David N. Primer, Ph.D.

Industry experience

Selected roles

1. 

   Eli Lilly

   Director, CMC Process Chemistry

   2022 – present

   Boulder, CO

   • Lead and develop the CMC process chemistry team — coordinating project assignments, technical training, and career development.
   • CMC project lead for LSN4170130, coordinating across three external vendors, discovery partners, and the broader CMC development team.
   • Developed the 4-step GMP route for LY4050784, internally delivering 500 g for GLP tox on an accelerated timeline; the process has since scaled to >100 kg at multiple GMP vendors.
   • Developed the 5-step GMP route for LY3866288 and led tech transfer activities that cut timelines by 70% and costs by 50% — keeping Phase 1 plans on pace for accelerated approval; scaled to >400 kg externally.
2. 

   Bristol Myers Squibb

   Senior Scientist / Principal Scientist, Chemical Process Development

   2020 – 2022

   New Brunswick, NJ

   • Optimized the final three steps of the CC-94676 (BMS-986365) synthesis — delivering >12 kg of Phase 1 material as racemate and as both single diastereomers in high chemical and enantiomeric purity.
   • Managed and trained two scientists on process development and route scouting toward a key intermediate in the bifunctional degrader portfolio.
   • Identified multiple crystalline forms of a high-MW (>900) greasy API, enabling the program to transition from amorphous precipitation to a controlled crystallization.
   • Provided technical leadership for tech transfers to partner sites in Colorado, Wisconsin, India, and China.
   • Co-designed browser-based high-throughput-experimentation software with ACD Labs and internal IT, improving data capture across the solubility, catalysis, and class-variable screening groups.
3. 

   Celgene Corporation

   Scientist I / II, Drug Substance Development

   2017 – 2020

   Summit, NJ

   • Developed a crystallization-induced resolution of a racemic amine — providing the first commercial-scale access to the single-enantiomer of a glutarimide-containing scaffold.
   • Scaled three processes from 500 g to >20 kg, supporting on-site manufacturing in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States for the synthesis of Iberdomide.
   • Filed a patent application and published a peer-reviewed paper on the novel processes developed for CC-90010.