Gergely Makara, Ph.D. has been named director of chemistry for European operations, AMRI. Dr. Makara has responsibility for all European chemistry products and services including custom synthesis, medicinal chemistry, analytical services, library design and production. He will report to Philip Small, Ph.D., managing director of AMRI’s European operations.
   
Dr. Makara has more than 10 years of industrial experience focused on the development of compound libraries and lead optimization at leading drug discovery companies in the U.S. Most recently, he served as the head of Merck’s Target Validation Chemistry group where he was involved in setting up infrastructure for parallel chemistry synthesis and associated chemoinformatics. Prior to Merck, Dr. Makara was director, hit-to-lead optimization and chemical library development for Neogenesis Pharmaceuticals.
   
“Dr. Makara brings critical scientific and leadership experience to our European operations. His proven ability to form and lead innovative teams is particularly relevant in helping us to execute against our plan to expand services and operations offered to customers worldwide, and more specifically, to further relationships within the European marketplace,” said Dr. Small.
   
AMRI chairman, president and chief executive officer Thomas E. D’Ambra said, “The addition of Dr. Makara further demonstrates AMRI’s commitment to the restructuring plan initiated in May to provide a strong foundation for future expansion through realignment of customer offerings, with an emphasis on the expansion of medicinal chemistry and drug discovery services in Europe.”