On October 16, 2020 Selexis SA, a JSR Life Sciences Company, reported the appointment of Dirk Lange to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) (Press release, Selexis
, OCT 16, 2020, View Source [SID1234568584]). Mr. Lange succeeds the company’s founding CEO, Dr. Igor Fisch, who had led the company since he co-founded it in 2001 and is departing to pursue other opportunities.
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As new Selexis CEO, Mr. Lange will help advance the continued market adoption of Selexis’ cell line development technologies and oversee the company’s operational and corporate strategy. He will also continue to serve in the role as CEO of JSR Life Sciences’ member company, KBI Biopharma, a leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO). Under the JSR Life Sciences umbrella, Selexis and KBI’s integrated service offerings create the industry’s most robust biologics development package in the biopharmaceutical industry.
"We thank Igor for his years of leadership and service. He leaves behind a legacy of innovation, which contributed greatly to the ability of Selexis to play a role in the development of many of today’s most complex and difficult-to-express proteins," said Tim Lowery, president, JSR Life Sciences. "His foresight and belief in the power of the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell as a premier manufacturing system of biologics has enabled countless companies to bring bispecifics, Fc fusions and other therapeutic proteins – as well as vaccines – to the clinic faster than ever."
Mr. Lange has served as president and CEO of KBI Biopharma since February 2020. Previously, he served as KBI’s chief operating officer following several roles of increasing responsibility, including senior vice president of operations; site head of KBI’s Boulder, Colorado facility; and vice president positions in operations and business development. Before moving to the United States in 2016, Mr. Lange was head of external supply operations at Novartis Biologics in Basel, Switzerland, and also held leadership positions in operations, program management and business development at Sandoz Oncology Injectables in Austria, and Rentschler Biopharma in Germany. He has also led several drug substance and drug product sites through successful health authority inspections by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency (EMA) and Brazil’s regulatory agency, Agencia Nacional de Vigilancia Sanitaria (ANVISA). Mr. Lange received his Master Professional of Technical Management (CCI), an advanced training qualification of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), in 2005, and his Bachelor Professional (CCI) of Pharmaceutical Technology degree in 2002. He also taught economics and operations management at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Ulm, Germany.
Commented Mr. Lange, "While I now oversee both Selexis and KBI Biopharma, life sciences companies will have the freedom to choose their partner of choice as they consider working with us for biologics and vaccine cell line development and/or manufacturing. I look forward to working with the talented team at Selexis to improve and uncover new and powerful ways to support our partners in their mission to help patients."