Richard J. White

Biography

Dr. Richard White is a consultant to the biotech industry. After a post-doctoral fellowship on microbial biochemistry at Oxford, he began a career in infectious disease drug discovery. He has over 28 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry holding positions of increasing responsibility at Lepetit, Glaxo, Lederle and finally at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). At BMS, he was Vice President in charge of Infectious Disease Drug Discovery and was involved with the discovery/ development of the cephalosporins cefepime and cefprozil, as well as the AIDS drugs Videx® and Zerit®. Following this, Dr. White accepted a position at Versicor, where he became Chief Scientific Officer. He played a role in licensing and development of dalbavancin and anidulafungin, taking Versicor public, merging with Biosearch Italia to create Vicuron, and ultimately achieving a market capital of $1.9 billion when the company was sold to Pfizer in 2005. His research interests focus on the mechanism of action of and resistance to antimicrobial drugs, and the special role that natural products have played in treating infectious diseases. He was educated in England where he received his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from the University of Manchester, and a Ph.D. in Microbial Biochemistry from the University of Oxford.

Research Interest

Dr. Richard White is a consultant to the biotech industry. After a post-doctoral fellowship on microbial biochemistry at Oxford, he began a career in infectious disease drug discovery. He has over 28 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry holding positions of increasing responsibility at Lepetit, Glaxo, Lederle and finally at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). At BMS, he was Vice President in charge of Infectious Disease Drug Discovery and was involved with the discovery/ development of the cephalosporins cefepime and cefprozil, as well as the AIDS drugs Videx® and Zerit®. Following this, Dr. White accepted a position at Versicor, where he became Chief Scientific Officer. He played a role in licensing and development of dalbavancin and anidulafungin, taking Versicor public, merging with Biosearch Italia to create Vicuron, and ultimately achieving a market capital of $1.9 billion when the company was sold to Pfizer in 2005. His research interests focus on the mechanism of action of and resistance to antimicrobial drugs, and the special role that natural products have played in treating infectious diseases. He was educated in England where he received his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from the University of Manchester, and a Ph.D. in Microbial Biochemistry from the University of Oxford.