Programme Speakers
Simon Best
Simon completed his MBA at the London Business School in 1985, and then joined ICI Agrochemicals. In 1992, he was appointed CEO of Zeneca Plant Sciences and in 1996 was responsible for the first launch of GM food in Europe. He joined Roslin Bio-Med as the founding CEO in 1998 and in 1999, spearheaded its merger with Geron. He founded Ardana Bioscience in July 2000 based in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
- Ardana is making excellent progress in building a speciality reproductive pharmaceutical company by:
- advancing a strong IP and research pipeline built on its exclusive relationship with the UK Medical Research Council’s Human Reproductive Science Unit
- acquiring a portfolio of development compounds via the recent purchase of Europeptides GEIE from Zentaris AG
- acquiring European marketing rights for a novel buccal-tablet formulation of testosterone for launch in January 2004
Simon is currently the Chairman of the BioIndustry Association in Scotland (BIA-Scotland). He was also the Vice-Chairman of BIO in the US from 1994-96 and remains a member of its Board and Chair of its Bioethics Committee. He has received industry awards from the World Economic Forum, the Financial Times, the British Venture Capital Association and Scottish Enterprise.
