Rentschler Biopharma announced Dr. Jesús Zurdo will join the company as Senior Vice President Process Science and Innovation, effective January 01, 2019. Dr. Zurdo will provide scientific leadership for development and manufacturing services from cell-line development through to final product manufacturing. He will also be responsible for managing key strategic collaborations and ensuring that Rentschler Biopharma remains at the forefront of innovation and technology, through in-house development as well as collaborations with industry and academia. Dr. Zurdo has over 15 years of industry experience and has overseen all stages of the biopharmaceutical value chain.
“Dr. Zurdo is a perfect addition to our team at Rentschler Biopharma. He has a multidisciplinary background and solid credentials as a leader and entrepreneur in biotech. He is highly experienced in managing strategic growth through partnerships and passionate about the application of innovation to addressing key therapeutic problems,” said Dr. Ralf Otto, COO of Rentschler Biopharma SE. “In a time of strategic growth and transformative change at our company, we are very pleased that Dr. Zurdo will be driving innovation at Rentschler Biopharma, enabling us to realize our shared vision of developing better and safer biopharmaceuticals to improve human health and quality of life.”
“Never before in the history of the pharmaceutical industry has there been such a wide variety of therapeutic approaches. This explosive increase in both diversity and complexity offers great hope for the medical community and patients and creates a very exciting environment for Rentschler Biopharma as a development and manufacturing partner,” said Dr. Jesús Zurdo. “Rentschler Biopharma is working on implementing these innovations on an industrial scale. I am excited to join this talented and exceptionally ambitious team and to have the opportunity, together with our clients, to push the boundaries of therapeutic development on the road from treatments to cures.”
Prior to joining Rentschler Biopharma, Dr. Zurdo was Senior Director Strategic Innovation at LONZA Pharma & Biotech, with a particular focus on enabling technologies for bioprocessing and new therapeutic modalities. He has an extensive trajectory in bioprocessing innovation and de-risking of biopharmaceutical development, being one of the early introducers of developability methodologies to biological drug development. Dr. Zurdo was cofounder of Zyentia, developing solutions to stabilize biological drugs and disease-modifying therapies for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and type 2 diabetes. He held various roles in the company, including Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Executive Officer. He was also co-founder and scientific advisor of Zapaloid Ltd, a company focused on the development of disease-modifying therapies against neurodegenerative disorders. Dr. Zurdo holds a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Universidad Autónoma, Madrid, Spain (CBM-CSIC). Prior to his career in industry, he held several research positions at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in the UK and completed several years of postdoctoral work at CBM-CSIC and the University Complutense (Madrid, Spain).