News
PsiOxus Therapeutics Announce Two New Board Appointments: Strengthens US Presence
(OXFORD, United Kingdom and PHILADELPHIA, United States. 16th August2017)
PsiOxus Therapeutics, Ltd. (PsiOxus) today announced the appointment of Charles Rowland and Duncan Higgons to the Board of Directors as part of an ongoing drive to expand in the US.
Charles Rowland was most recently the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the global lupus nephritis market. Prior to this, he served as the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of ViroPharma, during which time the company grew into a global biopharmaceutical business with $500 million in annual revenues until it was acquired by Shire plc for $4.2 billion. Before joining ViroPharma, Mr. Rowland was executive Vice President, CFO, and interim co-CEO, for Endo Pharmaceuticals. In his earlier career, Charles held finance and operational positions at Biovail Pharmaceuticals, Breakaway Technologies, Pharmacia, Novartis and Bristol-Myers Squibb. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors for Blueprint Medicines, Nabriva Therapeutics and Viking Therapeutics, with previous board appointments including Vitae Pharmaceuticals, BIND Therapeutics, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals and Idenix Pharmaceuticals, among others. He holds an M.B.A. from Rutgers University and a B.S. from Saint Joseph's University.
Duncan Higgons has most recently served as a member of the board of directors of Jounce Therapeutics since November 2015. He served as COO of Agios Therapeutics, Inc. from 2009 to 2016 where he was responsible for leading a transformative deal with Celgene and for building the company including a successful IPO. Before joining Agios he served as Executive Vice-President, and Interim President and CEO at Archemix Corporation from 2006 to 2009 and prior to that he served as the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at TransForm Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately-held biotechnology company, which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson Company. Earlier in his career, he held roles of increasing seniority in strategic planning, marketing, sales and business development at Eli Lilly, Baxter and Alkermes, becoming Senior Vice President, Business Operations and Marketing at Alkermes where he negotiated numerous partnership and licensing deals. Duncan holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics from King’s College University of London and an M.Sc. in Economics from London Business School.
“I am delighted to welcome both Charlie and Duncan to strengthen the PsiOxus Board at this key stage of our growth,” stated Paolo Paoletti, Chairman of the PsiOxus Board of Directors “these two US based Board appointments are critical as PsiOxus continues to mature and internationalise”.
“Together with the recent opening of our facility near Philadelphia, the addition of two US based Board Directors is a continuation of our commitment to become an international biotech and a leader in oncolytic immunotherapy” added John Beadle, Chief Executive Officer. PsiOxus completed two deals with Bristol- Myers Squib (BMS) in 2017 including a transformative pre-clinical deal on NG-348, an innovative gene therapy product for cancer based upon the company’s Tumor-Specific Immuno-Gene therapy (T-SIGn) platform.
About PsiOxus Therapeutics Ltd.
PsiOxus Therapeutics is a development stage biotechnology company focused upon immune-oncology with headquarters near Oxford, UK and offices near Philadelphia, USA. PsiOxus has developed the proprietary Tumor-Specific Immuno-Gene therapy (T-SIGn) platform for systemic delivery of tumor- targeted oncolytic immune therapeutics. The T-SIGn platform is based on the company's oncolytic virus, enadenotucirev, which can be delivered by intravenous administration and replicates only in tumor cells. Enadenotucirev is currently in a clinical trial under a US IND in combination with nivolumab (Opdivo ®) in collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squib (BMS). The anticancer capability of the T-SIGn platform is further enhanced through “arming” the virus with transgenes. The armed T-SIGn platform makes possible creation of a broad range of systemically delivered oncolytic immune therapeutics including oncolytic viruses that express one or more antibodies, cytokines, immunomodulatory proteins, or nucleotide (RNA) based payloads. T-SIGn thus opens up the possibility of gene therapy for cancer. NG-348, the first T-SIGn product was licensed to BMS in 2017 with an upfront payment of $50million.
Contacts
PsiOxus Therapeutics Ltd.
John Beadle,+44 1235 42 98 40
For investors:
Burns McClellan, Inc., on behalf of PsiOxus Therapeutics Ltd.
Ben Matone,2122130006