Speaker Profile
David Brown

David Brown BSc, Ph.D

Biotechnology, Pharmacy and Medicine
Cambridge, England, United Kingdom

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Dr. David Brown has 40 years experience in the pharmaceutical / biotechnology industry both in research and in senior executive roles. He served with 4 of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies: Zeneca, Pfizer, GlaxoWellcome, and Hoffman La-Roche; and also as President and Chief Executive of Cellzome AG, a biotechnology company with headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany. Whilst at Pfizer he was named co-inventor on the patent for Viagra, and for 8 years he led the team that invented and developed Viagra through to proof of clinical efficacy in male impotence. The drug is also marketed for treatment of pulmonary hypertension under the trade name Revatio. He also had a pivotal role in the discovery of Relpax, a treatment for migraine. Together these drugs have achieved sales of over $30 billion. While at Roche in Switzerland, he was a Director of the company and, as Global Head of Drug Discovery, he had responsibility for productivity of over 2000 scientists at Roche’s five research sites in the USA, Europe and Asia.

Dr. Brown has a strong interest in entrepreneurialism. He coaches CEOs and entrepreneurs at the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning at Cambridge University Business School and he is an Angel Investor in high-technology start-up companies. He co-founded Crescendo Biologics of which he is currently interim Chair of the board. He also serves on the boards of Amura Ltd (Chair), ProFactor Pharma Ltd (Chair) and Babraham Institute Enterprise Ltd (Chair). He serves on the Technology Transfer Strategy Panel of the Wellcome Trust, London, which provides governance oversight and guidance on strategic direction for the Trust's grant-awarding bodies. He is a Trustee of two charities, Antibiotic Research UK, dedicated to solving the looming problem of antibiotic resistance; and Friends of Manjushree Vidyapith School and Orphanage, a charity he co-founded in 2005 to help destitute orphans in South Tibet.
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