RICHARD MITCHELL SCIENCE BIO

 

Richard L. Mitchell, Ph.D.
 

Current position: Scientific Director, Marketing and Business Development, Nastech Pharmaceutical Company Inc.

Ph.D. trained molecular biologist, pharmacologist, technologist and business leader; current focus: drug delivery

• Scientific and business leader:  developed strategic vision for company growth leading to acquisition and strategic shift in company focus

• Business development: identified and evaluated company and technology acquisitions and collaborations

• Medical liaison: numerous technical presentations to medical, scientific, and business leader audiences

• In-licensing/Collaborations: identified most significant feasibility studies for Nastech

Ph.D. trained molecular biologist (oncogenes/virology/growth factors/nuclear receptor) with an extremely broad skill set applicable to a broad range of technologies and businesses. Very articulate with a high degree of credibility in a range of scientific and business discussions. Experienced in technical and sales presentations. Excellent understanding of the balance between scientific and business imperatives. Currently Scientific Director, Marketing & Business Development at Nastech Pharmaceutical Company Inc.  Considered “the visionary” of MDS Pharma Services, charged with the responsibility of leading the company to new scientific/business collaboration or acquisition opportunities. Experienced manager with a track-record of success and continued growth in responsibility.

Chair of MDS Pharma Services Pharmacology Scientific Advisory Board. Manager of MDS Pharma Services largest pharmacology client program (a top 5 pharmaceutical company).

Leader of the MDS Pharma Services (formerly MDS Panlabs, Panlabs Inc.) Assay Development Team for 13+ years. Assays developed by the team resulted in a 12-fold growth in revenues over the period (the fastest and most consistent and successful growth of any service line over the interval). Comprehensive and broad test development included assays for receptor targets (GPCRs, growth factors and cytokines, transporters, ion channels, others), enzyme targets (peptidases, kinases, phosphatases, cyclooxygenases, phosphodiesterases, others), cell-based assays (transporters, GPCRs, cytokines, transcription response, others). Techniques employed by the group included traditional molecular biology (cloning, sequencing, expression, purification, and analysis/assay by numerous methods) and pharmacological approaches.

Leader of the MDS Pharma Services Product Team (US, Taiwan, and Switzerland staff) with responsibility for determining the strategic and tactical initiatives responsible for growing the pharmacology CRO service. Successfully implemented R&D programs resulting in 1300% growth (>18% CAGR) in revenues derived from molecular pharmacology tests over 13 years.

Technical presentations to US and international clients (North America, Asia, and Europe). Provided extensive PowerPoint material for Sales staff, and technical training for Sales staff.

Proposed, designed, implemented MDS Pharma Services (then Panlabs, Inc.) first Pharmacology Services annual catalog, which became the model implemented by the Sales and Marketing team.

Proposed, designed, programmed, implemented, supported, trained staff on comprehensive data analysis and reporting system. Provided full technical support for the system during its operation (3+ years). Eventually used as a model for a system designed by Arthur Andersen Consulting (8 FTE x 2 years to implement).

Proposed, designed, coded, supported (5+ years) the Panlabs, Inc (and subsequently MDS Panlabs) website (this 3000 “page” website presented a comprehensive view of MDS Panlabs services and capabilities across all service lines). Participated in MDS Pharma Services website design team which replaced the “local” website with a centrally managed website.

Proposed, designed, coded, supported (5+ years) an “internal” website that provided supplemental information on Panlabs, Inc. (and MDS Panlabs, MDS Pharma Services) tests for Business Development (Sales) staff.

Proposed, designed, programmed, maintained, trained staff on comprehensive Pharmacology Quoting system that provided customized quotes to clients for more than 2 years. Provided customers with highly interactive, extensively hyperlinked, customized quotes for very complex and diverse testing requirements, automatically handling a wide variety of automated functions and multi-year pricing (system is being used as a model for a replacement quoting system implemented by an IT team (4 FTE x 1 year). Pioneered the use of automated reporting using hyperlinking to internal and external data sources.

Provided technical due diligence to MDS Sciex on numerous acquisition/collaboration opportunities. Initiated discussions and provided technology assessment leading to acquisition of cellular dielectric spectroscopy technology from Signature Biosciences for MDS Sciex (cellular dielectric spectroscopy).

Reestablished discussions with Skeletech, Inc., provided technology due diligence and proposals to MDS Pharma Services resulting in acquisition of Skeletech, Inc. in a ~$10 million deal.

Member of the Collaboration Management Board of MDS Pharma Services and Iconix Pharmaceuticals to provide technical guidance to the DrugMatrix and PharmMotif product lines.

Provided technical due-diligence to MDS Capital on numerous Venture Capital investment opportunities.