ST. LOUIS, MO – June 5, 2014 – Certara™, the leading global technology-enabled drug development and drug safety consultancy, announced today the appointment of its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Edmundo Muniz.
Dr. Muniz joins Certara from Kirax Corporation, where he had served as president and CEO since 2005. In that role, he focused on acquiring, developing and commercializing innovative specialty care therapies for oncology, pain, inflammation, acute and supportive care. Prior to that position, Dr. Muniz held several senior executive roles at Eli Lilly and Company, including Head of Worldwide Pharmacovigilance and Epidemiology, Cardiovascular Business Unit Leader, and Vice President of Oncology Clinical Development.
“Edmundo is ideally suited to lead Certara,” said Certara Chairman Dr. Donald A. Deieso. “As a senior R&D executive and CEO, he has managed exactly the problems that Certara’s technology-enabled drug development and safety solutions address. As a physician, drug developer, and scientist, he has great affinity and respect for our extraordinary internal scientific community. He also appreciates the fact that our consultants have become trusted, essential partners to biopharma companies of all sizes.”
Dr. Muniz’s therapeutic development focus is in oncology and so he is well positioned to lead Certara in that market. According to CenterWatch, oncology remains the most dynamic therapeutic area, representing 18% of active commercial Investigational New Drugs in 2012, and has among the highest number of trials in phases II and III. It also reported that the FDA approved 63 oncology drugs over the past five years, more than medicines in any other therapeutic area. In addition, Dr. Muniz has significant cardiovascular experience, having served as the head of that business unit at Lilly.
When asked to describe his vision for the company, Dr. Muniz said, “Certara is strategically positioned at the confluence of the needs of drug developers, demands of regulators, and the expectations of payors. All three stakeholders can be significantly empowered by model-based drug development. They also face the same challenges: how to improve the efficacy and efficiency of pharmaceutical/biotech development, and enable the integration of clinical care and clinical research.”
Dr. Muniz earned an M.D. from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, and a Ph.D. in Population Planning and International Heath, and an M.S. in Population Planning from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Dr. Muniz is also a graduate of the Epidemic Intelligence Service program and the Preventive Medicine Fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.
About Certara
Certara is the leading technology-enabled drug development and drug safety consultancy. Its customers include hundreds of biopharmaceutical companies around the globe, together with several regulatory agencies. Certara’s solutions, which span the discovery, preclinical and clinical stages of drug development, enable data-driven decisions, leading to more precisely designed trials with a reduced risk of failure and improved subject safety. For more information, visit www.certara.com.
For Further Information
Certara Contact:
Teresa A. Bradford, 919-852-4644
Senior Director, Marketing
Teresa.Bradford@certara.com
Media Contact:
Lisa Osborne, 206-992-5245
Rana Healthcare Solutions
lisa@ranahealth.com