Having obtained his PhD under Peter Sammes from the University of Surrey, he began his career in the labs of various companies both in synthesis and testing of pharmaceuticals and other organic materials. He joined Merck Generics as Technical Business Development in 2001 based in Potters Bar. After learning the ropes there, he moved to the family owned German Company Schwarz Pharma, again in BD looking at in licensing and out licensing for the UK and Europe. Following the purchase of Schwarz by UCB in 2007 he joined UCB initially as a Trading Manager looking after the tail end products and selling into the various channels. Shortly after joining UCB an opportunity arose to return to Business Development for the UK/Europe. UCB specialising at the time in CNS/Epilepsy/Biotech, with responsibility to also sell out tail end products that were no longer a focus or loss making for UCB. John was part of the team that renegotiated the manufacturing contract with their contract manufacturer saving over £29M. John was also part of the team that helped out license Equasym to Shire for around £55M plus milestones.
In 2010 John was headhunted by Wockhardt to set up their EU licensing function in Switzerland. In 2014 John decided to return to the UK and with some partners set up CEB Pharmaceuticals which specialised in selling Cat C medicines. The company was subsequently bought by Aristo the German pharmaceutical company and John exited the business to do some consulting and decide what to do next.
John joined Ethypharm in 2017, initially responsible for BD UK but his role has now expanded into Corporate Development and Licensing for the whole company. Ethypharm is a specialist pharmaceutical company that covers the CNS, Pain, Addiction Critical Care and Hospital Injectables.
John Coates
