Our Company

Management Team

John Reid, Managing Director, is a co-founder and seed investor in the Company.  John has successfully concentrated in the vital start-up activities of initial funding and venture capital procurement, information dissemination, and liaison with legal, financial, medical and scientific advisors in Ireland.  Having succeeded in procuring important licence and technology agreements a key role now is the shaping and implementation of a comprehensive business development plan, an important aspect of which will be the identification and selection of a suitably qualified and experienced CEO.

Dr. Paul F. Reid, Chief Scientific Officer, is a co-founder and seed investor in the Company. Paul is a leading world expert in the therapeutic use of snake venom neurotoxins.  His collaborations with Prof. Zheng Hong Qin, Harvard University, have led to three new patent applications on behalf of the Company in relation to proprietary compounds and publication of a number of articles in peer reviewed international publications.  Paul is widely experienced in USA medical regulatory affairs and FDA protocols and has been CEO of several early-stage biotechnology companies in Florida.  Paul has extensive experience in drug production, new drug development, clinical trial design, and experimental design.

Paul has a Phd Neuro-biochemistry from Imperial College, London, and BA Microbiology from Trinity College, Dublin. 

Ms Mary Skelly, MS/MLS, BS, Director of Strategic Alliances, is highly experienced in EU and North American regulatory affairs, and has worked extensively in the pharmaceutical industry with organisations such as Pfizer Inc., Lederle Laboratories, Richardson Vicks, and Procter & Gamble.  With a background in product registrations and evaluating technologies for major multi-nationals, Mary specialises in business development, licensing and collaboration development.  Founder of Angel Bioventures, a network of consultants from the Pharma, Biotech and Lifestyle sectors, conceived of and established by Mary from among her many industry connections, Mary brings with her the all expertise and experience of that group.

Dr. Michael Young, acting Chief Medical Officer, has been responsible for 16 first-in-class and/or blockbuster products during his career to date.  One time Corporate Director responsible for creating, and then managing, the worldwide regulatory and clinical development functions for Procter & Gamble, Michael was also, at different stages, vice-president for worldwide regulatory affairs and vice-president for clinical research for SmithKline (North America), and was vice-president for Scientific Affairs at Astra Pharmaceutical Inc.  Prior to founding his own consulting business Dr. Young was Chief Scientific Officer at Celltech / Medeva and a member of its Board.  His experience includes board level responsibility for Clinical Research and Development (Phases I through IV), Preclinical Development (toxicology, drug metabolism and product formulation), and Regulatory Affairs for several of the world’s pharmaceutical giants.

Michael Young is both a research scientist (B.Sc. & Ph.D. in Chemistry) and a physician (M.B., B.Ch.).  His business training includes a Masters Degree from New York’s Columbia University School of Business. 

Stephen Long is Financial Officer. Stephen has significant experience at management level in Strategic Planning and Implementation. His experience ranges from consultancy for young Irish Companies penetrating foreign markets to Regulatory Compliance for established Multinationals.  Stephen has operated at Director, Financial Controller and Finance Manager level in various heavily regulated industries and is recently appointed company secretary to Celtic Biotech.

Stephen is a Chartered Certified Accountant and also holds an MSc in International Business Management.

Scientific Board of Advisors

In addition to Dr. Reid, the Company has commenced assembling it's Scientific Board of Advisors and has succeeded in attaining the consultative services and contributions of:

Prof. Zheng Hong Qin of Harvard and Suzhou Universities. He is a co-inventor on the company's first patent application and is conducting R&D on behalf of the Company. Qin has been responsible for Celtic Biotech’s peer reviewed published papers to date.

Prof. John Crown, Senior Oncologist, St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin, participated significantly in the development of the Crotoxin Phase Ib clinical trial protocol developed by the company.  He is an international renowned Clinical Investigator and a founding member and ex-President of the All Ireland Clinical Oncology Research Group (ICORG).

Dr. Larry Raymond, Chief Science Officer of Receptopharm Inc., Florida, specialises in immunology and is an expert in the production of monoclonal antibodies and assay development.

Other Scientific Resources

Ventech Inc. has had a research relationship with the U.S. National Cancer Institute ("NCI"). It executed an agreement with the NCI for the preclinical development of promising novel cancer therapy and pain treatment compounds submitted to the NCI research programs. Over several years, Ventech and the NCI have investigated the action of one of the company's product compounds that has shown specificity towards tumours of the central nervous system and melanoma.

Aside from the NCI, Ventech has had agreements with other leading academic and research institutions. In vitro studies have been conducted at SRI International, Menlo Park, California; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York; the NCI, Bethesda, Maryland; Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; Harvard Medical School, Boston. Agreements for toxicology studies have been entered with Cornell University Medical College, New York and the University of Maryland at Baltimore School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland. Pharmacology investigations were contracted by Ventech with the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. In vivo efficacy research has been performed at the Massachusetts General Hospital, MD Anderson Cancer Centre, and Southern Research Institute, Birmingham, Alabama.

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