LONDON, Oct. 5, 2023 - Alacrita Consulting, a leading pharmaceutical and biotech consulting firm headquartered in London, today announces the promotions of Saadia Basharat, PhD, and Jess Hearn-Messenger, PhD, both to Principal.

Saadia has a proven track record of helping biotech and pharma companies at critical junctures, guiding them on pipeline, partnering and licensing strategy, and supporting healthcare investors, particularly VCs, with assessing and evaluating opportunities. In recognition of her successful transition to San Diego, as Alacrita's Head of West Coast Consulting, she has been made a Principal of the firm.

In her new role, she will continue to advise clients on a range of strategic issues, including pipeline prioritization, disease area and indication prioritization, partnering strategy, and technical and commercial due diligence of therapeutics.

"Saadia is truly an integral part of our team. Since day one, she has been a trusted advisor to our clients in both the US and Europe, providing them with sound commercial and technical guidance and direction when faced with the most critical of decisions. We are delighted to promote her to Principal," said Alastair Southwell, Managing Partner at Alacrita Consulting.

Saadia holds an Honors degree in Biomedical Informatics, a Master of Science degree in Molecular Medicine and a PhD in Neuroendocrinology from Imperial College London.

As Principal & Head of West Coast Consulting, she will continue to lead and grow Alacrita's client base in the western United States and Asia.

Jess Hearn-Messenger joined Alacrita in 2016 and has 12 years of industry and consulting experience across the drug development value chain in academia, contract research, biotech, big pharma and regulatory agencies. She is a core member of both our due diligence and valuation practices, managing over 25 due diligence exercises per year, at both the triage/pre-due diligence and full/in-depth due diligence levels. Jess is also particularly adept at leading valuations exercises using Alacrita's risk-adjusted Monte Carlo model and contributes to its ongoing development.

As Principal, she will continue to advise clients on a range of technical and commercial issues and play a pivotal role in the company's growth and presence in the UK and Europe.

"Jess's expertise in translational science, combined with having industry experience across several core areas - biotech, CRO and regulatory -, makes her an exceptionally versatile and skilled consultant. She now has an extensive consulting record of successful engagements and has been a true asset to our clients," said Anthony Walker, PhD, Managing Partner at Alacrita. "I couldn't be more pleased for her promotion to Principal."

Prior to joining Alacrita, Jess held positions at GSK and Quintiles (now IQVIA), as well as at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

She holds a PhD and MSc in Systems Biology from The University of Warwick and an MChem in Biological Chemistry from The University of Leicester.

Additional information on Saadia Basharat, PhD, Principal: https://www.alacrita.com/consultants/saadia-basharat

Additional information on Jess Hearn-Messenger, PhD, Principal: https://www.alacrita.com/consultants/jess-hearn-messenger

About Alacrita Consulting

Alacrita is a pharma and biotech consulting firm whose value to clients is founded on the first-hand experience of its subject-matter experts. Consultants who have spent their careers discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing drug products.

Alacrita's core team leverages a purpose-built network of over 250 such experts who are brought onto project teams when their expertise matches the needs of the situation. This allows the firm to provide clients with precisely relevant support on a range of R&D and business issues, while offering the speed and flexibility expected from a professional consulting firm.

With over a decade of global, multi-disciplinary experience across a range of therapeutic areas and technologies, few firms match the breadth and depth in Alacrita's expertise. Please visit www.alacrita.com to learn more.

For further information, please contact:

Alastair Southwell, Managing Partner, U.S.
Email: usa@alacrita.com
Telephone: +1-617-714-9696
Address: One Broadway, Floor 14, Cambridge, MA 02142

Anthony Walker, Managing Partner, Europe
Email: europe@alacrita.com
Telephone: +44-(0)207-691-4915
Address: 2 Royal College St, London, United Kingdom

SOURCE Alacrita