Celera Genomics' Cell Biology Group while serving as Director of Cell Biology there. Other posts included Associate Director, Cell Technology with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, and Senior Scientist, Molecular Virology in the Pandex Division of Baxter Healthcare. Ryan boasts a strong record of recent peer-reviewed publications and is a frequently invited presenter at major scientific conferences. Ryan holds a PhD in Microbiology from Rutgers University, an MS in Microbiology, also from Rutgers, and an AB in Biology from Princeton University. He served his Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Wisconsin, Laboratory of Molecular Virology. Ryan will be based in iBio's headquarters in Newark, Delaware. IBIO,