AEGROS - Key Persons
With more than 25 years' experience in global medical affairs and medical communications, Dr Rozen has shown medical leadership of launches across therapeutic areas at global, regional and affiliate levels, while interacting with clinical and commercial stakeholders as a medical science liaison.
Dr Rozen has had a number of roles in the industry including as Medical Director of the Pharmaceutical Division of CSL and Vice President of Global Medical Affairs and Immunology at Baxter in Chicago. Most recently he was Medical Director ANZ for Ipsen, a global pharmaceutical company focused on transformative medicines in oncology, rare disease and neuroscience.
Dr Rozen, a trained haematologist, holds a Bachelor of Medical Science and a Doctor of Medicine from Monash University, and is a fellow the Royal College of Medical Administrators.
Dr Ranjeet Ajmani is Chief Executive Officer for Aegros Asia.
Dr Ajmani is called the father of India's blood plasma industry and has a well-established and respected reputation across South-East Asia for his academic, commercial, and policy work setting up blood transfusion and blood plasma collection networks and infrastructure.
He holds a Doctorate in Biomedical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, and he was a Visiting Fellow at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA. He has delivered academic and industry presentations on various issues related to Plasma Protein Therapy, especially in reference to developing and under-developed countries, at both National and International meetings organized by PPTA, IPFA, AATM, ISTM, ISBT, and Bio-Plasma Asia.
Dr Ajmani has authored chapters in plasma fractionation monographs, is a visiting faculty member of academic and research councils at several institutions. Dr Ajmani is an Advisor to the Plasma Proteins Therapy working Group of the Asian Association of Transfusion Medicine (AATM). He is also member of the Expert Committee on blood plasma products of the Indian Pharmacopeia Commission (IPC).
In his spare time, Dr Ajmani is a passionate teacher and mentor, a prolific speaker, a creative writer, cook and an influencer.
Dr Shanta Nair - Chief Legal Officer, Secretary
Job Titles:
- Company Secretary
- General Counsel
Dr Nair started out studying medical science at Macquarie University, where she specialised in medical genetics and immunology. Through a collaboration with
Singapore's National University, she published a paper with Professor Hari Nair on the expression of novel immune system proteins in human blood in 2014 during her undergraduate studies, going on to complete a Master's thesis in immunology and genetics.
She then pursued a doctorate in law, where her dissertation focused on the intersection between medicine and law and the new space opening up in biotechnology regulation. Dr Nair had the opportunity to study advanced corporate law and to gain practice in the field, working under a barrister in
the United Kingdom and clerking at HWL Ebsworth before qualifying as a practicing lawyer. She has previously worked for the Federal Department of Health and at PriceWaterhouse Coopers, before joining Aegros in 2021.
Alexander Stuke is Chief Capital Officer.
He brings more than 35 years of international cross-functional experience in Finance, Mergers & Acquisitions, Digital Strategy, Business Transformation & Innovation, Robotics Process Automation, Advanced Analytics and Corporate Advisory.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer for Aegros Engineering
Damian Thornton is Chief Executive Officer for Aegros Engineering and is responsible for the management of the Engineering organisation, developing business plans, budgets and strategies, identifying and managing operational and corporate risks for the organisation, leading the development of the company's short- and long-term strategy, creating and implementing the Division's vision and mission, evaluating the work of other executive leaders within the company.
He brings more than 30 years of international experience in the design, construction, Qualification and operation of Biopharmaceutical facilities, including Process design, optimisation, inter disciplinary design team management and multi-million dollar D&B project management and supervision.
Damian has more than 15 years of executive leadership with Executive and Operational experience in Asia, Europe, North and South America. He has experience in Business Strategy, Corporate expansion and transformation, Mergers & Acquisitions, Digital Strategy, Sales leadership and IPO.
Prior to joining Aegros, Damian held a variety of Senior Executive positions at international organisations such as CH2M Hill, M&W Zander, Commissioning Agents and Diaceutics.
Damian holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Queens University Belfast and is a member of Whos who in Engineering and Construction.
Jan M. Bult brings over 45 years of relevant experience. After a start as a pharmaceutical sales representative (Ciba-Geigy and Schering AG), he worked as a product manager (Schering AG) and marketing manager (Rhone Poulenc) before he started to work in the plasma protein sector with BIOTEST AG.
For more than 21 years he was the President & CEO of the global Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association. You can really say that he has seen it all. Writing business plans, developing strategies, dealing with crisis management, handling media inquiries, testifying at congressional hearings, team motivation and training, making international presentations, you name it, and he has done it.
His network with regulatory agencies, medical experts and patient representatives is very impressive and he can open many doors that are closed for others. This network includes many persons and organizations in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
Since 2019 he is active as consultant in the field and has consulted with various companies on different projects.
Job Titles:
- Founding Managing Director
Mr Manusu has over 30 years' experience running biotechnology companies worldwide. He has been involved in the development of the Aegros technology since its invention in 1985. Mr Manusu was also involved in the US plasma collection business creating, along with Professor Nair, the then world's largest independent plasma collection organisation. This business collected both normal and specialty plasmas, including hyperimmunes for the US Government bioterrorism program. Throughout this period he has undertaken a number of significant cross border restructures, mergers, acquisitions and divestures. Finally, Mr Manusu has raised over $200 million in public funding and government R&D grants. Mr Manusu has a degree in Commerce and is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia. Mr Manusu has worked in the Australian, Asian and U.S. Biotechnology markets and is best described as a biotechnology entrepreneur.
Job Titles:
- Chief Supply Chain Officer
Leighton Hopper is Chief Supply Chain Officer for all of Aegros' operations.
Leighton Hopper has both an Honours degree in Organic Chemistry and an MBA in Strategy Innovation. Leighton's background includes senior management positions both in Australia and internationally in the pharmaceutical, chemical & FMCG industries including CPSA, Univar, Selleys and Dulux.
He was the CEO and CFO of CPSA, acquired by Aegros and has experience in the management of finance, strategic funding, working capital, supply chain & operations.
Job Titles:
- Chief Sales & Marketing Officer
- in 2023 As Chief Marketing Officer
Mike Swan joined Aegros in 2023 as Chief Marketing Officer. Mike has had a 25-year career in the biopharmaceutical industry spanning several specialty therapeutic areas inc. infectious diseases (HIV, Hepatitis, Antibiotics, and Invasive Fungal Infections), haematology, immunology, and rare diseases.
Prior to Aegros, Mike held commercial positions with Merck and Co., Baxter, Gilead and Novartis. During his 9 years at Merck, he held several leadership roles in Asia, and led the launch of ZEPATIER for Hepatitis C across the Asia-Pacific region. He has also led the successful launches of numerous specialty pharmaceutical brands in the UK, Asia, Australia, and NZ, in haemophilia, HIV, Hepatitis B, anaesthesia, cardiology, and intensive care.
Mike is a graduate of the Strathclyde University Pharmacy School and began his career as a retail Pharmacist in the UK, before beginning his career in industry at Roche Products UK.
With more than 25 years' experience with major local and international organisations, Tom brings significant finance and operational experience developing and executing business strategy, IT, operational and financial performance while managing stakeholder needs and working collaboratively across functions.
Tom's previous experience has included roles with major local and international organisations including Cochlear Limited, Babcock & Brown as well as start-up and early-to-late-stage companies. Tom has been responsible for several capital initiatives including Initial Public Offerings and secondary raisings across Healthcare/Medtech, Manufacturing, Construction & Infrastructure, Engineering and Property.
Tom holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Law) from Western Sydney University, Fellow of CPA Australia, a Masters in Business Administration from Macquarie University and is Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Ms Gayle Ginnane has 40 years' experience in public sector management, regulation, policy review, multi-stakeholder engagement, audit and risk and board experience. Her experience includes chief executive, director and chair roles in both government and private sector primarily across the health and early childhood education sectors.
Ms Ginnane Chaired the National Blood Authority advisory board for 8 years as well as significant other governance experience in both the public and private sectors as the CEO of the health insurance regulator, a director on boards and chair of audit and risk committees in government, private and not-for-profit sectors.
Ms Ginnane served as CEO in a complex insurance and regulatory environment dealing with public and commercial sectors with small and large, including listed, companies. She has an in depth understanding of governance, risk management, the public private interface and experience in assessing the commercial realities in the business environment.
Ms. Janet Bowen has almost 30 years of experience in the areas of sterile pharmaceuticals, biopharmaceuticals, oral solid dosages, and medical devices. During her career, she has held management positions in quality, regulatory, compliance, batch/lot release, and compliance/regulatory consulting. Ms. Bowen has worked for Sterling Drug, Sanofi, Abbott Laboratories, CAI Consulting, and PrIME Biologics prior to joining Aegros. She hosted numerous successful inspections from the FDA, EMA, CMDA, TGA, Health Canada. While she was with Sterling Drug and Abbott, the sites received approval of 30 plus new products over five (5) year time span. Many of them were generic drugs approved based on the data in the product dossier and without an onsite inspection. She has prepared companies for many different agency inspections, setting up quality systems, and to prepare the associated submissions. Ms. Bowen is knowledgeable in the requirements of FDA, HSA, EMA, CFDA, PMDA, TGA, and Health Canada, as well as other agencies. During her time in the industry, she has successfully registered over 50 products with the US FDA, EMA, TGA, HSA, and Canada. Ms. Bowen has a B.S. in Chemistry and a B. S. in Business Management. During her career, she has given presentations on Process Validation, Inspection Readiness, Combination Products, Quality by Design, and Aseptic Processing as well as others. She is a member of ISPE, PDA, ASQ, RAPS and is an active member of several regulatory Interest Groups within these organizations.
Emeritus Professor Stephen Mahler recently retired as the Director of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Training Centre for Biopharmaceutical Innovation and Deputy Director of the National Biologics Facility, Queensland Node.
He was also a Senior Group Leader at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), and Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland. He has been involved in the research and development of biologic medicines for over 25 years.
He was appointed to the AIBN in January, 2007.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Nanobioscience at SUNY Polytechnic Institute
Susan Sharfstein is a Professor of Nanobioscience at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany, New York. Professor Sharfstein received her B.S. in chemical engineering with honors from Caltech in 1987 and her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from UC Berkeley in 1993, receiving graduate fellowships from the university and the National Science Foundation. She received a National Institutes of Health Individual Research Service Award to pursue postdoctoral studies, initially at UC Berkeley and subsequently at the UCLA Medical School.