Societal CDMO Appoints Elena Cant to Board of Directors

Societal CDMO Inc., a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) dedicated to solving complex formulation and manufacturing challenges primarily in small molecule therapeutic development, has appointed Elena Cant to the company’s board of directors.
 
Cant has more than 20 years of diverse business experience ranging across various functions including corporate development, business operations and strategy, marketing, commercial, manufacturing, and research and development. She has a track record of establishing and growing functional groups, product portfolios and new businesses in the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America for large and small biopharmaceutical companies.
 
Cant currently serves as the chief operating officer at TwinStrand Biosciences, where she leads the company’s operational organization in support of its efforts to develop its next-generation DNA sequencing technology. Prior to TwinStrand, she served in senior roles with Takeda Pharmaceuticals starting in 2012 as global head of vaccine strategy and business operations, where she built a new global vaccine business spanning nine locations around the world. In 2016, Cant was named commercial head of Takeda’s vaccine business unit, a position in which she built a global commercial organization for newly developed vaccines against infectious diseases with revenue potential exceeding $1 billion globally.
 
During her career, Cant has also held global strategic and operational leadership roles at Hospira and Mead Johnson Nutrition. Notably, while at Hospira she was responsible for establishing and managing the company’s manufacturing operations strategy group including contributing to the creation of its long-term operations strategy for generic injectables, biosimilars and medical devices on a global scale. She also previously served as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, working with major pharmaceutical and medical device companies in the United States and Europe.
 
“We are thrilled to add Elena to our board. She is an accomplished executive with significant leadership experience in strategic development, operations, and commercial activities at both large and small biopharmaceutical companies. Importantly, Elena brings with her the perspective of Societal CDMO’s target customers, offering valuable insight that will strongly compliment the skill sets currently present among our directors,” said Wayne B. Weisman, chair of the board of Societal CDMO.
 
“Societal CDMO has made significant strides over the past year elevating its profile as a trusted, high-quality CDMO partner within the drug development industry. This is an exciting time for me to join the company’s board and share my firsthand understanding of how its target customers view the CDMO relationship decision making process,” said Cant. “I look forward to working alongside the other talented directors to make a meaningful impact on the company’s continued positive trajectory.”