Parexel has been on a recruiting spree of late, delving into FDA to beef up its regulatory offerings. Now, it’s turned to fellow biopharma services provider BioClinica for a more digital role.
The CRO nabs Gavin Nichols as its EVP of informatics and IT; he joins from BioClinica, where he was chief information officer and EVP of technology. Before that, he had spent more than decade at Quintiles (now IQVIA).
This comes as Parexel moved back to becoming a private company, after its buyout from Pamplona in 2017, and with a new CEO in Jamie Macdonald, after its co-founder and major three-decade-plus veteran Josef von Rickenbach retired last year.
At the start of 2019, Parexel also went on a small hiring spree, snapping up a series of former FDA staffers. This included Amy McKee, M.D., who in February became its new lead to help build up the company’s oncology initiative. She was previously deputy director at the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence on its regulatory consulting team.
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“Now more than ever it’s critical that science and technology come together to advance drug development,” Macdonald said in a release. “Gavin’s extensive experience leading global technology teams in the pharmaceutical and healthcare space provide the perfect blend of expertise to drive the development of innovative technologies and solutions for our customers in a constantly evolving and growing clinical trial landscape.
“We look forward to his leadership as we work to grow our PI business and deliver a best-in-class technology infrastructure, practices and systems for the global Parexel organization.”
Nichols will be based in the company’s Nottingham, U.K., office.