PARIS, Feb. 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Pharnext today announced that it has appointed Pierre Schwich as chief financial officer and Niall Murphy, Ph.D., as chief scientific officer. Both Mr. Schwich and Dr. Murphy have decades of relevant financial and scientific management experience.
Pierre Schwich, chief financial officer, has more than 35 years of financial leadership experience in both public and private companies, and specific expertise in financial strategy for fast-growing organizations. Prior to joining Pharnext, Mr. Schwich served as chief financial officer for Cellectis. As CFO and corporate secretary, he also led the initial public offerings at Oceasoft, Genesys Conferencing and HighCo after being investment director at 3i. Mr. Schwich graduated from the engineering school MINES - ParisTech, has also acquired a solid expertise in M&A transactions, from targeting to integration through negotiation and structuring, as well as successful experiences in building and managing financial and administrative teams.
Niall Murphy, Ph.D., chief scientific officer, has more than 22 years of experience in neurological and psychological research co-authoring more than 70 peer-reviewed publications on topics including addiction, Parkinson's disease, neuropathic pain, depression and anxiety. Dr. Murphy is an adjunct full professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and a member of the Brain Research Institute at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Prior to UCLA, Dr. Murphy was a unit leader at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute where he led a team of scientists and collaborated in the areas of addiction biology, neurotoxicity, anxiety, depression, and Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Murphy holds a bachelor's degree in biomedical sciences from Kings College London and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Cambridge.
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Daniel Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., chairman, chief executive officer and co-founder of Pharnext, said, "Pharnext is lucky to be adding two executives with the experience of Mr. Schwich and Dr. Murphy as we continue to focus on the successful development of PXT-3003 in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A and PXT-864 in Alzheimer's disease and other neurological indications. Dr. Murphy's scientific leadership will be essential as our pleotherapy platform provides us with opportunities to help patients suffering with a wide range of severe neurologic conditions where medical need remains high. Additionally, as the ongoing international Phase 3 trial of PXT-3003 in CMT 1A progresses, our products continue to advance and the company grows and matures, the financial leadership and expertise of Mr. Schwich will be critical."
About Pharnext
Pharnext is an advanced clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics that simultaneously target multiple key disease pathways for severe orphan and common neurological disorders. The proprietary research and development platform of Pharnext, based on network pharmacology, is applicable to a broad spectrum of diseases and allows the rapid development of "pleodrugs", synergistic combinations of repositioned drugs with established safety profiles. The company's two lead pleodrugs are PXT-3003 for the treatment of orphan disease Charcot Marie Tooth type 1A (Phase 2 clinical trial completed) and PXT-864 for Alzheimer's disease (Phase 2 clinical trial ongoing) and other neurologic indications (including Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).
Pharnext Contact
Daniel Cohen, M.D., Ph.D.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
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Media Contacts
Tony Russo, Ph.D.
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Russo Partners
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Florence Portejoie
Caroline Carmagnol
ALIZE RP
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