Responsibilities

Paul Covington is senior vice president of clinical development and operations for Furiex. He is responsible for overseeing all regulatory and clinical operations of Furiex, including design and implementation of clinical trials for compounds in Furiex’s pipeline.

Experience

Dr. Covington joined PPD in 1991 and has more than 17 years of drug development experience. As PPD’s executive vice president and chief medical officer, he designed and implemented the development programs for all PPD’s compound partnering alliances. Dr. Covington was responsible for the successful Phase I and Phase II development of Priligy^® and Alogliptin, both of which were partnered to large pharmaceutical companies following completion of the proof-of-concept studies. As part of his contribution to PPD’s compound partnering programs, Dr. Covington also participated in joint development committees with each alliance partner.

At PPD, Dr. Covington also oversaw all aspects of medical and regulatory affairs services for quality drug development including pharmacovigilance, medical writing and program management. He was at the forefront of establishing monitoring processes for patient safety and data integrity for complex studies involving extremely ill patients. Dr. Covington is well respected in the pharmaceutical industry and was often sought by clients of PPD for his knowledge in clinical trial design and development.

He has managed more than 100 clinical trials across a variety of indications, and is an expert in protocol design and clinical operations. During his career at PPD, Dr. Covington advised numerous pharmaceutical companies on drug development and regulatory strategies and successfully supported companies at key FDA milestone meetings.

Prior to joining PPD, Dr. Covington served in various medical roles in both hospital and private practice settings, where he was lead investigator in multiple protocols. He was medical director at Future HealthCare Research Centers in Birmingham, Ala., and chief of staff, director of cardio respiratory and director of critical care at Central Alabama Community Hospital. He completed his residency at Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham.

Education

Dr. Covington received his bachelor’s and medical degrees from the University of Alabama in Birmingham.