The Pistoia Alliance, a global, not-for-profit alliance that advocates for greater collaboration in life sciences R&D, appointed Christian Baber chief portfolio officer.

In his new role, Baber will oversee the progression of the current portfolio of projects and communities. He will also support the development of new projects, aligning the Alliance’s portfolio to its recently announced 2024 strategic priorities, Harnessing AI to Expedite R&D, Delivering Data-Driven Value, Sustainability Driven R&D, and Accelerating Use of Real-World Data.

Baber brings 30 years’ industry expertise, including experience of leading both R&D and technology divisions for global pharmaceutical organizations focused on informatics and predictive modelling for drug discovery. He has worked with the Pistoia Alliance for more than 15 years, including four years as a board director. Baber has worked for Neurocrine, Shire, Takeda, and Janssen.

Pistoia will launch several new projects in 2024 including a domain-specific large language model project and an AI ethics and security framework, both currently in incubation phases. The Alliance is also working on four collaboratively designed ontologies: clinical operations, process chemistry, IDMP ontology, and a general pharma ontology, to improve data interoperability and reduce data errors. The alliance’s carbon footprint of decentralized clinical trials project is expected to move into the next phase of data collection, while its Social Media Listening Real-World Evidence project plans to publish a framework outlining standards for data collection.

“We are pleased to have agencies approaching the alliance to co-develop new regulations and industry guidelines,” said Becky Upton, president of the Pistoia Alliance. “It underlines the alliance’s reputation for being a trusted and representative voice for the industry. This year, and in response to members’ needs, we will focus on making regulatory collaboration even more core to the alliance’s work. We were founded on the principle that breakthroughs in science and technology are not made alone. With our new strategic priorities, and by bringing Dr Baber onboard to lead our strategic priorities and portfolio, our commitment to working together for the industry’s benefit is stronger than ever.”