The Client

Established in 2010 by Dr Simon Bryson and Dr Helen Shaw to bring much-needed licensed medicines to children throughout Europe, Proveca is a specialist pharmaceutical company developing and licensing off-patent medicines to improve the lives of children with chronic conditions requiring long-term drug treatment. Currently, 50–90% of the medicines that children take are in the wrong format and/or are not licensed for their use. Proveca seeks to provide children with the medicines they need in an appropriate formulation and with a valid licence throughout Europe.

The company’s business model, focusing on paediatric unmet need, not only provides significant social good but also positions it in an attractive commercial niche. Proveca’s leadership team brings over 120 years’ industry experience of developing, launching, and managing successful products and portfolios. The combination of its business focus, the strength and passion of its leadership team, along with its in-house capability to manage product development, regulatory pathways, and quality requirements, positions it as a leader in this niche space.

Utilising the experiences and needs of children, their carers, and their doctors, Proveca tailors the features and the benefits of its products to the specific requirements of children and is leading the way in licensing children's medicines using the European regulatory framework, the Paediatric Use Marketing Authorisation (PUMA) process. This regulation was specifically designed to increase the number of ‘off-patent’ medicines being developed and licensed for children. PUMA designated medicines provide an extended period of exclusivity like orphan drug protection, resulting in an attractive pricing environment for Proveca’s products.

The company’s current paediatric medicine development focus is in neurology and cardiology, covering indications such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and heart failure—but it is open to exploring other indications. Whilst the majority of Proveca’s business focuses on licensing ‘off-patent’ medicines, it has recently been working on a New Chemical Entity (NCE) developed by an oncology-based biotech in Continental Europe.

The Situation

Following the decision by Dr Helen Shaw, Chief Medical Officer and one of the co-founders, to move into a non-executive board-level position, the Board agreed to begin the search for a Chief Medical Officer to succeed her.

The successful candidate will bring a balance of experiential, leadership, and behavioural competencies to not only respond to the existing market challenges, but to continue to evaluate and bring new products online, thereby maintaining Proveca’s industry leadership, but also helping to create a compelling commercial story, leading, inspiring, and developing the business through the next phase of growth, bringing additional strategic and commercial bandwidth to the executive leadership team, driving shareholder value, as well as becoming part of an exhilarating growth story. Strategic capability, operational excellence, drive, and commitment to deliver the company’s vision are essential qualities for this key leadership position.

Dr Simon Bryson, Chief Executive, and Dr Helen Shaw, Chief Medical Officer, appointed Andy Theodorou and his team to support them with the appointment of this key leadership position. Andy and his team conducted a thorough search, identifying, engaging, and assessing high-calibre individuals who would not only bring the experience required for this role but also the energy, passion, and commitment for developing medicines for children with chronic conditions.

The Outcome

Following rigorous assessment of several credible candidates by the RSA team and by Proveca senior stakeholders, Dr Emre Amirak was appointed as Chief Medical Officer and joined the company in April 2024.

Dr Amirak is a GMC-registered medical doctor who brings a wealth of clinical and industry experience to this key appointment. He is a strong strategic thinker and passionate about developing medicines for children. Throughout his career, he always aimed, and succeeded, in introducing collaborative ways of working between medical and commercial departments, delivering improved business outcomes and patient benefits. With a successful track record of launching several drugs across the UK, Ireland, and the EMEA region, Emre brings significant value in his role at Proveca.

Client & Candidate Testimonial

"It has been an absolute pleasure to partner with Dr Helen Shaw, CMO and co-founder of Proveca, to ensure we attract a talented individual who shares their passion for developing safe and efficacious paediatric medicines. Emre’s experience in drug development and proven track record of launching several medicines will be of great value in his new role at Proveca." — Dr Andy Theodorou, Senior Consultant at The RSA Group

"The role of Chief Medical Officer is very important in helping us to achieve our mission of developing medicines for children, and the fact that we have been able to attract an individual of Emre Amirak’s calibre is excellent news. We’d like to express our thanks to The RSA Group for their counsel at the early stage of the search, their help in navigating us through the process and in clearly establishing what Proveca needed from this role." — Dr Helen Shaw, CMO at Proveca

"Emre has settled in really quickly and is doing a great job. He is popular amongst the senior management and his team." — Simon Bryson, CEO at Proveca

"It was a pleasure working with Andy and the RSA team during the appointment process, which was very thorough and meticulous. I'm delighted to join the team here and I'm looking forward to a long and exciting future with Proveca." — Dr Emre Amirak, CMO at Proveca