Aquapharm appoints Dr Simon Best OBE FRSE as new CEO

Current CEO and founder, Andrew Mearns Spragg, to take position as CTO

24-Mar-2010 - United Kingdom

Aquapharm Biodiscovery announced the close of a £4.2 million investment from existing investors Aescap Venture, Tate & Lyle Ventures, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and NESTA. Alongside the completion of the financing, Aquapharm has appointed the biotech entrepreneur Simon Best as CEO. Current CEO and founder Andrew Mearns Spragg will take up the role of Chief Technical Officer.

Simon, formerly CEO of Roslin BioMed and later Chairman of Ardana Plc and the UK BioIndustry Association, has joined Aquapharm at this critical juncture and brings extensive experience to the Company, including demonstrable success in taking biotech companies through raising finance, deal formation and product commercialisation all the way to exit. Simon is a visiting Professor at the University of Edinburgh and remains the Chair of the BioQuarter Commercialisation Board.

Professor Simon Best has over 25 years experience across the life science sector in pharmaceuticals, agbiotech, chemicals and industrial enzymes. Through this time, Simon has gained significant entrepreneurial and senior management experience of raising finance, deal formation and product commercialisation. He has founded two lifescience businesses; within Ardana one responsibility as CEO was taking the company public on the London Stock Exchange, and as Roslin Biomed’s CEO he was responsible for the commercialisation of the technology that developed Dolly the Sheep, including the merger of the business into the US-listed biotech company Geron Corp. Earlier in his career, Simon was CEO and Managing Director of Zeneca Plant Science, where he managed the groups joint ventures and acquisition programmes. Simon is currently Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Partner at TVM Capital (Munich, Germany), Chairman of Advisory Board and non-exec Partner at PAR Equity (Edinburgh, UK), and Chairman at Edinburgh Technology Fund; and non-exec Director at Polytherics (London, UK), Targeted Growth (Seattle, USA), Ohmedics (Glasgow, UK) and Director International Potato Centre (Lima, Peru). He was formerly chairman of Neuro3D (Mulhouse, France) and ICRISAT (Hyderabad, India), and non-exec director of Avesthagen (Bangalore, India), and Direvo (Germany).

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/115380/aquapharm-appoints-dr-simon-best-obe-frse-as-new-ceo.html