Proposed Board Changes

RNS Number : 6572C

Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy

19 April 2017

 

Faron Pharmaceuticals Ltd
("Faron" or the "Company")

Proposed Board Changes

TURKU - FINLAND, 19 April 2017 - Faron Pharmaceuticals Ltd ("Faron" or the "Company") (LON: FARN), the clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, is pleased to announce the proposed appointment of two new Non-Executive Directors, Dr. Gregory B. Brown and Mr John Poulos, to the Company's Board. Pursuant to the requirements of Finnish law, the appointment of Dr. Brown and Mr Poulos remains subject to the approval of Shareholders at the Company's Annual General Meeting (AGM) which is to be held on 16 May 2017. The notice of the AGM will be published separately today.

Dr. Gregory B. Brown has more than 35 years of experience in healthcare and investment. Most recently, Greg founded HealthCare Royalty Partners, a healthcare-focused private asset management firm investing in biopharmaceutical and medical products, where he currently serves as Vice Chairman. In addition, Greg is currently a director of Caladrius Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ) and Nuron Biotech Inc and previously acted as a director of Invuity Inc (NASDAQ) between October 2014 and December 2015. Prior to this, he was a General Partner at Paul Capital Partners in New York, Co-Head of Investment Banking at Adams, Harkness & Hill, and VP of Corporate Finance at Vector Securities International.

Mr John Poulos has a wealth of expertise in global corporate life sciences, having spent 38 years working for AbbVie and Abbott. Most recently, John served as Vice President, Head of Licensing and Acquisitions for AbbVie, and Group Vice President, Head of Pharmaceutical Licensing and Acquisitions for Abbott Pharmaceuticals. During his career, John was instrumental in the negotiation of numerous acquisitions, including Knoll/BASF Pharma in 2001 for $6.9 billion and Solvay in 2010 for $6.2 billion. 

In addition, Faron announces today that Dr Juho Jalkanen will, as of 16 May 2017, step down from the Board as Non-Executive Director, a position he has held since 2013. Dr Juho Jalkanen has this month been appointed to a new position of Vice President of Business Development of Faron and has joined the Management Team of the Company.

Commenting on the proposed Board changes, Dr Frank Armstrong, Chairman of Faron, said: "On behalf of the Board, it is with great pleasure that we propose the appointment of Greg and John to Faron. They will both bring a wealth of global experience in the life sciences and investment community to strengthen our Board, particularly from a US and commercial angle, as we continue to progress through a pivotal year. I also congratulate Juho on his new position as Vice President of Business Development and extend my gratitude to him for his contribution to the Board over the past four years. I am confident that these proposed additions to the Board will bring invaluable insights and perspectives to the Company."

Dr. Gregory (Greg) Bailey Brown

Pursuant to Rule 17 and Schedule Two (g) of the AIM Rules, the following information is disclosed in respect of Dr Gregory Bailey Brown (aged 63):

Current Appointments	Appointments in the last 5 years
Caladrius Biosciences Inc	Invuity Inc
Monosol Rx LLC	Cardiorentis AG
Vanderbilt Clinical SARL	Acufocus Inc
Nuron Biotech Inc	Tear Science
	Healthcare Royalty Partners LP
	Healthcare Management LLC
	Healthcare Royalty Partners II LP
	Healthcare Royalty Partners II-A LP
	Healthcare Royalty Partners III LP
	Healthcare Royalty Partners III-A LP
	Vanderbilt Capital Partners LLC

Dr. Brown was a director of Oscient Pharmaceuticals Inc ("Oscient") between 2006 and 2009 having been initially elected to the board of Oscient as a representative of Paul Capital Partners, a financier which, during 2006,  arranged financing of approximately $70 million in aggregate for Oscient. In July 2009, as a result of being unable to refinance an existing convertible debt, the directors of Oscient (being 9 board members in total) filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection. Its assets were subsequently divested to satisfy the majority of creditors and Oscient was dissolved in July 2012.

There is no other information regarding Dr. Gregory Brown required to be disclosed under the AIM Rules.

Mr John Poulos

Pursuant to Rule 17 and Schedule Two (g) of the AIM Rules, there is no other information regarding John Poulos (aged 62) required to be disclosed under the AIM Rules.

Related Party Transaction

The appointment of Dr Juho Jalkanen to Vice President of Business Development of Faron and the payment of associated remuneration (€168,000 per annum, payable monthly) constitutes a related party transaction pursuant to the AIM Rules. The independent directors (being all Directors of the Company save for Dr Juho Jalkanen) consider, having consulted with the Company's nominated adviser, that the terms of the new management contract entered into by Dr Juho Jalkanen are fair and reasonable insofar as the Company's Shareholders are concerned.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

For more information, please contact:

Faron Pharmaceuticals Ltd

Dr Markku Jalkanen, Chief Executive Officer

[e-mail]

Consilium Strategic Communications

Mary-Jane Elliott, Chris Welsh, Lindsey Neville

Phone: [phone]

E-mail: [e-mail]

Westwicke Partners, IR (US)

Chris Brinzey

Phone: [phone]

E-Mail: [e-mail]

Cairn Financial Advisers LLP, Nominated Adviser

Emma Earl, Tony Rawlinson, Rebecca Anderson

Phone: [phone]

Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited, Joint Broker

Freddy Crossley, Duncan Monteith (Corporate Finance)

Tom Salvesen (Corporate Broking)

Phone: [phone]

Whitman Howard Limited, Nominated Broker (UK)

Ranald McGregor-Smith, Francis North

Phone: [phone]

About Faron Pharmaceuticals Ltd

Faron (AIM:FARN) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel treatments for medical conditions with significant unmet needs. The Company currently has a pipeline focusing on acute organ traumas, vascular damage and cancer immunotherapy. The Company's lead candidate Traumakine, to prevent vascular leakage and organ failures, is currently the only treatment for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) undergoing Phase III clinical trials.  There is currently no approved pharmaceutical treatment for ARDS. An additional European Phase II Traumakine trial is underway for the Rupture of Abdominal Aorta Aneurysm ("RAAA"). Faron's second candidate Clevegen® is a ground breaking pre-clinical anti-Clever-1 antibody. Clevegen has the ability to switch immune suppression to immune activation in various conditions, with potential across oncology, infectious disease and vaccine development. This novel macrophage-directed immuno-oncology switch called Tumour Immunity Enabling Technology ("TIET") may be used alone or in combination with other immune checkpoint molecules for the treatment of cancer patients. Faron is based in Turku, Finland. Further information is available at www.faronpharmaceuticals.com

 

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