WILMINGTON, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC (PPD) today announced it has appointed David Johnston, Ph.D., as executive vice president of global laboratory services. Dr. Johnston directs PPD’s industry-leading, comprehensive laboratory services, including bioanalytical, vaccines and biologics, current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) and central laboratories.
“David brings extensive leadership experience as well as scientific, medical and operational expertise,” said William Sharbaugh, chief operating officer of PPD. “As pharmaceutical companies seek to increase productivity and reduce clinical development expense, I am confident David will help us drive innovative strategies as we continue integrating laboratory services with our Phase I-IV offerings to provide clients end-to-end value-chain capabilities.”
With labs in Asia, Europe and North America, PPD’s laboratory services are designed to increase speed and precision to accelerate decision-making for clients. The company’s comprehensive range of lab services spans small and large molecules.
A biopharmaceutical industry veteran, Johnston joins PPD from LabCorp, where he served most recently as senior vice president and global head of the clinical trials business. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and earned a doctorate in microbiology and immunology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
About PPD
PPD is a leading global contract research organization providing drug discovery, development, lifecycle management and laboratory services. Our clients and partners include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic and government organizations. With offices in 46 countries and more than 12,500 professionals worldwide, PPD applies innovative technologies, therapeutic expertise and a commitment to quality to help clients and partners accelerate the delivery of safe and effective therapeutics and maximize the returns on their R&D investments. For more information, visit www.ppdi.com.
Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations and assumptions, including statements, expectations and assumptions about PPD’s new executive vice president, global laboratory services, contained in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Although PPD attempts to be accurate in making these forward-looking statements, it is possible that future circumstances might differ from the assumptions on which such statements are based and could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Other important factors that could cause future results to differ materially include the following: the ability to attract, integrate and retain key personnel; competition in the outsourcing industry; rapid technological advances that make our services less competitive; overall global economic conditions; economic conditions, research and development spending, and outsourcing trends in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and government-sponsored research sectors; compliance with drug development regulations; changes in the regulation of the drug development process; consolidation in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries; PPD’s ability to win new business; loss, delay or modification of large contracts; higher-than-expected cancellation rates; the rate of conversion of backlog into revenue; actual operating performance; risks associated with and dependence on strategic relationships; risks associated with acquisitions and investments; and the ability to control SG&A spending. PPD assumes no obligation and expressly disclaims any duty to update these forward-looking statements in the future, except as required by applicable law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing PPD’s estimates or views as of any date subsequent to the date hereof.
