No matter how big or small, every action has an impact

Dr. James Burt

Chief Executive Officer

James joined Pharmanovia in October 2021. Before joining he was the Executive Vice President EMENA at Accord Healthcare and oversaw branded and generic pharmaceutical activities across 65 markets.

Prior to this, he served as Vice President Hospital Business at Actavis, where he was responsible for the strategic direction of secondary-care activities worldwide. 

He holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Birmingham, with a particular focus on biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

James is Vice-Chair of the Medicines for Europe, Value Added Medicines Sector Group. 

David Murray

Chief Financial Officer

David joined Pharmanovia in June 2023. He has over 35 years’ experience leading finance functions in global organisations.

Before joining Pharmanovia, David was CFO for BVI.  Prior to this he was with Novartis for almost 20 years as CFO in the Pharma, Vaccines and Diagnostics and Alcon (eye care) Divisions. David’s extensive experience includes driving top line growth and M&A/Licensing portfolio expansions.

David holds an MA, Economics from Aberdeen University and is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (FCMA).

Dr. Amit Patel

Founder and Executive Lead, Corporate Development

Amit founded Pharmanovia (previously Atnahs) in 2013. He was formerly the CEO and now plays a critical role as Executive Lead for Corporate Development. Prior to founding Pharmanovia, Amit was Commercial Director at Amdipharm. 

He qualified as a Physician in 2002 at Guys and St Thomas Hospital Medical School in London and is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School Owner & President Management program (2015-17).

Neeshe Williams

General Counsel and Head of ESG

Neeshe is one of the founding members of Pharmanovia. She is responsible for Legal, Communications, Compliance and ESG.

Neeshe is leading our sustainability work at Pharmanovia, having initiated our ESG strategy, which included the launch of our inaugural sustainability report in 2022.  She previously worked in the legal team at Hutchison Whampoa and as a corporate lawyer at Freshfields, specialising in M&A transactions.

She graduated with First Class Honours in Law from Oxford University.

Badri Wadawadigi

Chief Digital Officer

Badri joined Pharmanovia in December 2021. He is responsible for delivery of digital strategy: using technology to drive growth, agility and efficiency across the organisation. Badri leads the innovation programme, where technology collaborations develop enhanced patient experiences to improve health outcomes in chronic disease.

Badri has 17 years’ experience working at the intersection of healthcare, finance and technology across transaction advisory, start-up and corporates.

Badri graduated from the University of Cambridge with an MA in Economics and Computer Science.

Phillip Semmens

Chief Commercial Officer

Phill joined Pharmanovia in May 2022, as the Chief Commercial Officer, responsible for our distribution and commercial activity.

Phill has over 20 years of commercial experience within the pharmaceutical industry, previously holding leadership roles at Accord, Mylan, Actavis and Hospira.

He holds a BA (Hons) from Birmingham City University and is a qualified Charted Accountant.

Dr. Stephen Deacon

Chief Scientific Officer

Steve joined Pharmanovia as the Chief Scientific Officer in June 2022, responsible for product innovation and development, medical and regulatory affairs and clinical development.

Steve spent 30 years developing medicines initially in an academic setting with a PhD in Clinical Endocrinology and University Lecturer in Human Physiology and Clinical Biochemistry before embarking on an industry career with SmithKline Beecham, Lundbeck, Ono Pharmaceuticals and Haoma Medica.  Most recently, he was Chief Development Officer and CEO of a clinical stage biotech.  His industry experience covers all aspects of clinical research and development (Phases I-IV) from product and clinical development strategies to global program/operational management of internal and outsourced teams.

Steve has published over 70 articles including 46 peer reviewed papers and has made over 50 conference presentations. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Biology and current member of the Drug Information Association (DIA).

Sagar Patel

Chief Operations Officer

Sagar joined Pharmanovia in 2022 as COO, accountable for Supply Chain, Procurement, quality, Pharmacovigilance and Pharmaceutical Technical Operations and Development.

Sagar has acquired over 25 years’ experience and has a track record of delivering sustainable business results in Operations, Commercial, Alliance Management and change implementation; internationally within the Pharmaceutical & FMCG sectors.

Previous leadership roles in Global pharmaceutical companies includes GSK, Fresenius Kabi and Accord Healthcare.

He graduated from the University of Bradford with a Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering.

Ceri Bennett

Senior Director, Human Resources Officer

Ceri joined Pharmanovia in 2020 to lead our Human Resources function. 

Ceri has over 15 years’ experience in HR and joined Pharmanovia from Total Assist, where she was Head of HR. She has also held senior positions at companies including Caffe Nero, Carpet Right and the Steinhoff Group. 

Ceri holds a level 7 CIPD qualification.

James Lee

Chief Brand Officer

James is a strategic leader with broad industry experience building blockbuster global brands and commercial strategies for drug development. He has served in leadership roles over the last 23 years at Novo Nordisk A/S, Paladin Labs Inc., and Zealand Pharma A/S, where he has successfully launched multiple products in specialty, primary care, and rare disease markets.

He holds an MBA in Strategy and BSc in Cell Biology from Queen’s University and is certified as a CPA.