Genesis Research Appoints Vice-President for Health Science Business Development in USA
Genesis Research and Development Corporation today announced the appointment of Dr Benjamin Twombly as Vice President of
Business Development, responsible for expanding the company’s Health Sciences commercial activities in North America.
Dr Twombly is based in Connecticut and will seek licensing opportunities in the biotech, pharmaceutical and life
sciences industries, identify potential business partners and build relationships with them.
He has a wealth of experience in biotechnology and is highly respected within the pharmaceutical industry. His
appointment is designed to accelerate the pace at which Genesis can deploy its growing base of intellectual property and
its highly productive genomics research capabilities. Genesis expects to establish new partnerships and develop
additional revenue streams from licensing new drug candidates and proprietary databases.
Dr Jim Watson, Chief Executive of Genesis Research and Development, says Dr Twombly has been appointed to help develop
the full potential of the company’s Health Sciences division and to build on the strengths of existing partnerships with
North American companies such as Immunex Corporation, Corixa Corporation and Medicis Corporation.
“In the past six months, Genesis has been actively working towards establishing new partnerships in the Northern
Hemisphere,” said Dr Watson. “Because of the length of time involved in visiting and entering negotiations with
potential partners, it has become increasingly clear that we would be more effective if we sited Business Development
Management in the United States.”
“While Ben will be based in North America, reporting directly to me, he will be a regular visitor to New Zealand,
meeting with Genesis management and science teams.“
About Dr Twombly
Benjamin Twombly previously founded Ethient, a company specialising in facilitating Fortune 500 international
corporations to form high level strategic alliances and business partnerships. Prior to that he was at Perkin-Elmer
(Celera) Corporation with responsibilities including the reputation, profitability and sustainability of the company’s
top producing business unit. He has also worked for Rheometrics, Inc. and Helena Laboratories.
Benjamin holds a Ph.D. in Rheology from Rutgers University as well as Bachelors degrees in Chemistry, Organic Chemistry,
and Chemical Engineering / Biochemistry. He holds numerous patents and has authored many scientific and business
publications.
About Genesis
Founded in 1994, Genesis is a New Zealand-based biotechnology company committed to the development of innovative
products in health and plant biotechnology from its broad genomic platform. Genesis partners with industry leaders to
develop products which have global market potential through the mining of its extensive microbe, plant and mammalian EST
databases.
The Health Sciences Division focuses on signalling pathways and the immune system and has an extensive patent portfolio.
It has three programmes in human clinical development utilising PVAC™ and AVAC™ for the treatment of psoriasis, atopic
dermatitis (eczema) and asthma. Additional pre-clinical programmes are developing YB-1, FGFR5, MED-1 and Epigen for
cancer and other indications. The patented BioStore solutions for storage of tissues and living cells are also in
pre-clinical development. Collaborations are maintained with Immunex Corporation (NASDAQ: IMNX), Corixa Corporation
(NASDAQ: CRXA), SR Pharma (LSE: SPA), and Jurox Pty Ltd.
The Plant Sciences division is focussing on key cell signalling genes – novel hormones and transcription factors - to
control commercial traits including wood fibre quality in trees, nutritional content of forage grasses, flowering
control, salt and cold tolerance and superior growth rates. It has developed comprehensive plant EST databases including
the world’s largest EST database for commercial forestry species. It has research collaborations with ArborGen LLC,
Wrightson (NZSE: WRI), HortResearch, AgResearch and Landcare. Genesis is also undertaking significant unpartnered
research programmes in novel plant hormones. A number of patents are held including 12 steps in the production of
lignin.
For more information, please visit www.genesis.co.nz