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Catalyst Names Niklas Morton as First Chief Operating Officer

April 05, 2022 3 min read

Veteran Biotech Executive Will Direct Operations, Help Shape Growth Strategy 

Wilmington, NC, 5 April 2022 – Niklas Morton, a seasoned industry executive with extensive experience at PPD and SmithKline Beecham (now GSK), has joined Catalyst Clinical Research as chief operating officer, the company announced today.  

In this role, Morton will help drive the company’s global expansion and operational growth strategy, focused on providing creative and flexible solutions for clinical development projects enabled by innovative technologies and excellence and efficiency in delivery.  

Morton brings more than 30 years of clinical development experience to his role. He has transformed existing business units and launched new business units by developing and implementing strategic change initiatives involving talent, process, and technology upgrades. His leadership experience spans digital/decentralized trials, study start-up functions (feasibility, site networks, site contracts), biostatistics, programming, medical writing, project management, and clinical innovation. 

“I’m truly honored to join Catalyst because of its people-first culture and the talented colleagues who have executed so successfully in a challenging marketplace,” Morton said. “I have a great deal of confidence in our ability to work together to accelerate future growth.” 

“I have known Nik professionally for nearly 20 years and have absolute confidence that he has the attributes to help us move forward toward our next chapter,” said Nick Dyer, chief executive officer. “He shares a deep connection to our values and understands the forces contributing to Catalyst’s remarkable growth pace since late 2019.”  

Dyer praised Morton’s strategic awareness of combining digital data and systems to create new ways of working as CRO companies evolve in an ever-changing competitive landscape. “His experience in oncology combined with the ability to work across a broad swath of therapeutic and functional areas will contribute immediately to help chart future growth for our Flex and Oncology solutions,” Dyer added.  

About Catalyst 

Catalyst is a clinical development organization providing highly customizable clinical research solutions to the global biopharmaceutical industry through two established solutions: Catalyst Flex and Catalyst Oncology. With over 600 staff and offices in the US and EU, the company provides multi-therapeutic global resourcing and functional services through Catalyst Flex and a full-service oncology CRO offering through Catalyst Oncology. The company’s flexible service model is built from more than a decade of listening to customers, devising customer-centric solutions, and helping them drive breakthrough clinical development studies leveraging Catalyst’s expert teams and innovative technologies.

Catalyst is a portfolio company of NovaQuest Capital Management, LLC, a leading healthcare and life sciences investment firm.