Management Team
Sue MacLeman BPharm MMktg MComLaw
Chief Executive Officer
Sue graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy from the University of Queensland in 1984. In addition to pharmacy qualifications, Sue MacLeman has completed a Masters of Marketing degree at Melbourne University (Melbourne Business School), a Masters of Commercial Law degree (Deakin University) and a Fellowship with the Australian College of Pharmacy Practice. She is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Sue is also a member of the Pharmaceutical Industry Council (PIC) and Pharmaceutical Industry Working Group (PIWG) and the Chair of the Pharmaceutical Industry Development Taskforce (PIDT).
In 1991 Sue joined the pharmaceutical industry with Schering Plough in the biotechnology business unit. She then went on to work with Amgen Inc and Bristol Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals in the areas of oncology and infectious diseases medical, marketing, sales management and business development. In 2002 Sue took up the position of global Vice President for Agenix Ltd where she was responsible for the product development of the molecular clot imaging project. From 2004 to 2006 she was the CEO of publicly listed biotechnology investment and management company EQiTX Ltd. Most recently Sue was CEO of RNAi therapeutics company Benitec Ltd.
Dr Laurence Marton MD
Chief Scientific Officer
Prior to joining Progen in early 2008, Dr Laurence Marton was the Chief Scientific Officer of Cellgate, Inc and before that Chief Scientific and Medical Officer of SLIL Biomedical Corporation. Both of these companies focused on the discovery and development of novel polyamine analogs and other compounds for the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases. Dr Marton co-founded SLIL and served as a director.
Prior to SLIL, Dr Marton was Dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School and before that Chaired the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He is a leading expert with extensive experience in the fields of cell growth and drug development. His work is focused on the use of polyamines in treating human diseases related to aberrant cell growth, including cancer and infectious diseases. His research has resulted in more than 180 original publications, 60 scientific reviews and chapters, four books, numerous patents, and his work has been acknowledged internationally.
Dr Marton serves as a consultant for industry and for governmental and academic institutions. He serves on the Board of the Foundation for the California Heart Center and was previously appointed by the Governor of Wisconsin to the Wisconsin Technology Council. Dr Marton received his BA from Yeshiva University and his MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Paul Dixon
General Manager Finance and Company Secretary
Paul Dixon joined Progen in late 2008 on a contract basis and has since commenced as General Manager of Finance and Company Secretary. Paul's duties include ASX and statutory reporting, audit management, company secretarial duties, oversight of the finance team and internal controls.
Prior to joining Progen, Paul was Group Financial Controller for ASX listed manufacturing company Style Limited, where he was responsible for ASX reporting and the management of the international finance function. Prior to this, Paul held accountancy positions with Rio Tinto, Mack Trucks Australia and Betta Stores Limited.
Fleur Lankesheer
Director Legal & Business Development
Fleur joined Progen as the Director of Legal & Business Development in mid 2010. Fleur has three years commercialisation experience as a Commercialisation Manager and Inhouse Intellectual Property Manager with Otago Innovation Ltd. Otago Innovation is the commercialisation office for the University Of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. She was also the Business Development Manager for a subsidiary start-up company, Immune Solutions Ltd.
Fleur has principally been involved in new chemical and biological entities, biomarkers, diagnostics and medical devices. Fleur has a Bachelor of Science (Biochemistry/Genetics) and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Otago, and has five years' post admission experience.
Dr Ian Bytheway
Director Research & Development
Ian joined Progen in 2002 to establish computational chemistry research in the R&D group and was a member of the R&D team that worked on growth factor targeting and the research that ultimately lead to the selection of PG545 for formal preclinical development. As Director of R&D, Ian leads the ongoing pharmaceutical development of PG545, including scale-up of production, characterization and analytical quantification. In addition he established, and now maintains responsibility for, Progen's program to develop small molecule inhibitors of heparanase. Ian is also actively involved in the management of Progen's intellectual property portfolio.
Prior to joining Progen Ian held research positions at universities in Canada, USA, Hong Kong and Australia and his research has resulted in two book chapters and 42 journal publications. He holds BSc (Hons) and PhD degrees in Chemistry from the University Of Western Australia.
Dr Keith Dredge
Director Preclinical Development
Keith joined the R&D team at Progen in 2006 and subsequently became responsible for managing preclinical projects in 2007. As Director of Preclinical Development, Keith utilises over a decade of experience in the fields of cancer research and regulatory toxicology to design, outsource and manage all preclinical studies at Progen, including the long term safety studies for PI-88, and more recently, the efficacy, pharmacokinetic and toxicology studies for other projects including PG545 and PG11047. Other activities include regulatory affairs, business development and contributions to the company's intellectual property portfolio. Another important aspect of Keith's role is the communication of scientific progress on Progen's proprietary technologies via presentations at various cancer conferences and peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals.
Prior to joining Progen, Keith was based at the Universtity of Queensland working on dendritic cell immunotherapies and at the University Of London where he published the first preclinical articles on Celgene's anti-cancer drugs Revlimid and Pomolidomide.
Darryn Bampton
Director Regulatory Affairs
Mr Bampton joined Progen as Director of Regulatory Affairs and Clinical Development in April 2009. Darryn has worked within the pharmaceutical industry for 15 years, and has been involved with regulatory affairs and strategic drug development for more than 10 years. He has held senior regulatory affairs positions at a Contract Research Organisation in the UK and in this capacity acted as project manager for an orphan designated oncology product that obtained licences in both the US and EU. Darryn has extensive experience in liasing with regulatory agencies, including the FDA and EMEA.
Darryn received a BSc with majors in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University Of Queensland in 1995. He had completed a Diploma in Regulatory Affairs, through the University Of Wales, in 2007 and is presently undertaking a Master of Medical Sciences degree through the University Of New South Wales.