NEWS: Our Blog

ICT Autumn 2022: How To Build a Comprehensive Response to Client Needs as a CRO

Nov 28, 2022 12:45:23 PM / by Alliance Pharma posted in Pharmaceuticals, Leadership, Philadelphia, bioanalytical, Quality, Drug Transporter, Bioanalysis, DMPK, AMS

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As a CRO, meeting client expectations can be an ongoing challenge. What can organisations do to make sure their research is as effective and efficient as possible?

In the Autumn 2022 issue of European Pharmaceutical Contractor magazine, the leadership team from Alliance Pharma reviews what CRO organisations can do to make sure their research is as effective and efficient as possible while meeting the ongoing challenge of their customer's expectations.



Patrick Bennett, Jean Pierre Boutrand, and Vito Saccente at Alliance Pharma

Serving clients is the core of a contract research organisation’s (CRO) business. The more comprehensive a CRO’s service offerings, the more likely it is to attract and retain clients. Recent events – like the COVID-19 pandemic – have set in motion industry shifts. Such shifts demand CROs adapt so that they can continue meeting their clients’ evolving needs . . .

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Ampersand Invests in Alliance Pharma, Leading Bioanalytical CRO

Nov 19, 2021 10:23:36 AM / by Ryan Klein posted in Leadership, Feng Li, CEO, success, Growth


WELLESLEY, MA, November 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ampersand Capital Partners, a private equity firm specializing in growth equity investments in the healthcare sector, has announced an investment in Alliance Pharma (“Alliance”), a global leader in large and small molecule bioanalytical services. Headquartered in Malvern, PA., Alliance provides a full suite of discovery bioanalytical, DMPK, regulated bioanalysis, biomarker, LC-MS/MS, immunoassay, and cell and gene therapy assays. These capabilities support preclinical-through-Phase 4 studies run by a global customer base comprised of leading pharma and biotech companies.

Dave Patteson, Partner at Ampersand, stated "We are very excited to complete this investment in Alliance and partner with Founder and President Frank Li, who will remain a significant shareholder in the Company. Ampersand’s goal is to help Alliance execute an aggressive growth strategy that will expand the Company’s global reach, scientific capabilities, and operational capacity.”

Frank Li, President of Alliance, stated "We are delighted to have Ampersand invest in Alliance. Ampersand’s deep industry expertise, broad network, and capital resources will fortify Alliance Pharma’s position as a market-leading global specialty CRO."


About Alliance Pharma

Founded in 2008, Alliance is a contract research organization (CRO) that specializes in advanced bioanalytical research services for both small and large molecule drugs, as well as drug metabolism studies to support pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies’ drug discovery and development programs. Alliance Pharma provides: quantitative LC-MS/MS analysis of small molecule drugs, metabolites, biomarkers, protein, peptides and oligonucleotides, as well as immunoassay of proteins and antibody drug conjugates; immunogenicity assays (anti-drug antibody screening, confirmation, titer assessment, and Nab determination): cell-based bioassays; in vitro and in vivo drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic studies.

Alliance’s mission is to build a trusted partnership with our partners & clients to support their successful drug development programs. Alliance’s business philosophy is based on a foundation of trust, professional ethics, scientific excellence and regulatory compliance.


About Ampersand Capital Partners

Founded in 1988, Ampersand is a middle market private equity firm with more than $2 billion of assets under management dedicated to growth-oriented investments in the healthcare sector. With offices in Boston and Amsterdam, Ampersand leverages its unique blend of private equity and operating experience to build value and drive superior long-term performance alongside its portfolio company management teams. Ampersand has helped build numerous market-leading companies across each of the firm's core healthcare sectors. Additional information about Ampersand is available at ampersandcapital.com.

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> Alliance Pharma New Hire

Oct 9, 2018 10:19:28 AM / by Karen Pryor posted in Pharmaceuticals, Leadership, Philadelphia, bioanalytical, laboratory, Employee engagement, Bioanalysis, Growth, New Hire

 

 

Dr. RyanKleinAlliance Pharma has hired Dr. Ryan Klein as Director of Business Development. Dr. Klein has more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry developing both oral and topical dosage forms for a range of indications. Dr. Klein began his career at GlaxoSmithKline, where he was an integral component of their drug discovery organization providing drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic expertise to project teams. He was instrumental in the development and implementation of a number of in vitro and in situ ADME models to assess drug absorption, metabolism, and disposition.

After leaving GSK, Dr. Klein joined Tergus Pharma, a CRO providing topical R&D services to the pharmaceutical industry. At Tergus, Ryan filled various roles including leadership positions as the Head of Research & Development and Head of In Vitro Sciences, as the company grew from five employees to approximately seventy five over a seven year period.

Dr. Klein’s areas of expertise include drug permeability, absorption and metabolism in the gastrointestinal tract, liver and skin, intestinal drug transporters, and the anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology of the skin and GI tract. He also has a strong analytical background with extensive experience developing and validating in vitro release testing methods for semi-solid dosage forms, as well as developing and validating HPLC assay and impurities methods.

Leveraging Dr. Klein’s experience on the client side allows Alliance Pharma to collaborate on a higher level with Sponsors, using his in-depth knowledge and vast experience to align the best team of scientists to support each project.

Ryan earned his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and earned his doctoral degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ryan has authored & co-authored numerous scientific publications and patents, and serves as a member of several pharmaceutical research focus and discussion groups.

To read more or to connect with Ryan, view his LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanrklein/

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AAPS Distinguished Service Award to Masood Khan

May 17, 2016 5:11:00 AM / by adminweb_1 posted in Leadership

masood khan AAPS awardAlliance Pharma’s Vice President of Biopharma Services, Masood Khan, Ph.D., was honored with the BIOTEC Section Distinguished Service Award at the 2016 National Biotechnology Conference of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS). The AAPS Distinguished Service Award recognizes exemplary service as reflected in significant and extensive contributions that have materially influenced the advancement of the pharmaceutical sciences and the AAPS.

To date, Dr. Khan has over 120 publications and presentations, including several white papers related to issues in bioanalysis that focus on new technologies and biomarkers. One of these white papers titled, “Recommendations for adaptation and validation of commercial kits for biomarker quantification in drug development,” which was published in the journal of Bioanalysis (January 2015), offered a systematic approach to the assessment, method adaptation, and validation of commercial immunoassay kits for the quantification of biomarkers in drug development. Dr. Khan is also editor of a book titled, Ligand-Binding Assays: Development, Validation, and Implementation in the Drug Development Arena (2009)—a consolidated and comprehensive reference that is still used extensively in the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr. Khan has been an extraordinary volunteer, actively involved in AAPS over the past two decades, serving on a variety of committees, as well as organizing scientific short courses, roundtables, and symposia. Most notable is a roundtable that he organized at the AAPS 1998 Annual Meeting in San Francisco on the challenges of immunoassay validation and implementation in regulatory environment. This led to the publication of the first white paper on the industry perspectives on ligand-binding assay validation in 2000 and subsequently to the formation of the Ligand-Binding Assay Bioanalytical Focus Group (LBABFG), where he has actively served on the Steering Committee for over 8 years. He is currently acting as the Liaison of the BIOTEC Section Focus Groups.

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Zhiyang Zhao, Chief Scientific Officer

Sep 15, 2015 5:26:00 AM / by adminweb_1 posted in Leadership

Alliance Pharma is pleased to announce that Zhiyang Zhao, PhD, has joined its leadership team as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO).

zhiyang zhao, chief scientific officer, alliance pharma

Dr. Zhao brings to Alliance Pharma over 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience with special focus on metabolic and pharmacokinetic properties of small and large molecules in drug discovery and development. Dr. Zhao has previously held positions at Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Amgen. Most recently, Dr. Zhao served as Amgen’s Site Director for Preclinical Studies at Cambridge, Massachusetts, for over 11 years. He previously served as a Director at GlaxoSmithKline and as an Investigator at Pfizer. His extensive experience spans the entire drug discovery and development process (discovery, development, and in-/out-licensing) in oncology, metabolic, antiviral, CNS, and inflammatory diseases.

Dr. Zhao’s contributions and accomplishments of integrating in vitro and in vivo ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity) information to optimize drug candidate properties are documented in over 50 peer-reviewed scientific publications and patents in the areas of new drug targets, drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, and toxicology. He currently also holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and serves as the Editor-In-Chief for Drug Metabolism Letters.

“We are thrilled to have Dr. Zhao on our scientific leadership team; he will further strengthen and broaden our scientific excellence in the services that we provide,” said Frank Li, PhD, Co founder and President of Alliance Pharma. “In his role as CSO, Dr. Zhao, will provide scientific, intellectual, and managerial leadership as well as explore scientific and business opportunities beyond Alliance Pharma’s current scope of business.”

Dr. Zhao expressed his excitement in joining the diverse team at Alliance Pharma, stating, “I look forward to working with the talented team at Alliance Pharma as we explore new business opportunities and expand our scientific and technical capabilities to better serve our clients. Having spent more than two decades in various leadership roles in pharmaceutical companies, I fully understand our clients’ challenges and needs.”

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