Christopher E. Banas, CEO

Arthur J. Tipton, PhD, President, joined Southern Research in 2004 to lead the formation of a new company based on Southern’s pharmaceutical formulations business. Brookwood Pharmaceuticals was launched in January 2005 with Dr. Tipton as President and CEO. He also directed the acquisition of Alkermes’ external polymer business which was completed in November 2004. The new company, Lakeshore Biomaterials, was established as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brookwood. Immediately prior to joining Southern, Dr. Tipton served as Executive Vice President at Durect Corporation, a California-based, publicly traded drug delivery company. Dr. Tipton held a variety of positions in Southern BioSystems, including Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer where he led all efforts on biodegradable technology from 1993-2001. At Southern BioSystems he invented the SABER Delivery System and led its development into multiple clinical campaigns. He was a part of the negotiating team for acquisition of Southern BioSystems by Durect. Prior to joining Southern BioSystems, Dr. Tipton was with Atrix Laboratories (now part of QLT) from 1988-1993.

During his career, his development efforts have led to the launch of four commercial products. He holds 22 US patents with numerous foreign equivalents, and has more than 60 publications, presentations and invited lectures to his credit. Dr. Tipton earned his PhD in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has previously served on the Boards of the Society for Biomaterials and Southern BioSystems, and currently serves on the Boards of Brookwood Pharmaceuticals, the Biotechnology Association of Alabama, and the Controlled Release Society.

Pual Castella, Ph.D., MBA; Chief Business Officer

Kevin W. Burton, Ph.D.; Chief Operating Officer has an extensive background in the research and development of a variety of products utilizing novel drug delivery systems with an emphasis on preclinical and early human proof of concept efforts. These products include those used for controlled and sustained delivery of therapeutic agents such as biodegradable microparticulates, organogels, hydrogels and polymer conjugates for the delivery of analgesics, antibiotics, opioids, opioid agonists, antineoplastics, steroids, and several peptides/proteins. Through his career at Purdue Pharma, DURECT, Nektar Therapeutics and now Brookwood Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Burton has led efforts from early discovery through late phase clinical trials holding key leadership positions in Technical and Scientific Writing, Program Management and Product Development departments. In these positions, Dr. Burton has provided oversight of the CMC aspects of Drug Substance and Drug Product development of parenteral and oral products including Pre-formulation and Formulation Development, Analytical Development, Scale up and Tech Transfer operations. Dr. Burton holds two patents and has contributed to more than 20 publications and presentations. Dr. Burton earned his degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Kentucky.