Healthcare >> CEO Interviews >> November 6, 2000
DR RON JAMES is the Managing Director of PPL Therapeutics. Ron James was
involved with the formation of PPL in 1986/1987 at which time he was
part of the Prudential's venture capital team. In 1989 the opportunity
arose for him to move to PPL as its Managing Director, a job in which he
says he has never worked so hard nor had so much fun. Since 1989, PPL
has grown from a staff of six to over 200 and has sites in Scotland, US
and New Zealand. PPL has raised over GBP25 million from venture capital
and corporate investors to support this growth, before achieving a full
listing on the London Stock Exchange in June 1996, raising a further
GBP35 million on a GBP100 million valuation. PPL later raised a further
GBP20 million through a Rights Issue. PPL is perhaps best known for its
involvement with Dolly the sheep and later the cloning of pigs but its
core business is the production of therapeutic proteins using transgenic
animals. PPL is working with major pharmaceutical companies to bring
these products to the market. Dr James started his working life as an
organic chemist with Glaxo and later moved to Wilkinson Sword where he
progressed from bench chemist to Manager of the Chemistry Department
with a staff of 40. He then moved into a technology transfer role, which
included responsibility for the administration of the company's patent
portfolio and negotiating licensing deals with multinational companies,
and which produced a six-figure royalty income. At about this time he
obtained a finance and accounting qualification and after a short period
with Initial Plc looking at acquisitions and franchising opportunities,
he joined the Prudential's high tech venture capital team with
responsibility for health care and biotech investments. During his four
years as a venture capitalist, he looked after the technical side of
Celltech and made investments in British Biotechnology, Shield
Diagnostics and PPL Therapeutics amongst others, and acted as a Director
on the boards of six early stage companies. Profile
Dr. James: The company was founded in 1987 to exploit technology that
was developed within the Roslin Institute, now I think
