In the specialized field of drug-device combination products, technical success requires a delicate balance between pharmacological chemistry and precision mechanical engineering. Designing an advanced therapeutic molecule is only half the battle; the other half is creating the inhaler, auto-injector, or transdermal patch that delivers that molecule into the human body safely, accurately, and intuitively. Navigating this intersection demands leadership that combines deep operational expertise with strategic commercial vision.
Kindeva Drug Delivery appointed David Stevens Chief Executive Officer effective January 1, 2026, following his promotion to President in October 2025. Before these appointments, he served as Chief Operating and Commercial Officer and, earlier, Chief Commercial Officer. Since joining Kindeva in 2023, he has brought extensive operational and commercial experience to the company’s work in complex drug-delivery technologies.
The Scottish Operational Foundations and Aptuit Turnaround
David began his pharmaceutical career in commercial operations, serving as a Commercial Officer at Inveresk in 2002 before moving to Charles River Laboratories in December 2002. Before moving on to Aptuit, he spent nearly four years with Charles River Laboratories. From December 2002 through July 2006, his work centered on commercial development in the Greater Edinburgh area, where he reported to the Vice President of Global Clinical Operations.
In July 2006, he joined Aptuit, embarking on an eight-year and six-month tenure that spanned multiple international assignments. At Aptuit’s Edinburgh operation, David initially worked at the intersection of sales, marketing, and commercial analysis. He developed reporting systems that helped track business performance across global operations. In March 2009, he took on an executive-sponsored Lean Six Sigma Black Belt assignment, broadening his contribution to organization-wide efficiency and quality initiatives. His progression continued in June 2010, when he assumed responsibility for operational excellence at the company’s largest UK site, overseeing improvement efforts across three facilities employing approximately 300 people.
Aptuit’s international operations took David to Verona, Italy, in July 2011. As Director of Operational Excellence & Planning, he spent the next ten months strengthening operational processes and planning capacity at a facility supporting research, development, and clinical manufacturing under Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements. The site employed more than 400 people, making coordination across its operations a significant part of the assignment. His work supported the site’s evolution into a more commercially focused contract research and development operation. Returning to Scotland in May 2012, he served as Director of Strategic Pricing & Business Operations, before being named Senior Director and Site Head in Glasgow in April 2013. Over the following 21 months, he led the Glasgow site through a business turnaround, drawing on his experience in operational planning, commercial strategy, and site leadership.
Executive Leadership at AMRI and Arranta Bio
In January 2015, David was appointed Senior Director and Site Head for AMRI (Albany Molecular Research Inc.) in the Greater Glasgow Area, managing sterile dosage-form development and GMP manufacturing. By October 2015, he was elevated to Vice President of Sales & Marketing, leading commercial activities across four global sterile GMP facilities representing a $130 million division. His responsibilities at AMRI reached a new level in August 2017, when he was appointed Senior Vice President & Head of Drug Product. The position placed the global drug-product business under his commercial and financial stewardship, including profit-and-loss accountability for a division valued at $130 million. He remained in the role until October 2019.
In November 2019, David moved into the emerging advanced-therapeutics sector, joining Arranta Bio in the Greater Boston area as Chief Operating Officer. Over the next several years, he helped build the organization’s development and GMP manufacturing capabilities for advanced biologics, including microbiome-based live biotherapeutics. His responsibilities evolved from COO to President & COO in January 2021, followed by his appointment as CEO in April 2022. He remained in the CEO role until April 2023. During this period, Arranta Bio’s development and manufacturing business was acquired by Recipharm in 2022.
Building on Two Drug-Delivery Legacies at Kindeva
David joined Kindeva Drug Delivery in April 2023 as Chief Commercial Officer. The company’s capabilities reflect two distinct histories in drug delivery: Kindeva’s origins in 3M Drug Delivery Systems and its combination with Meridian Medical Technologies in December 2022. While Kindeva brought extensive experience in inhaled and transdermal delivery, Meridian contributed a long-established specialization in rescue autoinjectors. Together, the businesses created a broader platform for complex drug-device combination products.
Today, Kindeva’s capabilities span parenteral, inhaled, transdermal, and intradermal delivery, supported by technologies that include autoinjectors, inhalers, patches, and microneedles. As CEO, he oversees an international operation focused on helping biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies develop and manufacture complex therapies. His responsibilities bring together operational performance, manufacturing capabilities, customer partnerships, and the advancement of drug-delivery technologies.
For him, the work does not end when a molecule or delivery device succeeds in development. Its value depends on whether the resulting medicine can be manufactured consistently, delivered reliably, and brought to patients at the scale real-world treatment demands. Reliable manufacturing, consistent product quality, and dependable execution are equally important when a therapy moves from development into commercial supply. At Kindeva, these priorities converge around the practical challenge of delivering complex medicines at scale.
In 2026, David continues to lead Kindeva through this intersection of scientific innovation and industrial execution. His career, shaped by experience across contract research, sterile manufacturing, advanced biologics, and drug-device combination products, illustrates how operational discipline and commercial strategy can help turn sophisticated drug-delivery technologies into practical solutions for patients.
