Startup scores Amgen exec
PBS Biotech, a Camarillo-based startup focused on biotechnology equipment founded by a former Amgen scientist, has added major firepower to its advisory board with a key former Amgen executive.
George Morrow oversaw global operations for Thousand Oaks-based Amgen, the world’s largest biotech firm, for eight years before retiring last year. He came to Amgen after serving as CEO of GlaxoWellcome, which eventually merged into pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline.
Morrow has joined the advisory board at PBS, which produces reusable bioreactors. The company, founded by former Amgen scientist Brian Lee, hopes the firm’s products will present a faster and cheaper way for biotechnology firms to make their drugs. It is banking on loosened restrictions on biosimilars – the biotech analogue of generic pharmaceuticals – and the increased market competition they could generate.
As an advisor, Morrow will not have any responsibilities for overseeing or operating PBS and will only offer advice and guidance. PBS did not disclose how Morrow is being compensated, though advisors to early stage companies are customarily compensated with some form of equity, if at all.
Lee, the CEO of PBS, said Morrow’s three decades of experience in biotech will help his firm expand.
“At this critical stage as we transition to a fully commercialized company, we look forward to benefiting from his expertise in the biotech industry,” Lee said in a press release.
