Cangene Hires Vice President, Business Development

Cangene Corporation has announced that it has hired Mr. Kevin G. Taylor in the new position of Vice President, Business Development.

Mr. Taylor brings an extensive and diversified background in pharmaceutical and biotechnology business development, strategic planning, drug development and commercialization, licensing, and alliance management.

He will be based in Cangene's newly established Pennsylvania office.

"With the addition of Kevin to our senior management team we begin to move into the next phase. The first phase was to right the organizational structure, redirect our R&D efforts and re-establish our entrepreneurial culture. We are now finalizing a cohesive plan in which strategic business development, coupled with supporting R&D, is the key driver for Cangene's future; Kevin brings the skills and experience to actuate that plan," says John Sedor, Cangene's President and CEO.

Most recently, Mr. Taylor was Vice President, Business Development at Adolor Corporation, where he led collaborations, partnering initiatives and mergers with multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline plc.; he championed internal drug development programs; and he executed the company's strategic plan.

This culminated in the acquisition of Adolor by Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in a transaction that realized a significant premium over Adolor's trading price.

Prior to joining Adolor, Mr. Taylor was Vice President, Business Development at Codexis, Inc., where he secured a multi-product collaboration with Pfizer; led commercial partnering efforts with companies such as Eli Lilly and Company, Novartis AG and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, Ltd.; and established international operations.

He has also held marketing and business development positions at Elan Corporation, plc., Zeneca, Inc. and Cambrex Corporation.

Mr. Taylor is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business management program and he holds a BSc in Polymer Science and Chemistry from the Pennsylvania State University.