Manatee bioscience firm chairman, former top Pfizer exec, replaces CEO

By Mark Gordon
| 5:00 a.m. November 4, 2023
| 2 Free Articles Remaining!

Manatee-Sarasota

Lakewood-Amedex Inc., an east Manatee County-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that develops anti-bacterial compounds to treat serious infectious diseases and conditions, has replaced its longtime CEO with board chairman Peter Corr.

Corr, who was senior vice president for science and technology and head of worldwide pharmaceutical research and development at Pfizer until his 2006 retirement, has been chair of Lakewood-Amedex since 2020, according to a statement. He’s now executive chairman of Lakewood-Amedex, the company says, where he “will assume the strategic responsibilities of former CEO Steve Parkinson who left the company at the request of the board.”

Parkinson had been president and CEO Lakewood-Amedex, founded in 2006, since 2007, according to his LinkedIn profile. The company has been awarded 74 patents since its founding, according to tech company database crunchbase, with 13 pending patents. It’s raised $29.6 million, including $24 million in 2021, crunchbase reports.

In addition to Corr, the company, with a corporate headquarters in a University Park office complex, announced several other leadership changes, including:

Dr. Thomas Balzer, senior vice president for clinical development, will take on the additional role of chief medical officer, while Vice President of Research and Development Kelvin Cooper was promoted to senior vice president of research and development. Balzer, board certified in internal medicine, worked for Bayer HealthCare, among other career stops, and Cooper, who holds 34 patents and previously held senior leadership posts at Pfizer, both now report to Corr, the release states.

"We are fortunate to have Drs. Balzer and Cooper serve in these important roles at Lakewood-Amedex, and their promotions reflect the level of accomplishment that they have brought to the company during their tenure,” Corr says in the release.

Lakewood-Amedex is developing what it calls “first-in-class antimicrobial and antifungal therapeutics” under the brand Bisphosphocins.

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Mark Gordon

Mark Gordon is the managing editor of the Business Observer. He has worked for the Business Observer since 2005. He previously worked for newspapers and magazines in upstate New York, suburban Philadelphia and Jacksonville.