Certara, a provider of model-informed drug development, regulatory science, real-world evidence and market access services, has announced four senior executive appointments in its Simcyp division. Simcyp is a provider of mechanistic modelling technologies used to inform drug development, including physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK), quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) and quantitative systems toxicology and safety (QSTS) approaches.
Rob Aspbury, PhD, joins Simcyp as chief operating officer; Frederic Yves Bois, PharmD, PhD, is the division’s new senior scientific advisor and head of mechanistic modelling; Will Redfern, PhD, is vice president, quantitative systems toxicology and safety; and Noriko Okudaira, PhD, is senior consultant/scientific advisor supporting Certara’s clients locally in Japan.
‘I am delighted to welcome Rob, Frederic, Will and Noriko to the Simcyp team. It is a testament to the major scientific and technological advances that Simcyp continues to make that we are able to attract staff of this caliber,’ said Steve Toon, PhD, Simcyp President and Managing Director. ‘Focusing on safety and efficacy, the team will build on Simcyp’s position, delivering confidence in drug development, drug target selection, and drug label enrichment.’
Dr Aspbury brings more than 17 years’ commercial and scientific leadership experience with Covance to Certara. Dr Aspbury was appointed Global Finance Director for Covance’s Clinical Pharmacology Services Division in 2003 and was rapidly promoted within the division to Managing Director, then Vice President, Europe, and later Vice President and General Manager, Global. His most recent appointment was Vice President of Covance Strategic Solutions, Biosimilars.
Dr Bois was Research Director of the French National Institute for Industrial Environment and Risks (INERIS) before joining Certara. For six years, he also served in parallel as Professor and Chair of Mathematical Modelling for Systems Toxicology at UTC and INERIS. Dr. Bois is a recognized expert in Bayesian calibration of complex differential equation-based models. He has also served as a public health policy and regulatory risk assessment consultant to the US FDA, EPA and OSHA, the European Commission, and the French Ministry of the Environment. Dr Bois is author or co-author of more than 150 peer-reviewed articles and recipient of the American Statistical Association’s Outstanding Statistical Application Award, and the French Epidaure Prize for Environmental Health Research.
Dr Redfern is an international key opinion leader with more than 30 years’ experience in in vivo central nervous system and cardiovascular safety pharmacology. He joins Certara from AstraZeneca R&D in Cambridge (UK) where he was Principal Scientist for Safety and Mechanistic Pharmacology. Dr Redfern is author or co-author of 36 peer-reviewed articles, six book chapters, 91 conference proceedings abstracts, and two drug patents. He is a past president of the Safety Pharmacology Society and has received both the organization’s Technological Innovation Award and its Distinguished Service Award.
Dr Okudaira comes to Certara from Daiichi Sankyo, where she served as Director of the Clinical Pharmacology Department. Prior to that, she was Senior Researcher and later Senior Director of Daiichi Sankyo’s Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetic Research Laboratories.
