Essential Pharma Appoints Pharma and Healthcare Operations Expert Colin Brown As Chief Operating Officer

Essential Pharma, an international pharmaceutical generics company dedicated to supplying well-established, “at risk” products to patients across multiple therapeutic areas, announces the appointment of Colin Brown as Chief Operating Officer.

Colin has more than 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare sectors, primarily focused on pharmaceutical development. In addition, he has had roles as diverse as clinical supply manufacturing, quality compliance, project management and business development.

He joins Essential Pharma after 16 years at Mentholatum, a leading topical analgesics company, where he was Head of Research and Quality Development. In this position, his responsibilities included R&D, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, quality control, quality assurance and analytical chemistry for the company’s consumer healthcare products, which are sold in more than 70 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Prior to this, Colin was an Associate Director at contract research organization Quintiles, where he was responsible for the commercial production operations of manufacture, packing and engineering of pharmaceuticals concerning a range of dosage forms, therapeutic areas and routes of administration.

Before Quintiles, Colin was Research and Development Manager again at Mentholatum, where he spent three years in the consumer healthcare sector focusing on over-the-counter medicines and medical devices. He started his career at Syntex Pharmaceuticals, where he held increasingly responsible roles in pre-clinical and clinical trials supplies manufacturing before its Edinburgh research facility was acquired by the contract research organisation Quintiles.

Colin graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Applied Chemistry from Napier University of Edinburgh and is a Chartered Chemist, a Chartered Scientist and a Fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Ingvild Liborg, Chief Executive of Essential Pharma, said:

“Essential Pharma is an ambitious company with a clear growth strategy based on expanding our product portfolio and international reach. The success of this strategy is underpinned by our commitment to continuously improving our processes and efficiency to continue to deliver the best possible outcomes for patients. I am therefore very pleased to welcome Colin to the Company, where his vast experience in Operations across both the Pharma and Healthcare industries will prove invaluable in achieving our goals and ensuring that we continue to deliver value for all our stakeholders.”