W. Thomas Amick ’69 has been named chairman of the board of directors of Discovery Laboratories, Inc., a biotechnology company based in Doylestown, Penn. He joins Discovery after a 30-year career at Johnson and Johnson where, as vice president of the Ortho Biotech Oncology Franchise, he launched a successful drug called Procrit, and built J&J’s oncology franchise into a business with more than $2.5 billion in annual revenue. Amick also held positions as President of Ortho Biotech Europe,
President of Janssen-Ortho Canada, and Vice President for Business
Development of Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (the
venture capital division of J&J).
In a news release, Discovery Laboratories said, “Amick brings extensive pharmaceutical, strategic and operational
leadership to Discovery Labs as the company prepares for the potential
FDA approval of Surfaxin(r) and advances its pipeline of Surfactant
Replacement Therapies (SRT) for the treatment of various respiratory
diseases.”
In addition to his position as Chairman for Discovery Labs, Amick
also serves as Chairman and CEO of Aldagen, Inc., a venture
capital-backed company developing adult stem cells. Amick is also a
member of the Boards of Directors of certain venture capital-backed
biotechnology companies and an advisor to two leading life science
venture capital firms, Quaker BioVentures, Inc., (Philadelphia, PA) and
Intersouth Partners (Durham, NC).
Amick earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration at Elon
University and completed executive curriculum at the University of
Virginia, the Kellogg School at Northwestern University, and the
Harvard Business School.