X-Chem, the leading provider of innovative solutions in early-stage drug discovery, announced the addition of Karen Lackey as chief scientific officer (CSO) and David Hagerman as chief financial officer (CFO) to its global executive management team. 

Karen Lackey, CSO
Throughout her distinguished 30-plus-year career, Lackey has been at the forefront of integrated drug discovery, spanning medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, biochemistry, drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics, and new technologies. Notably, she has demonstrated skills as a passionate drug hunter, playing a pivotal role in the discovery of Tykerb, and contributing to the advancement of numerous clinical candidates and launched drugs. Lackey’s career encompasses senior leadership roles within pharma (GSK, Roche), academia (MUSC, UA), biotech and most recently, with CRO Evotec.

David Hagerman, CFO
Hagerman brings over 25 years of finance experience in both the life sciences and IT sectors. Prior to joining X-Chem, David was vice president and divisional CFO at preclinical CRO Charles River Labs, where he led global financial operations for the firm’s research models and services business. He also served as a divisional CFO at clinical CRO Parexel and spent 16 years with IBM in a number of financial roles.

“The addition of Karen and David expands X-Chem’s leadership team and further enables strategic growth plans,” said X-Chem CEO, Matt Clark, Ph.D. “With our commitment to establishing X-Chem as a leading global, scientifically driven drug discovery partner, their expertise and unique perspectives will play a crucial role in ensuring that we have the right approach, cutting-edge technology and well-defined strategy to achieve our mission of getting medicines to patients faster.” 

About X-Chem
X-Chem is a leader in small molecule drug discovery services for pharmaceutical and biotech companies. As pioneers of DNA-encoded chemical library (DEL) technology, the company leverages its market-leading DEL platform to discover novel small molecule leads against challenging, high-value therapeutic targets. As experts in medicinal chemistry, X-Chem can take those leads and progress them to clinical candidates with unmatched speed. Throughout the process, X-Chem’s advanced proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) technology accelerates all steps in the process. X-Chem also provides libraries, reagents and informatic tools to allow DEL operators to get the most of their DEL platform. X-Chem empowers its partners to effectively build drug pipelines from target to clinical candidate, enhanced with AI.