Coppen joins Algeta from Biocompatibles International (now part of BTG), a UK-based oncology company developing drug-device combination products, where he was director, Partnering & Licensing. He has previously held project leadership and managerial roles at Lonza Biologics in the UK, and within the crop protection division of Cyanamid International, part of Wyeth (now Pfizer), in Belgium.
Coppen said: ‘I am delighted to be joining Algeta at this exciting time in its development. The company’s novel alpha-pharmaceutical technologies are generating substantial interest in the sector and I look forward to capitalising on this awareness to strengthen Algeta’s pipeline.’
Algeta's lead product Alpharadin (based on radium-223) is an alpha-pharmaceutical under clinical evaluation to improve survival in patients with bone metastases from advanced cancer.
The product is being developed under a development and commercialisation agreement with Bayer Schering Pharma.
Algeta also aims to develop a future pipeline of tumour-targeting alpha-pharmaceutical candidates based on the alpha particle emitter thorium-227, through selective in-licensing and/or acquiring innovative technologies and tumour-targeting molecules.
