Scorpius BioManufacturing, a Texas-based biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), appointed Joe Payne as vice president, quality, and regulatory affairs. With a biopharma and pharmaceutical career spanning more than 20 years, his experience includes leadership roles at both CDMOs (Alcami Corporation and Tergus Pharma) and large pharma (Teva Pharmaceuticals). Payne will be responsible for ensuring quality and compliance remain at the forefront of Scorpius’ biomanufacturing capabilities. 

Stephan Kutzer, Scorpius’ Interim CEO, said, “Having worked with Joe before, I know he is the right leader to continue building our team. His extensive experience in operations management, quality, and compliance are exactly what we need to continue scaling Scorpius from our current clinical-scale capabilities to future commercial manufacturing.”

“I am thrilled to join a company that is committed to incorporating quality and compliance best practices from the very start,” said Payne, who has vetted more than 200 drug applications in his career. “Despite how rapidly the biologics market is moving, we are not going to take shortcuts from a quality standpoint. Scorpius treats client products with the utmost care so delivery is never an issue. We’re committed to being a cross-functional quality-driven organization where our clients, and, ultimately, patients, come first.”

Scorpius’ first facility in San Antonio, Texas has available capacity for clinical-scale mammalian and microbial programs. The state-of-the-art facility, which opened in October 2022, also has on-site process and analytical development services.

In a statement, Scorpius said is committed to building U.S.-based biomanufacturing capacity, with plans to construct a commercial-scale facility in Manhattan, Kansas. According to the company, this will enable clients to start their projects quickly using the available capacity at San Antonio and remain with Scorpius throughout the entire product lifecycle.