Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (Euronext: AMT), a leader in the field of human gene therapy, today announced that it has nominated three international pharmaceutical executives to join the Company’s Supervisory Board of Directors. The Company has issued a notice for an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of Shareholders on September 20, 2010, for the election of the nominees. In connection with these proposed appointments, George Morstyn will step down from the Board.
“We are pleased to nominate three highly experienced executives from the sector for appointment by AMT’s Shareholders to our Supervisory Board. We are at an important juncture in the development of AMT: completion of the approval process with the EMA for marketing authorization of the first gene therapy treatment in the Western world and the pursuit of several other promising projects. For the next stage of our development we want to strengthen the Supervisory Board as well as Management. We are excited that three highly recognized scientists and executives have accepted to join in AMT’s effort,” said Ferdinand Verdonck, Chairman of the Supervisory Board. “George Morstyn will leave the Board to pursue other activities in his home country. The Board thanks George for his highly valuable contributions to the Company’s development during the past two years and wishes him all the best in his new endeavors.”
“We expect that AMT will derive an enormous benefit from leveraging the impressive track record of our Board nominees in numerous key areas such as clinical and product development, regulatory affairs, product launches, and licensing. We consider their acceptance to join our Board as an important validation of our platform and our strategic focus on orphan indications, and look forward to working together with them,” said Jörn Aldag, Chief Executive Officer of AMT.
“In addition, we are happy to announce the appointments of Dr. Claudia Meyer, who will join the Company as Director Regulatory Affairs, and Dr. Gerald Haase as a senior clinical consultant,” continued Aldag. “Claudia joins us from Human Genome Sciences where she was responsible for European regulatory affairs. Prior to that she was responsible for regulatory affairs worldwide for a part of CSL Behring’s product portfolio. Gerald was a Senior Medical Officer at the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for 13 years. Prior to joining the MHRA, he held several positions as Medical Director in the pharmaceutical industry in the UK, France and Switzerland, and from 2005 to 2008 was a clinical consultant with Parexel, one of the leading global clinical research organizations. Both are joining us just at a time where their ample regulatory experience is of highest importance for the Company.”
--Background on Board nominees
-Joseph M. Feczko, M.D.
Joseph Feczko was, until May, 2009, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Pfizer, Inc., and a member of the Executive Leadership Team with global responsibilities for all aspects of the company’s medical, regulatory and safety activities. Following a time in private practice, he joined Pfizer in 1982 in New York. He then worked for ten years in the United Kingdom for both Pfizer and Glaxo where his responsibilities included supervising clinical research, regulatory affairs, data management and safety reporting. He returned to Pfizer in New York in 1996, where he held positions of increasing responsibility in clinical research, and regulatory affairs and safety, culminating in the role of CMO.
Dr. Feczko is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, Research!America, the International Longevity Center and the New York Academy of Medicine (all US).
He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Accordia Global Health Foundation and the Technical Expert Committee for Trachoma on the International Trachoma Initiative of the Task Force for Global Health. He is also a member of the Governing Board of the Technology Strategy Board of the United Kingdom.
He is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cardoz Pharmaceuticals AB (Sweden), and a member of the Board of Directors of Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (US).
Dr. Feczko is board-certified in Internal Medicine and a specialist in Infectious Diseases. He has a B.Sc. degree from Loyola University Chicago, and an M.D. from the University of Illinois College of Medicine.
-Steven H. Holtzman
Steven Holtzman, Executive Chairman of Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (US), is a highly experienced biotech entrepreneur, who has founded and led a number of life sciences companies. He also has substantial experience in building collaborations with major pharmaceutical companies and licensing products. From 1996 to 2001, Mr. Holtzman served as a Presidential Appointee to the United States National Bioethics Advisory Commission, the principal advisory body to the President and Congress on ethical issues in the biomedical and life sciences.
Mr. Holtzman served as Chief Executive Officer 2006 to 2009 and President 2007 to 2008 of Infinity Pharmaceuticals. He was also a co-founder of Infinity Discovery, Inc. and served as its Chief Executive Officer and as Chair of its Board of Directors from inception in 2001 until the time of its merger with Infinity Pharmaceuticals’ predecessor company in 2006. He also served as President of Infinity Discovery from 2001 to 2006. From 1994 to 2001, he served as Chief Business Officer of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (US), a publicly traded pharmaceutical company. Prior to joining Millennium, from 1986 to 1994 Mr. Holtzman was a founder and Executive Vice President of DNX Corporation, a publicly-traded biotechnology company.
In addition to his role at Infinity, he is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (US) and Sartori Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (US).
Mr. Holtzman graduated from Michigan State University and received his B.Phil. from Oxford University, which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar.
-François Meyer
François Meyer was General Director for Research and Development at Aventis Pharma, France until 2002 and subsequently Director-General of Aventis’ Gene Therapy Division, Gencell, until his retirement in 2006. He joined Gencell as Vice-President in 1996, within the Rhône-Poulenc Group, prior to the formation of Aventis when Rhone-Poulenc merged with Hoechst. He was promoted to Vice President of RPR Global Research in 1997, and Corporate Senior Vice President of Global Research in 1998.
In 1992, Dr. Meyer joined Sandoz Pharma's gene and cell therapy business as Vice President, while he also served as a member of the company's Corporate Research Board. From 1989 to 1992, he was Director of Research at the CNRS. From 1980 - 1984, he built and headed the Molecular Genetics department in the newly formed Biotechnology division at Ciba-Geigy, where he was responsible for the discovery and production of new recombinant proteins.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of BioSeek, Inc. (US), Introgen Therapeutics, Inc. (US), Gene Therapy, Inc. (US), and Urogene SA (France), and a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of Genethon (France), Systemix, Inc. (US) and Biotransplant, Inc. (US).
Dr. Meyer graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETFH), in Zurich, and studied Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Zurich. He received his Ph.D. from the Institute for Molecular Biology in 1978, and became a Senior Member at the Institute. During his career, Dr. Meyer has also served as a lecturer in Molecular Biology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
