Board Changes

RNS Number : 0424H

Immupharma PLC

30 July 2021

 

30 July 2021

ImmuPharma PLC

("ImmuPharma" or the "Company")

BOARD CHANGES

ImmuPharma PLC (LSE:IMM; Euronext Growth Brussels: ALIMM),  the specialist drug discovery and development company, provides notification of changes to its Board of Directors.

Over the last year, ImmuPharma has continued to progress Lupuzor™ toward its international Phase 3 trial in conjunction with its partner, Avion Pharmaceuticals. In addition, the Company has been active in repositioning and further developing its key assets in the earlier stage development portfolio, including programmes being run in its wholly-owned subsidiary Ureka Pharma SAS.  

At this time, Dimitri Dimitriou, Chief Executive Officer ('CEO'), has informed the Board that he wishes to step down from his position, in order to pursue a number of other external opportunities.

The Board would like to express its gratitude to Dimitri for his 16 years of service and wishes him well for the future.

Tim McCarthy, Chairman, has been appointed as CEO. The Company has initiated a process to identify a suitable person to take over as Non-Executive Chair of the Company and during this interim period Tim will continue as Chairman.

Further, Dr Franco di Muzio, Senior Non-Executive Director ('NED') and Dr Stéphane Méry, ('NED'), have also decided that now is an appropriate time for each of them to step down from the Board following 14 and 6 years in these roles respectively.

The Board would like to express its gratitude to Franco and Stéphane and wish them both well for the future.

As a consequence of Franco and Stéphane stepping down, the Company has recognised the need to identify new NEDs to take the Company through its next stage of development, with direct experience in building a more diverse drug development business together with current public market experience.

We are therefore pleased to announce today the appointment of Dr Sanjeev Pandya as Senior independent NED. Sanjeev has over 25 years of healthcare and international management experience. Sanjeev was formerly CEO of Advanced Oncotherapy Plc, a specialist cancer radiotherapy business listed on AIM. During his leadership, Sanjeev raised over $100m and developed and secured partnerships in the USA, EU, China, Singapore, India, Australia, Asia and South America. Formerly, Sanjeev had a number of leadership roles in several global clinical trials at Pfizer and was head of Europe Regulatory and Medical at Reckitt Benckiser. The experience Sanjeev brings in growing drug development businesses and mentoring commercial and clinical teams, will be hugely invaluable to ImmuPharma, as we move through our next phase of development.

In addition, Lisa Baderoon has been appointed to the Board as a NED. Lisa has been advising ImmuPharma since its flotation on AIM in 2006 and was appointed Head of Investor Relations in 2012. Lisa's key activities over the last period have been in providing strategic advice to the Board and liaising with investors, stakeholders and advisors of the Company. On joining the Board Lisa will be ensuring that shareholders' views and interests continue to be fully represented. Formerly, Lisa was a longstanding Partner at London based Buchanan Communications, one of the leading Financial PR agencies and part of WPP plc, heading up the Healthcare division.  Lisa is also the founder of Just B Communications Ltd, a bespoke advisory consultancy to both private and public companies.

The Company has initiated a process to identify one other additional new NED with the relevant skills and experience, who will join the Board in due course.

All Board changes take place with immediate effect.

Commenting on the Board changes, Tim McCarthy, Chief Executive Officer said: "We would like to take this opportunity to thank Dimitri, Franco and Stéphane for their hard work during their time in the business. In particular, having co-founded ImmuPharma in 2005, Dimitri has put in a considerable tenure as CEO with the various successes and challenges faced by the business over the years. We wish Dimitri every success in his future endeavours.

I am delighted to welcome Sanjeev to the Board. Sanjeev's experience, in both operational scaling of drug development businesses and his direct experience of engaging with investors both in the UK and internationally, will provide us with the appropriate skills and knowledge that we require for the next stage of our journey with ImmuPharma and he will be an excellent complement to Dr Tim Franklin, COO, who was recently appointed to the Board.

I am also extremely pleased to welcome Lisa to the Board. Having worked with Lisa over a number of years, I have been continually impressed by her leadership skills and work ethic. Lisa has an intimate knowledge of how ImmuPharma operates and is integral to shareholder communication and representation and she will contribute an enormous amount to the quality of the Board.

With my appointment as CEO, leading ImmuPharma through this next significant period, I am determined, working with the excellent team around me, in building shareholder value by progressing the development and commercialisation of all the key assets in our portfolio."

End

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION AS STIPULATED UNDER THE UK VERSION OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION NO 596/2014 WHICH IS PART OF ENGLISH LAW BY VIRTUE OF THE EUROPEAN (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018, AS AMENDED.  ON PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS INFORMATION IS CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

The following information is disclosed pursuant to Rule 17 and Schedule Two paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies in relation to Sanjeev Pandya (aged 48).

Current Directorships Redcliffe Healthcare Limited

Past Directorships held within last 5 years Odin Healthcare Ltd Advanced Oncotherapy PLC AVO (China) LTD The London Proton Therapy Centre Limited

Sanjeev Pandya holds no ordinary shares in the capital of the Company.

The following information is disclosed pursuant to Rule 17 and Schedule Two paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies in relation to Lisa Baderoon (aged 54).

Current Directorships	Past Directorships held within last 5 years
Just B Communications Limited	Ark Analytics Solutions Limited

Lisa Baderoon currently holds 43,963 ordinary shares and 1,100,000 options over ordinary shares in the Company.

For further information please contact: ImmuPharma PLC ( www.immupharma.com ) Tim McCarthy, Chief Executive Officer + 44 (0) 207 152 4080 Lisa Baderoon, Head of Investor Relations + 44 (0) 7721 413496 SPARK Advisory Partners Limited (NOMAD) Neil Baldwin Stanford Capital Partners (Joint Broker) Patrick Claridge John Howes Bob Pountney SI Capital (Joint Broker) Nick Emerson [phone] [phone] [phone] 4Reliance (Euronext Growth Listing Sponsor) Jean-Charles Snoy Degroof Petercam (Liquidity Provider) Erik De Clippel Backstage Communication Olivier Duquaine Gunther De Backer [phone] [phone] [phone] [phone]

Notes to Editors

About ImmuPharma PLC

ImmuPharma PLC (LSE AIM: IMM - Euronext Growth: ALIMM) is a specialty biopharmaceutical company that discovers and develops peptide-based therapeutics. The Company's portfolio includes novel peptide therapeutics for autoimmune diseases, metabolic diseases, anti-infectives and cancer. The lead program, Lupuzor™, is a first-in class autophagy immunomodulator which is in Phase 3 for the treatment of lupus and preclinical analysis suggest therapeutic activity for many other autoimmune diseases that share the same autophagy mechanism of action. ImmuPharma and Avion Pharmaceuticals signed on 28 November 2019, an exclusive licence and development agreement and trademark agreement for Lupuzor™ to fund a new international Phase 3 trial for Lupuzor™ and commercialise in the US.

For additional information about ImmuPharma please visit www.immupharma.co.uk  

ImmuPharma's LEI (Legal Entity Identifier) code: 213800VZKGHXC7VUS895.

 

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