Purdue Pharma Canada appoints new VP for R&D

Pickering, ON – Purdue Pharma Canada has named Dr. Julie Ducharme as its new vice president, research and development.

“Dr. Ducharme is a dynamic leader with a proven track record in clinical research, drug discovery and early drug development both in Canada and internationally,” said Dr. Craig Landau, the company’s president and CEO. “Her extensive network and her experience in progressing collaborative projects will be key to building a robust product pipeline and to driving Purdue’s growth strategy.”

Dr. Ducharme brings nearly 20 years of industry experience in drug discovery and early drug development, including 16 years at AstraZeneca, where she held roles of increasing accountability, culminating as the lead for the company’s R&D strategy for their analgesia portfolio. Most recently, she was general manager of human health therapeutics at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC).

An expert in the fields of drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, Dr. Ducharme has worked in numerous disease areas including analgesia, anesthesia, neuroscience, cancer and infectious disease. She is an adjunct professor of pharmacy at the Université de Montréal and sits on several scientific advisory boards.

She earned her BPharm, MSc and PhD degrees at the Université de Montréal, and held post-doctoral fellowships at McGill University and the Université de Paris.