Symbiosis Appoints COO

Symbiosis Pharmaceutical Services, a contract manufacturing organization (CMO) specializing in sterile manufacture of vaccines, pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals, and headquartered in Stirling, UK, has appointed John McCormick as chief operating officer and executive member of its Board of Directors.

Previously operations development director at Symbiosis, McCormick has 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in various roles including pharmaceutical formulation, medicine manufacturing process development, project technical transfer, manufacturing scale-up, and clinical and commercial manufacture of a number of dosage forms including capsules and injectables.   

As COO McCormick will take operational leadership of the project management, quality, manufacturing, technical, supply chain, engineering, validation and training operational functions.  He will continue to lead the ongoing implementation of Innovate UK grant projects currently being undertaken jointly by Symbiosis and its external collaborators who include Freeline Therapeutics and the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGTC) in Stevenage, UK. 

McCormick will also drive continuous improvement and operational efficiency gains across the business and will directly support the CEO while making a strategic contribution as a member of the Board of Directors.

Additionally, he will continue to manage Symbiosis’ operational response to COVID-19 to ensure that Symbiosis continues to deliver projects on-time to meet clients’ clinical and commercial timelines.

“John’s promotion and appointment to the Board of Directors is part of a long-term strategy to support the continued organic growth of our core sterile manufacturing services in the US and Europe and a reflection of his achievement to date, our success in the market, and my confidence in his abilities,” said Colin MacKay, CEO at Symbiosis. “I am confident that John will ensure that we consistently deliver flexible and responsive contract manufacturing services in a value-adding way and will do so while we continue to grow at a significant rate.”

“In the last 12 months Symbiosis has grown its sterile biologics manufacturing capabilities significantly and the company has invested over £1.5m ($1.9m) in its expansion, doubling its physical footprint and creating fresh operational challenges,” commented McCormick. “These are exciting times for Symbiosis and I look forward to playing a key role in the next chapter of the company’s rapid development. Together with the CEO, Board of Directors and senior management team, I will be focused on further developing our operational capacity and capability and ensuring that we continue to provide the world-class service that our clients have come to expect.”