Drug Delivery International Seeks to Recruit Scientists

Drug Delivery International (DDi) is on the hunt for a clutch of world-class scientists as it embarks on an aggressive growth drive. And as it recruits the top talent, it will also build up job numbers among sales and support staff.

Glasgow-based DDi, established only at the start of 2011, is projecting first-year turnover of at least $700,000 as it focuses on collaborative research, licensing agreements, and breakthroughs into the lucrative Asian and Far Eastern markets.

Dr. Carol Thomson, the Chief Operating Officer who is in charge of the day-to-day running of the ambitious new company, said that DDi also intends to develop its own intellectual property and to take products through research and development to clinical trials under its own steam.

“DDi has taken the first steps toward building a strong portfolio of growth potential products, and we are actively seeking at least four scientists with first-class pharmaceutical pedigrees to help us take the company to the next stage.”

For Dr. Thomson, born in Glasgow, the launch of DDi as a new contender in the intensely competitive international pharma sector is the latest stage in an already glittering career in management in the science sector. Her first degree at Glasgow University was in genetics, an interest sparked by school biology lessons where she was taught the concept of Mendelian Inheritance. The intellectually driven young geneticist worked her summers in prestigious labs up and down the country working spheres as diverse as genetics of parasites and cancer genetics as well as assisting the world-renowned Professor James Scott – founder and first Head of the Institute of Genetics and Genomics – with research into lipids in heart disease at the Hammersmith Hospital.

She completed her Doctorate with Professor Sir Gordon Duff at the University of Sheffield, investigating genetic factors in rheumatoid arthritis and then followed these successes with intensive post-doctoral work on immuno-genetics. However, she said, around this time she began to realize that she was ready for challenges other than focused lab work and joined Thomson Reuters, where she managed teams indexing and abstracting patents in the Pharmaceutical Patents Business Unit of the World Patents Index.

“I was with this large organization for 7 years, and I enormously enjoyed the combination of management and science – both disciplines that require focus, drive, intellectual rigor, and integrity,” she said.

Dr. Thomson then joined the University of Strathclyde in a Business Development Manager role and subsequently as Research Policy Manager, where she became involved in a Scottish Enterprise Proof of Concept fund project looking at the potential of chronotherapeutic – or time-delayed – drug delivery. This led, with the involvement of respected pharmacists Professor Howard Stevens and Professor Alex Mullen, to the establishment of DDi, which has already seized the chance to license three University of Strathclyde patents with the potential to create significant medical benefits across the world.

DDi – sister company of Bio-Images Research, which has just announced a major expansion into Asia – plans to further develop the technologies for licensing to pharmaceutical or generic companies and is actively seeking to become involved in collaborative research with interested parties. The patents are in the area of controlled drug release and have been demonstrated in the therapeutic areas of cardiovascular disease, pain management, and sleep. As a result of the licensing agreement, DDi has already entered into early stage discussions with a global pharmaceutical company to secure a collaborative research agreement with an option to license a controlled-release drug formulation for pain control.

“As we take on more scientists, employment opportunities in other areas of the company will also increase dramatically,” said Dr. Thomson. “Our growth plans are aggressive, focused, and have considerable significance for the future health of the Scottish pharmaceutical sector.”