New Young Institute Advisory Council to bolster Purdue pharmaceutical manufacturing mission

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The William D. and Sherry L. Young Advanced Manufacturing of Pharmaceuticals Institute at Purdue University announced today (3/6) the appointment of a new advisory council that will provide strategic guidance to support the institute’s efforts to innovate and advance pharmaceutical manufacturing.

The advisory council’s five members bring expertise, business acumen, regulatory perspectives and technical skills to the institute’s mission to improve pharmaceutical manufacturing through research and workforce training.

“By enabling the onshoring of pharmaceutical production, improving efficiency and reducing the cost of pharmaceutical manufacturing, we aim to ensure that all U.S. citizens have access to critical medicines,” said Elizabeth Topp, director of the Young Institute and professor in the Department of Industrial and Molecular Pharmaceutics and the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering.

The new advisors are:

• Robert A. Baffi, president and founder of Baffi Biotech Advisors, a venture partner at Samsara BioCapital, and former president of global manufacturing and technical operations for BioMarin Pharmaceutical for 23 years. He also is co-author of the book, “Making a Habit of Quality: How Technical Operations Paved the Way for BioMarin’s Success.”  
• Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr., the 12th president of Purdue University and 49th governor of Indiana, who also served as director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget in the George W. Bush administration. Earlier, he held two positions with Eli Lilly and Co. — president of North American operations and senior vice president for corporate strategy and policy.
• Michael A. Klobuchar, executive vice president and chief strategy officer for Merck & Co., who leads the company’s strategy, business development and information technology efforts and global priorities. He earlier served as senior vice president and chief financial officer for Merck Research Laboratories and led its Global Portfolio and Alliance Management group, among other roles across the entire company. He received his BS in chemical engineering from Purdue in 1998.
• Moheb M. Nasr, principal with Nasr Pharma Regulatory Consulting, who previously served as vice president of chemistry, manufacturing, controls and regulatory strategy for GlaxoSmithKline and as director of the Office of New Drug Quality Assessment for the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
• William D. Young, whose significant contribution established the Purdue Institute named for him and his wife in June 2022, is a senior advisor for Blackstone Life Sciences. He also is chairman of NanoString Technologies and a board member of Praxis Precision Medicines and Autolus Therapeutics. He previously served as chief executive officer of Monogram Biosciences and chief operating officer of Genentech after serving in various roles at Eli Lilly and Co. at the start of his career. He earned a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering at Purdue in 1966 and received an honorary doctorate in engineering from Purdue in 2000. He also was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in recognition of his contributions to biotechnology.

The Young Institute was established in 2022 as part of a $250 million investment in the life sciences at Purdue — a priority within the Purdue Moves initiatives, the university’s strategic plan.

The institute’s efforts to improve drug manufacturing are intended to address the pharmaceutical industry’s longstanding practice of investing primarily in drug discovery and less in new and economical methods of drug manufacturing. By developing new efficiencies for drug manufacturing, the institute also intends to contribute to reduced pharmaceutical prices for consumers.

“Pharmaceutical and biotechnology innovation is impeded by manufacturing practices that have not kept up with the corresponding pace of innovation in science. As a result, the most advanced drugs are too costly to help as many people as they could,” Young said. “In emerging fields such as gene and cell therapy, better manufacturing technology is essential for enabling these lifesaving treatments.”

About Purdue University 

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Computes — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives. 

Writer/Media contact: Amy Raley, araley@purdue.edu

Source: Elizabeth Topp, topp@purdue.edu