Melbourne, Australia; Starpharma Holdings Limited (ASX:SPL, OTCQX:SPHRY) today announced the appointment of Mr Peter Turvey to the Board of Directors.  Mr Turvey recently retired from CSL (ASX:CSL) as Executive Vice President Licensing for the R&D Division and Company Secretary after nearly two decades.

Mr Turvey brings to the Starpharma Board exceptional commercial licensing skills having worked at CSL since 1992 in various roles including Group General Counsel, Company Secretary and Executive Vice President Licensing.

Mr Turvey played a key role in the transformation of CSL from a government owned enterprise, through listing in 1994, to a global plasma and biopharmaceutical company.  He led the management of CSL’s intellectual property across CSL’s entire operations, managing a large patent portfolio, and a global intellectual property team. 

Among the many licensing deals he was involved with, the most significant included the Gardasil license to Merck & Co., the licensing of the Iscomatrix^® adjuvant platform technology to the world’s leading vaccine manufacturers, and establishment of the P.gingivalis vaccine technology collaboration between the CRC for Oral Health and Sanofi-Pasteur.

With a strong partnering model at the core of Starpharma’s product development and with multiple products nearing market, Mr Turvey’s skills and experience will be invaluable to the Board and Management of Starpharma.

Chairman of the Board, Mr Peter Bartels said: “We are very pleased to welcome Peter to the Board of Starpharma and believe his skills and experience are highly complementary to that of our existing board.  We welcome Peter’s experience and industry insights as we near the final stages of commercialisation for many of our products.”

Mr Turvey added: “Since retiring from CSL, I was keen to remain active in a leading biopharmaceutical company and was excited and impressed at the depth and breadth of the Starpharma portfolio, the company’s Management Team and significant opportunity to contribute to this business at a time where there are multiple market opportunities.

"I think the Board and Management have done a wonderful job to date to set the Company up for great success and I really look forward to contributing to that ongoing success."

Mr Turvey was appointed to the Board of AusBiotech last year and has also recently joined the Foursight Group as a Principal.

The appointment is effective from 19 March 2012.

Download ASX Announcement: International licensing expert Peter Turvey joins Starpharma Board (pdf file, 121kb)