Paragon Bioservices, a biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has appointed Thomas VanCott as chief technology and strategy officer (CTSO), along with several key promotions and new hires.
 
“We are thrilled to welcome Tom into the CTSO role,” said Pete Buzy, president and chief executive officer, Paragon. “As a seasoned biopharmaceutical executive with a strong track record of success and deep experience in strategy, research and development and manufacturing, Tom will be an excellent addition to our growing team at Paragon. Furthermore, we offer our sincere gratitude and best wishes to our outgoing chief scientific officer, Bill Thomas, who successfully initiated our GMP culture improvements and has greatly increased the strength and capabilities of our process development and analytical services teams.”
 
Dr. VanCott joins Paragon following 14 years as the president and chief executive officer of Advanced Bioscience Laboratories (ABL), a contract manufacturing and laboratory research services company focused on bringing vaccines and therapies from clinical stages to the commercial marketplace.
 
“Paragon is a dynamic group that has risen to become a leader amongst its peers in late-stage clinical and commercial biopharmaceutical manufacturing, and I’m honored to join this world-class industry-leading CDMO team at a time in the industry when gene therapy technologies are reaching critical mass,” said Dr. VanCott. “Paragon Bioservices has proven expertise in gene therapy and next-generation vaccines and is poised to become a strong commercial partner for the viral vaccine industry.”
 
Due to Paragon’s expansive growth, key leadership hires and promotions at the senior vice president and vice president levels have also occurred. In addition to the hiring of Dr. VanCott as CTSO, recent new hires include Chris Holmes as vice president of facilities and engineering, and Jim Gombold as vice president of quality control and analytical development. Promotions include Randy Henrickson to senior vice president, manufacturing; and Denise Krohn to vice president, quality assurance and compliance.
 
These appointments and promotions are designed to support Paragon’s expanded operations that include the day-to-day running of its new, state-of-the-art 200,000 square-foot Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) gene therapy biomanufacturing facility in Maryland’s Anne Arundel County. The facility is equipped with 500L and 2000L single-use bioreactors for clinical trial and commercial material production. Paragon also has additional research laboratory space for process optimization and scale-up at its location within the University of Maryland BioPark in Baltimore City.