OREANDA-NEWS. May 15, 2015. Calchan Limited, the UK-based biotechnology company focused on the research and development of novel molecules targeting pain and inflammation, today announces the appointment of Zahid Ali as Chief Scientific Officer.

Zahid Ali has extensive experience in the pain therapeutic area.  With almost two decades of industry experience from international pharmaceutical companies, Zahid has led multiple programmes across the full spectrum of drug development from early translation, through to clinical studies, to working with the commercial team to help identify and develop new product strategies.

Most recently, Zahid was a Senior Director of Clinical Research at Pfizer where he was responsible for a number of early clinical development programmes focused on pain research.  He started his career as a Senior Research Pharmacologist at Merck Sharp and Dohme Research Laboratories UK (Neuroscience Centre) before taking positions of increasing seniority in GlaxoSmithKline including Director of Discovery Medicine where he led a number of clinical projects on pain therapeutics within the Neuroscience CEDD. Zahid has had a number of strategic responsibilities related to the pain therapeutic area, most notably acting as both the GSK and Pfizer steering committee representative on the EU innovative medicines initiative Europain project

Zahid graduated with a BSc (Hons) from the University of East London and began his research career at the National Hospital, Queen Square with Prof Clare Fowler focusing on quantifying sensory disturbance in diabetics as well as patients suffering from trigeminal neuralgia.  Having gained his PhD in Neuroscience from Cardiff University  he then went on to a combined preclinical and clinical postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where he focused on helping to elucidate pathophysiological mechanisms underlying neuropathic pain conditions.

Brenda Reynolds, Chief Executive Officer of Calchan, commented: "Zahid Ali's appointment is an important one as we continue to assemble a strong team to develop our assets at Calchan.  I am delighted that Zahid has chosen to join us as his considerable experience and background, notably as a Clinical Director at Pfizer, will be invaluable."

Commenting on his appointment, Zahid Ali said: "I am very excited to be joining Calchan, which has a management team of enviable experience and a very successful track record in the sector.  I believe the Company's products have significant potential and I am looking forward to working with the team to secure Calchan's position as a leader in this field."