London, United Kingdom,18 April 2024 – Argenta today announced a restructure of its Research, Development & Innovation (RD&I) division to improve customer experience and enable greater collaboration to advance world-class animal health therapies.

In recent years, the company’s RD&I business has grown substantially, both organically and through several acquisitions. In addition, we have progressed our product development partnership with NovaQuest.

To improve the service and offering we provide to clients, we recognise that we could better leverage the scale and expertise of our CDO, CRO and Product Development teams across the world. We are therefore restructuring RD&I into two new divisions: CRO Services and Pharmaceutical Development Services (PDS), each with their own dedicated leadership and focus.

Will Downie, CEO at Argenta, said: "The new structure will enable us to work together more efficiently, deliver our strategy more effectively, and provide the best service to our customers and co-development partners."

Leadership changes

As a result of the restructure, Edward McGruder, Global Head of RD&I, has decided to leave the company and pursue new career opportunities.

Edward joined Argenta in 2019 and during his tenure Argenta has benefitted greatly from his expertise, network in the animal health industry, and vast R&D experience. His energetic leadership and commitment to R&D excellence will be missed by many.

Will Downie added: “I would like to take the opportunity to thank Edward for everything he has done for the company, for the leadership legacy he leaves us with, and wish him the very best in his future endeavours.”

To lead CRO Services, Patxi Sarasola, DVM, PhD, MSc, will take up the newly created role of Global Head of CRO Services. Patxi will work closely with the CRO leadership teams across the US and Europe to build out the business, ensuring strong customer delivery and drive sustained growth. With over 23 years of experience in the CRO market, Patxi brings deep expertise in the veterinary field, together with an impeccable track record of customer excellence and collaborative leadership.

As Patxi moves into this new global role, David Sabaté will succeed him as General Manager, Argenta San Sebastian. Patxi will be a member of the Executive Leadership Team, and the CRO teams in the EU and US will report into him.

We are also delighted to announce that Charley Cull, DVM, PhD, MBA, will be promoted to Head of Pharmaceutical Development Services. In this position, Charley will build on his current responsibilities at MVS and senior leadership experience. He will drive connectivity across Argenta teams and MVS to provide a truly unique range of services to our clients.

Charley brings extensive expertise in the Animal Health industry, is dedicated to finding the most innovative solutions for customers, and has an impressive track record in R&D. He will also be part of the Executive Leadership Team and, in addition to his retained responsibilities at MVS,  Argenta Product Development and Global CDO will report to him.

We are confident that this new structure will better leverage our scale and combined expertise to innovate and develop products from ‘molecule to market’ for customers and co-development partners.

For questions or to explore collaboration, please contact us.

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