From the Army Commander to the CDMO Corner Office

In this episode of Molecule to Market, you’ll go inside the outsourcing space of the global drug development sector with Denis Johnson, Chief Executive Officer at Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing.

Your host, Raman Sehgal, discusses the pharmaceutical and biotechnology supply chain with Denis, covering:

• What his time in the military and the CDMO industry have in common
• Why he is passionate about operations, and why operational excellence is the real product CDMOs deliver
• His decision to leave a successful leadership role at Catalent and move to the customer side of the industry
• Realising his ambition of becoming a CDMO CEO, and why sterile fill finish remains such an attractive area of the market
• The case for staying focused in small molecules rather than trying to become a “Swiss Army knife” provider
• Why sterile manufacturing continues to be one of the biggest pain points in pharma launches and commercial supply

Denis Johnson brings extensive life sciences leadership and manufacturing experience to his role as CEO, including significant prior sterile fill-finish experience. He has led operations and commercial senior leadership roles in the biologics, pharmaceutical, and combination devices for over 25 years. Before being appointed CEO at Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing, his prior roles include Head of Global Manufacturing and Technical Operations at Biogen as well as leadership roles at Catalent, Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson. He started his career in the U.S. Army managing logistics and operations.

Denis earned a B.S. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin Madison and an MBA from the University of South Carolina.

Molecule to Market is also sponsored by Bora Pharmaceuticals and supported by Lead Candidate. Please subscribe, tell your industry colleagues and join us in celebrating and promoting the value and importance of the global life science outsourcing space. We’d also appreciate a positive rating!