Paul Covington

Biography

Dr. Covington currently (2015 to present) consults with the pharmaceutical industry. His expertise includes: over 25 years of strategic drug development (especially US), drug safety, regulatory strategy, and protocol design. Dr. Covington is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and was in private practice from 1985-1990. Following that he was an investigator for Future Healthcare Research Centers actively recruiting volunteers for both patient studies as well as normal healthy volunteer studies. Subsequently he spent 19 years with PPD, a contract research organization, where he advanced to Executive VP and was responsible for global safety, global regulatory affairs, GMP laboratories, bioanalytical laboratories, central laboratories, Phase I healthy volunteer unit, post approval medical information and post approval clinical studies while still playing a critical role in all pre-approval studies. Dr. Covington has been both directly and indirectly involved in literally hundreds of clinical trials over a variety of indications and has attended and/or presided over (from the sponsor standpoint) 15 meetings with FDA. Dr. Covington decided to retire in 2008 but was enticed to rejoin PPD in late 2009 to spin out Furiex Pharmaceuticals (FP) where he was responsible for all clinical development and IT. He remained with FP throughout its existence as well as following its acquisition by Actavis (now Allergan). At spinout from PPD, FP had an IPO stock price of approximately $10/share (June 2010) and was subsequently sold in July 2014 at approximately $100/share.  Dr. Covington has over 20 publications in peer reviewed journals. His hobbies include Christian Church History and long-distance cycling. Anthony Lembo, MD Anthony Lembo, MD, is Director of the GI Motility and Functional Bowel Disorders Program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass. Dr. Lembo earned his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and completed his residency in medicine, as well as fellowships in gastroenterology and gastrointestinal motility and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), at the University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA) Medical Center. Dr. Lembo’s research interests focus on the burden of and treatment options for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and chronic constipation, and he also studies the placebo response. He has published widely on these topics, in leading peer-reviewed journals such as Gastroenterology, Neurogastroenterology and Motility, Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology as well as Digestive Diseases and Sciences. He also served as an editor or on the review board for several industry renowned journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, American Journal of Gastroenterology, Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Research and most recently, American Journal of Case Reports. Dr. Lembo is also an active member of many professional societies including the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Neurogastroenterology and Motility Society, and the American College of Gastroenterology. He has been appointed numerous national and international leadership positions throughout his ten

Research Interest

Business and Management