- Senior executives with extensive biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, science, innovation and business development experience
- Bringing unique capabilities to unlock broad potential of Kiadis platform
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, July 13, 2020 – Kiadis Pharma N.V. (“Kiadis” or the “Company”) (Euronext Amsterdam and Brussels: KDS), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative NK-cell therapeutics for patients with life-threatening diseases, today announces that it has appointed Ray Barlow, Ph.D. as chief business officer and Govert Schouten, Ph.D. as head of innovation. As of today, Barlow and Schouten will report to Kiadis’ CEO, Arthur Lahr, and will be members of the Company’s Management Team. Marcel Zwaal, the Company’s senior vice president of corporate development, will be leaving the Company to pursue other opportunities.
Dr. Barlow is responsible for all corporate business development initiatives, including out-licensing, pharma and biotech partnerships, development and commercialization collaborations, and potential mergers and acquisitions. Dr. Schouten is responsible for Kiadis’ intellectual property, scientific and academic collaborations, government grants and in-licensing of science and IP to build Kiadis’ K-NK technology platform.
Arthur Lahr, chief executive officer of Kiadis, commented, “Kiadis’ K-NK-cell therapy platform has almost unlimited potential for the treatment of cancers, infectious diseases and other life-threatening diseases. Ray and Govert have throughout their careers led hundreds of deals with pharma, biotech and academia, and brought in hundreds of millions in licensing fees and government grants. They can make a huge contribution to unlock the value of our platform, for products that we bring to market on our own or with the help of a bigger pharmaceutical company. I want to thank Marcel for all of his contributions to acquire and position our K-NK technology and wish him all the best in his future endeavors. We welcome Ray and Govert and look forward to their contributions to build our pipeline and our K-NK-cell therapy platform.”
With more than 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, Ray Barlow has served in various leadership roles including most recently as chief executive officer at e-therapeutics PLC where he led the turnaround of the business and generated its first commercial deals. Previously, Dr. Barlow worked at Amgen as executive director of corporate development and prior to that at Crucell Vaccines where he managed business deals in infectious diseases and vaccines. Prior to joining Crucell, Ray founded and led his own business, BD Solutions Ltd, advising clients on corporate development and commercialization strategies. Dr. Barlow started his career at AstraZeneca where he held a number of senior R&D, Business Development and Commercial roles over a 12-year period. Dr. Barlow holds a Ph.D. in macromolecular science from the University of Manchester, UK, a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Leeds, UK, and an MBA from Manchester Business School, UK.
Govert Schouten brings nearly 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry to Kiadis. Most recently, Dr. Schouten was the founder of Idmon Consulting B.V., a consulting firm providing corporate development, strategy and business development services. Prior to that, Dr. Schouten was co-founder and chief business officer of myTomorrows (Impatients N.V.), chief executive officer of Mucosis B.V., and vice president, head of business development and member of the executive committee of Crucell Vaccines. Dr. Schouten holds a Master’s degree in behavioral sciences and a Ph.D. in tumor virology from Leiden University, The Netherlands.
