Paragon Bioservices Hires Bill Thomas as Chief Technology Officer

BALTIMORE, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Paragon Bioservices, Inc., a global leader in the manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals and vaccines, announced today that William D. Thomas, Jr., Ph.D., has joined the company as Chief Technology Officer. In this newly-created role, Dr. Thomas will lead the GMP Operations and Pre-Clinical Services & Process Development teams.

"We are very excited to welcome Bill to our senior leadership team," stated Peter Buzy, Paragon's President. "Bill's depth and breadth of biologics development and manufacturing experience, and his considerable leadership strengths, will drive new levels of operational performance and effectiveness for Paragon's growing portfolio of client programs."

Dr. Thomas has more than 20 years of experience in the development and manufacture of vaccines and monoclonal antibodies. He spent the past fifteen years with MassBiologics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where, as Deputy Director, he was responsible for Product Discovery, Process Development and Manufacturing. Among his many accomplishments while there, Bill was responsible for the development of monoclonal antibodies against C. difficile that were shown to be effective in a Phase III trial recently completed by Merck. Additionally, under his leadership, MassBiologics modernized the manufacturing process to meet FDA standards. Bill began his career with OraVax (formerly Acambis, now Sanofi Pasteur) where he held a series of positions of increased responsibility and was responsible for vaccine discovery and clinical manufacturing, developing vaccines and adjuvants for use against C. difficile and H. pylori. He discovered the toxoid vaccine and developed the manufacturing process for the C. difficile toxoid vaccine currently in Phase III trials by Sanofi. Bill received his Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the Medical College of Virginia, where he studied genetic mechanisms of antibiotic resistance. Bill holds 17 patents for vaccines, adjuvants and monoclonal antibodies, and has published more than 25 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

About Paragon Bioservices, Inc.
Paragon Bioservices is a private-equity backed contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) whose focus is the development and manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals. The company provides research services, process development and cGMP manufacturing. Paragon functions as a translational bridge—from the research bench through manufacturing of APIs and finished drug product for Phase I/II clinical trials. Paragon's aim is to build strong client partnerships for development and manufacturing, focusing on transformative technologies, including oncology immunotherapies (CAR-T cell therapies and oncolytic viruses), new generation vaccines (VLPs) and gene therapies (AAV). Paragon's cGMP facilities include microbial and mammalian suites, aseptic fill-finish and fully-segregated virus facilities.

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SOURCE Paragon Bioservices, Inc.

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