David Allan is Principal at Cresswell Advisors, assisting development-stage companies in the life sciences and early-stage and established companies in multiple fields.

He is the recipient of the 2017 Julia Levy Award from the Chemical Institute of Canada recognizing success in the commercialization of innovation, the 2016 Life Sciences Ontario Leadership Award, and the 2012 Gold Leaf Award from BIOTECanada for industry leadership.

He was the Founding Chairman in 2011 of Forbius (Formation Biologics Inc) (targeting TGF-beta and EGFR pathways in Fibrosis and Cancer) and Executive Chairman of Stem Cell Therapeutics Corp 2011-2015. He was chairman of YM BioSciences Inc from its founding in 1994, and CEO from 1998-2011. YMB was a NYSE/MKT/TSX haematology/oncology company acquired by Gilead Sciences Inc. in February 2013. He has been, and continues as, a board member of a number of private and public companies.

YM was the first North American biotechnology company to list on the London Stock Exchange, subsequently becoming US-listed and engaging in a number of M&A transaction acquiring companies in the USA (Eximias) and Australia (Cytopia) as well as Canada (Delex). YM received the “Emerging Life Sciences of the Year Award” in 2011 from Life Sciences Ontario and was listed in “Canada’s Top 10 Life Sciences Companies” awards in 2005 and 2006. He is the recipient of the 2017 Julia Levy Award, commercialization Bio-medical Science; 2016 Leadership Award, Life Sciences Ontario; 2012 Gold Leaf Award for Industry Leadership, BIOTECanada.

In 1992 he founded the first biotech-specific investment banking team in Canada following a 30-year career in the financial industry.

He has been a member of the Awards Selection Committee for the Government of Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence; the Multidisciplinary Assessment Committee of the Canada Foundation for Innovation; a Governor of the Toronto Stock Exchange and a board member of the Ontario Biotechnology Advisory Board and of Life Sciences Ontario.

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  Managing Director and Member of the Board in eQcell

  Science reshapes the future