Primary Job Title Advisor Primary Organization 
Aprecia Pharmaceuticals
Location New York, New York, United States Regions Greater New York Area, East Coast, Northeastern US Gender Male
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Durrant is a driven and accomplished pharmaceuticals and biotech entrepreneur, marketer, financing, business and corporate development professional with a strong medical base. He has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 21 years and in medical practice for 8 years prior.
He has served as chairman and director on the boards of numerous
companies, and operated as CEO or interim CEO for four venture-backed companies, including PediaMed Pharmaceuticals, Spherics, Anavex and PediatRx. In other assignments, he has been a respected senior executive at blue-chip big pharmas, including Johnson and Johnson, Pharmacia Corporation (until its acquisition by Pfizer), GSK and Merck, with a proven ability to work collaboratively and effectively across disciplines and cultures.
He has served as the founding investor, Chairman and CEO of publicly-traded PediatRx (acquired by Apricus Biosciences, a NASDAQ company), Executive Chairman of publicly traded Anavex, CEO of PediaMed Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Connetics Corporation and also Tiber Labs), Chairman of Pressure Point (now with an FDA-cleared, marketed medical device), founding director of Bexion Pharmaceuticals (now with a Phase I, novel lipid/protein nanotech oncology therapeutic/imaging agent), board member of Topaz Pharmaceuticals (acquired by sanofi-aventis), board member of PDS Biotechnology Corporation and founder investor in Prism Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Baxter). He has been involved in 5 exits, ranging from a 2-9x return.
Durrant has been an advisor to Microsoft Corporation, Aprecia Pharmaceuticals, Pilgrim Software (acquired by a private equity group), PathXL and Saxa Private Equity Partners. He has also been involved in creating companies around targeted early-stage technologies with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and assisted numerous private equity groups in their diligence efforts, leading to successful deal closure. He has raised approximately $60MM in VC, private equity, angel and high net worth financings.
Durrant earned his M.D. from the Welsh National School of Medicine, Cardiff, UK, his DRCOG from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, London, UK, his MRCGP from the Royal College of General Practitioners, London, UK, his DipCH from the Melbourne Academy, Australia and his MBA from Henley Management College, Oxford, UK.
Prior to his career as an entrepreneur, he held sales, marketing, strategy, BD, planning and operations roles with Merck and Co. in the UK, GSK for the UK and globally, Pharmacia Corporation for the US and globally and Johnson and Johnson globally. He has launched or held commercial responsibility for 6 brands which achieved blockbuster status (>$1Bn in annual sales) and launched 20 brands, many of them category leaders.
Durrant’s areas of expertise include deal-making/company match-making, fundraising, public company governance, BD and corporate development, sourcing and executing complex, multinational partnerships, alliance management and strategic marketing, particularly in the areas of infectious diseases, oncology, pediatrics, dermatology and Alzheimer’s disease. He has also built development and commercial organizations from the ground up in the US and partnerships and commercial strategies in key ex-US markets.
He was the 2005 winner of the Ernst and Young Ohio and Kentucky ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ winner and a national finalist, named in the PharmaVoice 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010 list of one of the ‘100 most inspiring people in the pharmaceutical industry’ and by Pharmaceutical Executive in 2008 as part of the ‘Change generation – young leaders to watch in pharma’.
Durrant is active in sourcing and starting specialty pharma companies and has continued to enjoy access to high volume and quality deal flow.
