An accomplished executive with experience in the finance and healthcare industries, Mr. Richard Trevillion brings an impressive skill set to his current position as the Managing Director and CEO of Amity Partners. Richard Trevillion founded the London-based firm, which specializes in financial and corporate consulting to the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, in 2001. In his position, Richard Trevillion has directed a number of corporate mergers, acquisitions, and transactions for prominent pharmaceutical companies from throughout the UK. Before turning his full attention to Amity Partners, Richard Trevillion was the CEO of Meldex International PLC, a specialty pharmaceuticals firm based in London.
Initially hired by Meldex International in 2005 as the Interim CEO, Richard Trevillion was tasked with restructuring the company with an aim toward profitability and new growth. During his three-year tenure with Meldex International, Richard Trevillion enacted a number of changes that were critical in turning the company around. Specifically, Richard Trevillion streamlined Meldex International’s operational infrastructure, refocused the company’s core business model to focus on integrated specialty pharmaceuticals, and initiated a number of profitable new business partnerships and acquisitions. Through Richard Trevillion’s leadership, Meldex International achieved annual revenues of 30 million British pounds.
Prior to founding Amity Partners, Richard Trevillion held a number of prominent roles in the finance industry. Beginning his career as a solicitor with the law firms of Lovell White Durrant and Simmons & Simmons, Richard Trevillion’s expertise in corporate finance led him to a managerial role with Coopers & Lybrand Corporate Finance. From here, Richard Trevillion became Co-Director of the Healthcare Corporate Finance team at Arthur Andersen. Richard Trevillion next served as the Director of the Healthcare and Life Science Corporate Finance Team at Close Brothers Corporate.
Before beginning his career, Richard Trevillion received his undergraduate degree in Management Sciences from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. Richard Trevillion also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing and is a graduate of the School of Law at Manchester Polytechnic.

Diabetes Interest

Since August 2007 Richard has taken a special interest in Type 1 diabetes; distinct from Type 2. Type 1 is one of the few conditions with early age onset that remains incurable and has a dramatic impact upon the life of the sufferer and their carers.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas and destroys them. Autoimmune disorders are disorders in which the body’s immune system, which normally protects the body against foreign invaders, mistakenly identifies part of the body as foreign and attacks healthy tissue.

In the case of type 1 diabetes the body destroys the insulin-producing beta cells found in the pancreas. This means that the pancreas can’t produce insulin — a hormone that your body needs to regulate levels of sugar in the blood and within cells.

Type 1 diabetes usually starts during childhood. It used to be sometimes called juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, but because adults can also develop type 1 diabetes and because many people with type 2 diabetes also need insulin, these names have been dropped.

Doctors don’t know exactly why the body attacks itself like this, but certain virus infections may play a part as well as inherited (genetic) factors.

What are the consequences of having type 1 diabetes?

Many types of cells in the body need glucose as a fuel, and insulin is needed to move glucose from the bloodstream into the cells. In type 1 diabetes, with no insulin, or very little insulin, being produced by the pancreas, glucose in the bloodstream cannot move into the cells where it is needed. This leads to glucose accumulating in the bloodstream — this is called hyperglycaemia. The reverse is called hypoglycaemia which can lead to coma’s and death.

For the body to function well, blood glucose levels need to be kept within a healthy range, and high blood glucose (hyperglycaemia) can be the cause of many complications in people with diabetes. To combat hyperglycaemia, people with type 1 diabetes need to inject themselves with insulin several times a day to keep their blood glucose levels within a healthy range.

What are the complications of hyperglycaemia?

Having high blood sugar levels can lead to many complications both long term and short term.

Ketoacidosis

In the short term, if blood glucose levels remain high and hyperglycaemia goes untreated, a medical emergency called diabetic ketoacidosis may develop. This is when your body has no insulin to allow glucose to move out of the bloodstream and into the muscles and body cells. With the body’s cells unable to access glucose as an energy source, the body starts to break down fat cells to use as energy. Unfortunately, a by-product of the breakdown of fats is toxic waste products called ketones. The ketones can build up in the blood and lead to a coma and even death.

Heart and blood vessel disease

An increased risk of heart disease (including heart attack), stroke and peripheral vascular disease is a long-term complication of high blood glucose and diabetes. This is caused by deposits in small blood vessels which make the vessels thicken and leak.

Neuropathy

Long-term complications of high blood glucose include neuropathy (nerve damage). The excess glucose in the blood damages the tiny blood vessels supplying nerves. Eventually the nerves fail to transmit signals to the brain properly, or at all. This can lead to tingling, numbness or burning pains in the hands, feet and legs, as well as erectile problems in men.

Nephropathy

Kidney damage (nephropathy) is another long-term complication of high blood glucose levels. Tiny blood vessels in the kidney normally filter waste products and excess fluid from the bloodstream. These are then excreted by the kidney into the urine. However, in type 1 diabetes the kidney’s filtering system is damaged and waste products remain in the blood and protein leaks into the urine. Severe damage will lead to kidney failure, requiring dialysis or kidney transplantation.

Retinopathy

Damage to the blood vessels in the eye (retinopathy) is another complication of type 1 diabetes. This can lead to blindness. Cataracts and glaucoma are also more likely in people with type 1 diabetes than in people without.

Infections

An increased risk of infections — due to the immune system not functioning well — is yet another side-effect of high blood glucose.

Treatment and lifestyle issues

Because of the risk of developing complications from having high blood glucose levels, tight control of blood glucose so that it doesn’t rise or fall outside of a healthy range is very important in type 1 diabetes. This is usually achieved by a combination of insulin injections and self-monitoring of blood glucose.

The level of glucose in the bloodstream is influenced all the time by food eaten, level of exercise or activity, other stresses on the body, such as infection or major surgery, as well as by insulin dose. People with diabetes must continually adjust their insulin doses based on factors such as their blood glucose levels, when they are going to eat and how much exercise is planned, so that they can try to achieve good blood glucose control.