SK bioscience appoints new executives
South Korea’s SK bioscience has welcomed Richard Kensinger, PhD, as Vice President of R&D Project Management.
Dr. Kensinger has worked across global biopharma R&D divisions for more than 20 years, and is the former Director and Head of Drug Substance Process Development at Sanofi Pasteur; and former Executive Director of Process Development and Protein Sciences at Affinivax.
He received a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences at Eastern University and a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. Kensinger will take a role in strengthening the company’s global competitiveness, mainly targeting the US market, by improving the manufacturing process to the cGMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) level, the US certification for manufacturing practice.
SK bioscience has also recruited Kenneth Lee, former Head of Commercial Division, Americas of GenScript Probio, as Vice President of Biologic Business Development Department at R&D Center in Pangyo, South Korea.
Starting at Gilead Sciences, Lee worked at various Korean and international biopharmaceutical companies such as CrystalGenomics Inc., BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., Binex Co.,ltd, and Samsung Bioepis, managing R&D, business development, M&A, etc. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Molecular Cell Biology at the University of California Berkeley and an MBA at INSEAD.
Lee will be in charge of developing new biopharmaceutical-driven strategies beyond the vaccine business including a Cellular & Gene Therapy (CGT) field.
The two new appointments follows several others announced in October last year: Dr. Harry Kleanthous, former Senior Program Officer in Global Health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), joined as Executive Vice President of Vaccine R&D Strategy and External Innovation. Dr. Sally Choe, an expert in drug review, clinical pharmacology, and medical product development, was also recruited as Head of Global Clinical Development and Regulatory Affairs.
