Cancer Therapeutics CRC (CTX), a small molecule oncology drug discovery and development group partnered with some of Australia’s pre-eminent medical research institutions, has announced the appointment of Brett Carter as Chief Executive Officer.
Mr Carter will succeed Dr Warwick Tong who has led CTX for the past six years and who will continue to provide services to the organisation in an advisory capacity.
"These changes reflect a transition plan agreed between Dr Tong and the CTX Board to evolve the organisation from a Federally supported Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) into an independent and self-sustainable organisation," it said in a statement.
Commenting on the appointment, Dr Tony Evans Chair of CTX, said, "We are delighted to appoint Brett as Chief Executive Officer. Brett has excellent management skills, extensive industry experience and a track record of executing pharmaceutical deals, making him the ideal candidate to lead CTX moving forward.
"I would like to thank Warwick for his dedicated leadership of the organisation over the past 6 years. Warwick has made many contributions to CTX however I would like to specifically highlight his involvement in the PRMT5 licensing deal to Merck, which was one of Australia’s largest ever pre-clinical asset licensing deals.”
"Cancer is Australia’s leading cause of pre-mature death and CTX’s unique and highly successful business model has resulted in the development of drug products that have the potential to provide cures for cancer patients. I am very excited to be taking over the leadership of an organisation with such a strong culture of innovation and delivery," said Mr Carter.
"To move from a medical research hub to a global biotechnology leader, Australia needs organisations like CTX, that build the drug discovery and development capability necessary to translate the country’s world class medical research into clinical and commercial outcomes.
"I want to thank Warwick for his mentorship over the past year and I look forward to working with the CTX team and stakeholders as we embark on the next stage of the organisation’s evolution.”