Marten Vos has years of experience in the pharma industry.
Marten Vos has been appointed Director of Research & Development at Helius Therapeutics.
Vos joins Helius with considerable experience having spent more than 25 years leading and developing R&D and technical teams. He spent 12 years at Douglas Pharmaceuticals, heading both its pharmaceutical and natural health development teams. Most recently he held senior Asia Pacific animal health pharmaceutical development roles.
He has degrees in Analytical and Organic Chemistry from the Netherlands. Importantly for Helius, ahead of unleashing its exporting strategy, Vos brings extensive knowledge of the pharmacopeial and regulatory requirements of key overseas jurisdictions.
“We’ve worked hard to pull together the best team, with deep international and pharmaceutical experience. We’re now establishing a R&D pipeline to create both efficacious and novel therapeutics. Marten’s CV is impressive and so we’re excited he’ll be leading this pipeline,” says Helius CEO Carmen Doran.
The Director of R&D will plan, manage and execute the development of various types of cannabinoid formulations. It will involve hands-on research into product development while coordinating with other departments to bring new formulations and products to market.
Marten Vos’ appointment follows Helius and the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) signing an agreement which enables significant R&D collaboration. Helius will closely work with AUT academics and doctoral students researching and developing advanced medicinal cannabis products. It will see Vos co-supervising projects with Dr Ali Seyfoddin, Associate Professor in Drug Delivery and Biological Engineering.
In July, Helius became New Zealand’s first medicinal cannabis business to be awarded a GMP Licence to Manufacture Medicines. The Medicinal Cannabis Agency has since announced that two new local medicinal cannabis products have met the minimum quality standard, with the 100% Kiwi-owned company to unleash its exporting strategy from 2022.
Having raised $48m in capital since 2018, Helius has invested significantly in its 8,800sqm state of the art indoor cannabis cultivation and manufacturing complex in East Auckland. A larger dedicated R&D laboratory space will be constructed in 2022.
