Affordable Healthcare Committee
The Affordable Healthcare Committee (AHC) makes funding decisions on Affordable Healthcare proposals.
The AHC considers each application along with a due diligence report that includes the detailed opinions of experts who have been consulted on the proposal.
It has a pool of independent members who have been selected to provide commercially aware advice across a broad range of life-science product areas and platform technologies.
The Committee meets twice a year.
Members
Dr Raj Parekh
General Partner, Advent Venture Partners
Committee role: Chairman
Dr Aileen Allsop
Ex-Vice-President and Head of Infection Therapy Area, AstraZeneca
Committee role: Independent member
Professor Sir Ravinder Maini
Professor of Rheumatology, Imperial College London
Committee role: Independent member
Dr Andrew Wood
Director, idfac Ltd
Committee role: Independent member
Dr Ted Bianco
Director, Technology Transfer, Wellcome Trust
Committee role: Staff member
Dr Bina Rawal
Head of Medical Affairs, Technology Transfer, Wellcome Trust
Committee Role: Secretary, Staff Member
Dr Richard Seabrook
Head of Business Development, Technology Transfer, Wellcome Trust
Committee role: Staff member
Biographies of the independent members
Dr Raj Parekh is a general partner in the life sciences team at Advent Venture Partners. He is a former Entrepreneur in Residence at Abingworth Management Limited. He co-founded Oxford GlycoSciences (OGS) in 1988 and was Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of Research. In addition to his responsibilities for research, drug discovery, proteomics/genomics and the IP portfolio, he had a strong role in business development and was instrumental in the flotation of the company in 1998 and its merger with Celltech. Prior to OGS, he was a Post-Doctoral Research Scientist at the University of Oxford, from which he holds a BA and DPhil in Biochemistry. He has been a member of the Technology Transfer Challenge Committee since 2003 and served member of the Technology Transfer Strategy Panel from 2004 to 2008.
Dr Aileen Allsop is Vice President for Science Policy, Research and Development at Astra Zeneca. Her first degree was in Biochemistry and her PhD was in Molecular Genetics. She joined Beecham Pharmaceuticals in 1981 and has subsequently worked in drug discovery and development in various positions, including the post of Vice President and Head of Infectious Diseases at AstraZeneca. Over 20 years ago, Aileen established the AstraZeneca Research Foundation India (AZREFI) to foster biomedical research in the sub-continent.She has been a key figure in establishing the programme in TB drug discovery at the $11 million Astra Zeneca facility in Bangalore, which was inaugurated in 2003.
Professor Sir Ravinder Nath 'Tiny' Maini qualified in medicine from the University of Cambridge and the Guy's Hospital Medical School, London. A former director of the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology in London, Professor Maini started with junior posts at Guy's, at the Brompton Hospital and at the old Charing Cross Hospital in London, where he developed an interest in immunological research and clinical rheumatology.His research in recent years has led to breakthroughs in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. He has published more than 400 articles, served as co-editor-in-chief of Arthritis Research and advised numerous organisations in connection with his work in rheumatology. He is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for fragment-based drug design at Evotec.
Dr Andrew Wood is an independent consultant working within the pharma and biotech sectors. He is medically qualified and has a major pharma background in clinical development, strategic alliance and business development. Dr Wood qualified in medicine at the University of Oxford, and spent ten years in academic medicine, holding academic and clinical posts at Oxford in clinical pharmacology and psychiatry. His research interests were in the area of molecular genetics and molecular psychopharmacology of bipolar illness. Dr Wood joined Eli Lilly & Co. in 1991, and has been involved in many aspects of drug development, with particular emphasis on neuroscience compounds. He has led both clinical and preclinical research activities in Europe and Asia.From 2003 to 2010 he was Executive Director for Global External R&D Europe at Lilly. In this role he was responsible for evaluation and creation of a wide range of alliance and business development partnerships across all therapeutic areas and at all stages of pre-registration development. He has evaluated and worked with many biotech and academic partners across Europe.Dr Wood retired from Eli Lilly in February 2010.He has been a member of the Technology Transfer Strategy Panel since 2006.