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Biocartis appoints Clark Harrison as Chief Operating Officer

Lausanne (Switzerland) – January 9th, 2011. Biocartis, a company developing and commercializing compact molecular diagnostic (MDx) systems designed to drive personalized medicine and improve the diagnosis and management of disease, today announced the appointment of Clark Harrison as its new Chief Operating Officer.  Clark is the first senior appointment following the announcement of new CEO Greg Parekh.

Parekh’s move to add Clark to his top management team, marks a new phase for the company as it strengthens production and marketing expertise. Clark brings to Biocartis an impressive track record from a 20-year career as a leading international executive within the medical device and automotive manufacturing industries

Most recently, Clark was Vice President of Global Operations for Leica Biosystems, part of Danaher Corporation, where he was responsible for the company’s six global manufacturing sites. In this position he globalized Leica Biosystems’ supply chain, upgraded manufacturing operations in Germany, Australia and China, and spearheaded establishment of Global Logistics to integrate two newly acquired consumables companies and drive growth. Before joining Danaher in 2005, Clark spent 15 years in the LEAN manufacturing focused Automotive industry at American Axle & Manufacturing, TRW Automotive and Rockwell Automotive where he led teams in operations, business planning and sales and marketing.

Clark completed the dual-degree Masters of Management in Manufacturing at Northwestern University, receiving an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a Master of Engineering Management from the McCormick School of Engineering.  Clark also has a BSc in Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

“Clark started his career as an engineer on the shop floor. He has been trained by some of the best manufacturing companies world-wide. At Danaher, he launched new medical instruments, ran LEAN programs, integrated acquired manufacturing plants and managed an instrument servicing business. He is an optimal choice for Biocartis and will help de-risk our product launch and manufacturing scale up.” commented Greg Parekh, Chief Executive Officer of Biocartis.  “The role gives Clark the opportunity to shape Biocartis’ manufacturing strategy from day 1”

Commenting on his new role, Clark said: “With the strength of its product pipeline, its outstanding leadership team and its strong financial backing, Biocartis can be a global leader in the transformation from traditional medicine toward personalized medicine and point of care diagnostics.  I am delighted to be joining Biocartis, and its consortium partners, at this time, to lead the launch its first highly innovative molecular diagnostics system.”

About Biocartis

Biocartis aims to transform the global diagnostics market by making personalized medicine an everyday reality. The challenge Biocartis addresses is to enable the broadest possible access to new technologies that will allow individual diagnoses to be made quickly based on a systematic analysis of the wealth of rapidly emerging biomarkers rather than solely on physiological symptoms as they are today.  Ending the ‘one drug fits all’ paradigm will empower physicians to make better diagnoses based on better information and help tackle efficacy failings and increasing healthcare costs.

Biocartis intends to become a fully integrated provider of novel, broadly applicable molecular diagnostics and immunodiagnostics solutions (instruments, analytical techniques, chemistries, sample preparation and other innovative tools) with high-value clinical assay menus. These solutions are designed to be compatible with deployment in a wide variety of health care settings, providing rapid, high-quality care close to the patient. Biocartis’ vision is shared by its current collaborators which include bioMerieux and Janssen Pharmaceutica (J&J). Debiopharm Group™, as lead investor in the last investment round, also supports that vision.
Biocartis is currently developing two innovative systems that share a common user interface and design philosophy:

• Apollo, a system designed for the MDx market, comprising an instrument, communication console and single use, disposable cartridges. This system can detect and quantify multiple DNA- or RNA-based biomarkers in a wide variety of patient sample types with truly minimal user intervention.
• A second system that has been built around disposable, microfluidic cartridges with digitally encoded micro carriers for the rapid and sensitive detection of a broad range and number of biomarkers. The first product from this technology will focus on protein-based biomarkers and will allow Biocartis to enter the immunoassay market.

Biocartis was founded in 2007 by Dr. Rudi Pauwels (Co-founder of Tibotec, Virco and Galapagos Genomics), Prof. Philippe Renaud (Prof. at EPFL), and Nader Donzel (Co-founder of Scitec laboratory Automation). The company has raised more than €100 million in equity funding.
Biocartis SA is based at the EPFL's Innovation Square in Lausanne, Switzerland; it has a fully owned Belgian subsidiary in Mechelen and a Dutch subsidiary at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven.