Biotech company Avacta Group plc (AIM:AVCT) reported on Tuesday the election of Neil Bell as the chief development officer of Avacta Life Sciences.

Effective immediately, Bell will be responsible for late stage pre-clinical and early clinical development of the company's pipeline of pre|CISION pro-drugs and Affimer immunotherapies. He will lead the development team to take a pipeline of innovative cancer therapies into the clinic over the next few years; therapies that have the potential to significantly enhance cancer patients' lives.

Most recently, Bell has served as senior vice president, Head of Global Clinical Operations at Autolus, a UK cell and gene therapy company.

Previously, Bell was head of Global Clinical Operations for Teva Pharmaceuticals as well as head of Clinical Operations at Daichi-Sankyo.

Earlier in his his career, Bell was part of the clinical development at Eisai and Pfizer as well as therapeutic area head for Gastroenterology and Neurology at Ipsen.