AUG. 16–BETHESDA, MD — PDA Chair Floyd Benjamin today announced with regret that, after 11 years, Edmund M. Fry, president of the international association for pharmaceutical science and technology, will embark upon a new career this September.
A search committee will be formed to find a successor.
“Ed Fry has been a remarkable leader for PDA over the years,” Benjamin says. “Ed joined the organization at a critical stage in its development and set a direction that has served PDA and the industry very well. Under his guidance, the association has become a strong and respected voice regarding the science and technology of pharmaceutical manufacturing.”
Most notable of his accomplishments are the “solid relationships built between PDA, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulatory bodies worldwide,” he adds
Fry joined PDA in 1991. During his years at the helm, many important milestones were attained, including: PDA headquarters moved from Philadelphia to Bethesda, MD, proximate to the FDA; a threefold increase in membership from 3,500 to 10,500; significant expansion of the PDA Short Course program, culminating with the opening of the PDA Training and Research Institute (PDA-TRI), the first of its kind laboratory training facility for the pharmaceutical industry; publication of more than 20 Technical
Reports including the launch of the series on Current Practices in Aseptic Processing, plus a catalog of book titles; significant growth in PDA chapters, both domestically and internationally; establishment of a PDA office in Europe; licensing of the Audit Repository Center; and key support of the Product Quality Research Initiative (PQRI) from inception to present.
“Certainly my years at PDA have been among the most rewarding of my career,” said Fry. “I will miss my close working relationship with the PDA Officers, Board, members and staff, and will continue to be an active member of PDA in my new role.”
Fry leaves PDA to join IVAX Corporation as Vice President of Compliance. Prior to joining PDA, he was Director, Division of Manufacturing and Product Quality, FDA, responsible for developing and implementing federal policy and requirements applicable to human drugs manufacturing and quality control. In 1989-1990, he led the FDA generic drugs investigations team that directed field efforts in uncovering and prosecuting fraud in the generic drug industry.
In other news from PDA, Gautam Maitra of Basel, Switzerland, will join PDA as European director in September.
“We are delighted that Maitra has accepted our invitation to join the staff,” Fry says. “With 15 years of European pharmaceutical industry experience, and familiarity with EMEA and FDA guidelines and regulations, he is ideally suited to handle PDA responsibilities in Europe. Moreover, his ability to communicate across functional, cultural and geographic boundaries made him an exceptional choice.”
Maitra, a chemist, has worked almost his entire career within the pharmaceutical and OTC industries. He has held project management positions in Basel, first with CIBA Geigy AG and most recently with Novartis Pharma AG where he has served for the past six years. Maitra has lived and worked in three European countries: Finland, Sweden and Switzerland, and is fluent in three languages: English, German and French (with a working knowledge of Swedish). He will continue to be based in Basel.