Avacta Appoints Chief Development Officer

Avacta Group plc, the developer of Affimer biotherapeutics and reagents, has appointed Neil Bell as chief development officer of Avacta Life Sciences with immediate effect. Bell will be responsible for late stage pre-clinical and early clinical development of Avacta’s pipeline of pre|CISION pro-drugs and Affimer immunotherapies.

Bell has over 30 years’ experience in the drug development industry, having held senior positions in global pharmaceutical companies and innovative biotechs. Most recently, Bell held the role of senior vice president, head of global clinical operations at Autolus, a UK cell and gene therapy company backed by Syncona, which listed in the U.S. in 2018; a process in which Bell played a key role. At Autolus Bell was responsible for building a fully functional global clinical operations team delivering Phase I/II clinical studies across the UK, Europe and U.S. in acute lymphoblastic leukemia, multiple myeloma, B-cell lymphoma, and T-cell lymphoma, and implemented the first commercially sponsored CAR-T study in the UK.

“I am absolutely delighted that Neil is joining Avacta as chief development officer to build and lead the development team to take a pipeline of innovative cancer therapies into the clinic over the next few years; therapies that have the potential to significantly enhance cancer patients’ lives,” commented Dr. Alastair Smith, chief executive of Avacta Group. “Not only does Neil have tremendous drug development and operational experience, but he also brings significant strategic insight and will be a key member of the senior leadership team driving the Group’s drug development and corporate strategy for the therapeutic business.”

“I am delighted to join the therapeutics team at Avacta Life Sciences at such an exciting time in its growth trajectory and where I believe the company has significant opportunity to build a successful and agile clinical stage biopharmaceutical organization with the capability to maximize its early development oncology assets for the ultimate benefit of patients. I very much look forward to working closely with Alastair and the therapeutics senior leadership team to establish a leading position for Avacta Life Sciences as a focused immunotherapy oncology company,” added Bell.