Chris Drake serves as Z-Alpha’s Vice President, CMC, with responsibility for all CMC activities in the Company. Dr. Drake joined Z-Alpha from Telix Pharmaceuticals, where he held various positions including Vice President, Radiochemistry, overseeing development and manufacturing activities for radiopharmaceutical drug products across Telix’s portfolio.
Dr. Drake obtained his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Imperial College London, working on polymeric vectors for gene therapy. He then moved to UCSF as a postdoc, working on the development of fluorescent imaging agents and various radiofluorination methodologies. He then joined SOFIE Biosciences, initially as a Radiochemist working on automating radiosyntheses using the ELIXYS platform. After SOFIE acquired the Zevacor radiopharmacy network, Dr. Drake became Director of Radiopharmaceutical Manufacturing, leading a group focused on new product implementation and lifecycle management for PET drugs. He left SOFIE in 2021 and joined the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research as Director of PET Drug Evaluation before joining Telix.