The Centre for Drug Research and Development, Canada’s national drug development and commercialization centre, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Lana Janes as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence.
As a life sciences industry executive for over 20 years, Dr. Janes has extensive pharmaceutical development experience that spans the full life cycle of therapeutic product development from discovery through commercialization.
As an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Dr. Janes will work with CDRD leadership to identify specific areas of strategic commercial opportunity, and then in partnership with other stakeholders, drive the building of a new company of scale that can develop those opportunities, and grow into a strong new anchor for Canada’s life science sector.
Gordon C. McCauley, President and CEO of CDRD commented, “We are excited to welcome Lana to CDRD. Her strong scientific background, entrepreneurial mindset, and demonstrated track record will be invaluable as CDRD works to build Canadian life sciences companies of scale. Canada has made major public investment in health research, together we will translate those investments into a robust and sustainable life sciences industry.
Most recently, Dr. Janes held positions of increasing responsibility at QLT Inc. (now Novelion Therapeutics Inc.), where she last served as Senior Vice President, Intellectual Property and Technology Development and Chief Patent Officer, with leadership and oversight responsibilities for all R&D aspects of Novelion’s late-stage ophthalmology orphan assets.
Prior to joining QLT, Dr. Janes worked in the intellectual property groups at Ogilvy Renault, LLP (now Norton Rose Fulbright) in Toronto, Canada and at F. Hoffmann-La Roche in Basel, Switzerland. She also currently acts as Chief Operating Officer for the Seattle-based biotech company, Retinagenix LLC, a privately held, clinical stage company; and is a Director of several entrepreneurial start-up life sciences companies in Vancouver.
Dr. Janes received her AB in Chemistry with Honours from Harvard University and her PhD in organic chemistry with Honours from McGill University, where she also conducted post-doctoral work in the field of biological organic chemistry. She is also registered to practice as a patent agent in both Canada and the US, is an author of numerous scientific publications in the field of organic and medical chemistry. She also worked for several years as a synthetic organic chemist in the chemical and food industries in the US and UK.
