• Ms Cheryl Maley has been appointed as the CEO and Managing Director of Starpharma, effective 8 January 2024, following a global search.
• Cheryl has over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, having held multiple leadership roles with global companies, including Novartis, AbbVie/Abbott, Servier Laboratories, and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.
• Upon Cheryl’s commencement in January 2024, Dr Jackie Fairley will retire as CEO and Managing Director. Dr Fairley will be available in an advisory capacity if required to assist with the transition until June 2024.

Melbourne, Australia; 10 November 2023: Starpharma (ASX: SPL, OTCQX: SPHRY) is today pleased to announce the appointment of Ms Cheryl Maley as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director of Starpharma effective 8 January 2024.

Cheryl has over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including 20 years in leadership roles at well-known and leading organisations, including Novartis and AbbVie/Abbott. Her roles include nine years at Novartis in senior commercial and executive roles and various sales and marketing positions with AbbVie/Abbott, Servier Laboratories, and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

Cheryl has had extensive experience in leading pharmaceutical innovation, marketing, commercialisation and delivering business growth across Australia, Asia, and international markets. She has a strong commercial background with a proven record in successful product launches and patient access and reimbursement to innovative medicines.

Mr Rob Thomas AO, Chair of Starpharma, commented:

“The Board is delighted to announce the appointment of Ms Cheryl Maley as the new CEO of Starpharma. With her broad experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Cheryl brings a wealth of strategic, commercial and operational expertise to the Company. Cheryl’s leadership of the Novartis Oncology Business for ANZ is highly relevant to Starpharma’s portfolio of DEP^® products as well as the Company’s emerging radiotheranostic assets. We have demonstrated the therapeutic value of our dendrimer technology through the development of multiple clinical-stage and on-market assets, and the Company is focused on unlocking the commercial potential of these products. Cheryl has demonstrated global leadership capability as a results-focused executive, and her commercial expertise will be an asset as we continue to progress the development of our products for patient and commercial outcomes. The Starpharma Board, Management Team, and I are excited to welcome Cheryl to the Company.”

Cheryl’s pharmaceutical industry experience spans a wide range of therapeutic areas, including oncology, women’s health, infectious diseases, immunology, cardiology, gastroenterology, dermatology and neuroscience. She has worked with GP, specialist, and hospital products and has experience as a commercial leader on global product development teams.  

Cheryl began her career in research at CSIRO before moving into progressively more senior sales and marketing roles at Servier Laboratories, Lederle Laboratories, and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. She then moved into several leadership positions in business development, sales and marketing at Abbott Australia and, later, Abbott International. Her roles included Director of the Specialty Products Division in Australia, Director of the Global Strategic Initiatives, Immunology, in the US, and Director of Commercial Excellence.

During her nine-year career at Novartis, Cheryl held a number of senior leadership positions where she had responsibility for new products, commercialisation and strategy, as well as reimbursement matters. Cheryl was Country Head and President of Novartis Philippines, where she was responsible for the Pharmaceutical Division and oversaw the cross-divisional leadership team, including the Oncology, Sandoz and Alcon business units.

In her most recent Novartis role as General Manager, Oncology, Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), Cheryl led Novartis’ oncology division in the ANZ region, with P&L responsibility and oversight of all business functions, including medical, commercial/sales, finance, operations, legal, market access, and compliance. In this role, Cheryl oversaw the successful launch of Australia’s first CAR T cell therapy, Kymriah^®, for the treatment of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, one of Novartis’ top 20 medicines by sales in 2022.

Cheryl has most recently been serving as the Acting CEO and Strategic Advisor at Biointelect, a firm that specialises in strategic planning and commercialisation for the biopharmaceutical and medical device sector. During this time, she has supported a number of research institutions and biotech companies to achieve their goals of growth, transformation and successful commercialisation. Currently, Cheryl is also a Non-Executive Director of Clarity Pharmaceuticals (ASX:CU6). Cheryl will engage with Clarity regarding her transition from this position.

Ms Cheryl Maley, incoming CEO of Starpharma, commented:

“I am excited to be joining Starpharma as CEO and believe that the Company has enormous potential with its dendrimer technology and multiple assets. I look forward to working with Starpharma’s experienced executive team and the Board to continue building the Company’s portfolio and opportunities whilst embarking on a journey of further discovery, innovation and commercialisation to benefit patients and shareholders. I look forward to starting with Starpharma in January, and I greatly appreciate Jackie’s availability to support the transition.”

Mr Rob Thomas AO, Chair of Starpharma, commented:

“The Board and I would again like to express our gratitude to Jackie for her dedicated leadership and service to Starpharma during the last 17 years. Throughout her tenure, Jackie transformed the Company from a start-up to a mature business with a highly valuable platform technology. Starpharma now has product registrations in over 50 countries, multiple products on market, clinical-stage assets, and partnerships with some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. Jackie’s foresight and determination led to the development of our DEP^® portfolio, which has significantly expanded the Company’s commercialisation opportunities for the dendrimer technology.”

View or download the ASX Announcement, here.