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January 31, 2010
Pharmaceutical Industry Veteran is Appointed CMO at Kinex Pharmaceuticals
Kinex Pharmaceuticals has appointed Rudolf Kwan, MD, as Chief Medical Officer.
Dr. Kwan has had a successful career in the pharmaceutical industry and brings to Kinex over twenty years of experience in clinical operations. Most recently he served dual roles at Schering Plough (SP) as Vice President and Regional Head of Asia Pacific Global Clinical Operations and Vice President of Global Clinical Development, CNS.
In the clinical operations position, Dr. Kwan successfully recruited Heads of Clincal Operations for China, South East Asia, Australia, Taiwan and South Korea and set up the infrastructure to conduct global clinical trials in Asia Pacific for Schering Plough.
As Vice President of Global Clinical Development, CNS, Dr. Kwan was responsible for the clinical development of all SP central nervous system drugs, globally. Major achievements included developing and executing a bioequivalence registration strategy for a new formulation of Temodol, for glioblastoma, which led to a simultaneous global registration. He also designed and executed multiple phase 2 development programs.
Earlier at Schering Plough, Dr. Kwan held various clinical operation positions with increasing responsibility. He held similar positions at Chiron Corporation and at Smith Kline Beecham.
Dr. Kwan obtained his MD degree in Hong Kong and did subsequent training in England. He has served as Chair of the Data Monitoring and Safety Board for the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders for trials on celecoxib as an adjunct to surgery for Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis. Currently, he is a member and Chair, of the Data Monitoring and Safety Board and Protocol Review Board for the Clinical Trial Network of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) of the National Institute of Health. He is also a member of several advisory panels and grant review panels for NIDA.
“Kinex Pharmaceuticals is extremely pleased to announce that Dr. Rudolf Kwan is joining us as Chief Medical Officer. He brings with him a distinguished career of achievements in clinical operations in the pharmaceutical industry”, said Dr. Allen Barnett, CEO of Kinex.
At Kinex Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Kwan will be responsible for the design and execution of the Company’s clinical development programs. In 2010, Kinex will be launching several Phase 2 studies in oncology for KX2-391 as well as a Phase 1 trial in brain cancer for KX2-361. “Dr. Kwan’s appointment comes at a critical point in our Company’s development as we transition from a drug discovery company to a development company with multiple compounds in clinical development”, said Dr. Barnett.