Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC), a national Life Sciences service dedicated to driving productivity and impact in drug R&D, has strengthened its Executive team with the appointment of a Chief Commercial Officer and its first Managing Director.
Dr Francesca Sadler has joined MDC as Chief Commercial Officer, bringing over 20 years’ experience in commercialising high-quality scientific services to both UK and international communities.
Responsible for MDC’s Communications, Commercial, and Business Development teams, Francesca will support the business in building on its external reputation and commercial activities, including its investment portfolio.
Dr Francesca Sadler said:
“Innovation is at the heart of MDC’s ethos; supporting the nation’s most innovative entrepreneurs to make game-changing drug discovery breakthroughs. I am looking forward to working with MDC’s talented team to co-develop and deliver an ambitious FY25/26 and beyond, which builds on the strong momentum MDC has developed to date.”
In addition, MDC has appointed its first Managing Director, Dr Mike Strange, who will join the organisation in February.
Mike will be responsible for providing organisational leadership and driving the delivery success of MDC. He will oversee the development and execution of business strategies and lead the senior leadership team to create further impact in the life sciences sector.
Mike brings strong, complementary life sciences leadership skills to MDC. At GSK, he established several industry-leading collaborations, including the Tres Cantos Open Lab and the Africa Non-Communicable Diseases Open Lab. As Head of Global Health at LifeArc, he worked closely with MDC to design and launch the world-leading PACE collaborative R&D programme.
Dr Mike Strange said:
“I have seen MDC’s ambition, values and skills first-hand, and join the team at an exciting time for the sector. I am delighted to help build on the successes delivered so far, as we venture into the years ahead, working with and for the drug discovery community to provide impact for patients.”
MDC works with drug discovery innovators to validate their ideas, de-risk investments, and feed insights back into the life science sector to drive productivity and impact.
Since it started, MDC has helped over 300 companies secure over £1.2bn in R&D investment, driving economic growth and commercialisation. MDC’s approach to drug discovery drives game-changing breakthroughs and improves patients’ lives.
Commenting on the two new appointments, Professor Chris Molloy, CEO of Medicines Discovery Catapult, said:
“I warmly welcome Francesca and Mike to MDC, bolstering our Executive team with their deep-rooted expertise and an ambition for helping our sector. We look forward to working together at the frontier of drug R&D and to making every move count for our nation’s entrepreneurial scientists.”
