Fight Against Cancer Innovation Trust (Facit), a commercialisation unit backed by Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and the province of Ontario, promoted David O’Neill (pictured) to the position of president yesterday.
O’Neill initially joined Facit in 2013 as vice-president of business development on the back of his credentials in cancer drug development and contacts in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors.
He has been acting president of Facit for the past year and now takes the role on a permanent basis following the untimely death of former president Jeff Courtney from a progressive neurological condition in November 2017.
O’Neill has provided interim executive management to Facit spinouts including biotech developer Novera Therapeutics, pharmaceutical startup Propellon Therapeutics and immuno-oncological developer Turnstone Biologics, where he remains a board director.
O’Neill is also a board observer for radiotherapeutics developer Fusion Pharmaceuticals.
A health sciences PhD graduate from Western University, O’Neill became vice-president of business development of fluorine oncological treatment developer Fluorinov Pharma in 2012.
He previously spent three years at biopharmaceutical firm Ambit Biosciences, initially acting as senior director for Ambit’s Canadian operations, before leading the development of a leukaemia therapy candidate called Quizartinib.
O’Neill was also once a research liaison for pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca, with responsibility for identifying opportunities in technologies or licensing, as well as amassing intelligence on the firm’s competition.
Laszlo Radvanyi, president and scientific director of Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, said: “David’s extensive experience makes him the optimal choice to lead Facit into its next phase of development, and I look forward to working closely with him and his talented team in driving a shared vision to translate research discoveries.
“We are entering a new era in Ontario by having the tools in place to accelerate our efforts to translate research discoveries into new therapies and technologies for patients.”
– Image courtesy of LinkedIn
