Wednesday, June 10, 2020
After a nationwide search, the Four Points Innovation Joint Steering Committee reviewed over 30 internal and external candidates and are happy to welcome Bryan Baines, RPh, as the new Director, Scientific Collaboration. Working with Duke investigators and the Four Points Joint Steering Committee, Baines will manage the alliance between Duke University and Deerfield.
Baines brings to Four Points not just 25+ years of broad knowledge and business experience in the biopharmaceutical industry but also an in-depth understanding of preclinical drug development, protection, and licensing. As an internal candidate, Baines joins Four Points from Duke’s Office of Licensing & Ventures where he has spent 14 years managing a wide variety of inventions in the oncology and therapeutic space, closing deals, and building relations with Duke innovators and external collaborators.
In December last year, Duke and Deerfield announced the launch of Four Points Innovation, a strategic partnership focused on supporting and accelerating the translation of Duke R&D projects throughout preclinical stages of drug discovery and development. Through this partnership, drug research projects from Duke will receive funding from Deerfield as well as development expertise in support of Duke’s innovative drug research across a span of high-need therapeutic areas.
“We are pleased Bryan is joining our team,” said Donald McDonnell, PhD, Chair, Department of Pharmacology & Cancer Biology and Four Points Joint Steering Committee member. “His unique drug discovery experience and the relationships he’s built up at Duke and beyond will help move our projects from the lab into clinical development.”
Baines says he’s looking forward to assisting Duke PI’s in developing their life’s work and working with the drug development expertise within Deerfield. “The combination of assets at the fingertips of Duke inventors is unprecedented during my tenure at the university and I am excited about the untapped potential it brings to Duke.”
Baines started his career at Eli Lilly and Company and has worked in pharmaceutical sales, business development, product development, and executive management for Ockham Development Group (ODG), Inceutica, and AAIPharma. A native of North Carolina, Baines received his BS in Pharmacy from the School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Four Points closed its first round of proposal submissions on Friday, June 5th. Accepted projects will include a development plan aimed at achieving Investigational New Drug (IND) readiness and will receive funding and operational support from Deerfield. Successful projects that achieve IND-enabled status may be eligible for additional capital.
