NovImmune Strengthens Board and Management Team
<0> NovImmune SAJack Barbut, +41 22 839 71 41CEO </0>
announced the addition of Michael Steinmetz, Ph.D. to its Board of Directors and David Slack as Head of Corporate & Business Development
Dr. Steinmetz brings over 25 years of industry and investment experience within the healthcare sector. Since its inception in 2005, he has served as Managing Director of Clarus Ventures, a US$1.2 billion biotechnology investment fund based in the Boston area. Previously, Dr. Steinmetz was General Partner at MPM Capital, a healthcare venture capital firm. From 1986 to 1997, Dr. Steinmetz served in senior roles at Hoffmann-La Roche including Vice President of Preclinical Research and Development, and Global Head of Biotechnology. He is a member of the Board of Directors of several private and publicly traded life sciences companies.
Mr. Slack joins NovImmune to lead corporate and business development. He has a track record of innovation in senior roles at public and private biotech as well as pharmaceutical companies. His deal-making experience encompasses $1 billion in partnerships, spin-outs, financings, M&A, and major strategic alliances. Prior to joining NovImmune, David co-founded Kinagen, a next-generation kinase drug discovery and development company. Previously, David served as Vice President of Business Development at Isis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ISIS). Prior to Isis, David served in senior business roles at Rhône-Poulenc Rorer and Aventis Pharmaceuticals.
NovImmune CEO, Jack Barbut, commented, “We are delighted that NovImmune was able to attract high-caliber additions to our team with profound science and business experience. Michael’s addition to the Board will strengthen and widen the expertise of the team, an important asset for NovImmune’s development. David’s addition will help establish additional valuable partnerships for NovImmune’s drug candidates and next-generation antibody drug platform including our unique κλ-body technology.”
NovImmune is a leading drug discovery and development company focused on the creation of antibody-based drugs to benefit patients with inflammatory, auto-immune and other disorders. Thus far, NovImmune has advanced seven drug candidates to treat a range of conditions. The Company’s pipeline is a balance of preclinical and clinical candidates for validated and novel targets. NovImmune has established a next-generation antibody drug discovery platform that includes novel bispecific antibody drug capabilities - the simple, stable and smart -body (κλ-body™). In 2009, NovImmune received the European Biotechnica Award. In 2010, NovImmune entered a partnership with Genentech to advance the Company’s anti-IL17 drug candidate. In addition to pursuing additional drug discovery, development and commercialization partnerships, the Company plans to bring selected drugs to market for focused applications.
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