Appointment of Chief Financial Officer

Trellus Health PLC

12 September 2023

 

Trellus Health plc

("Trellus Health" or the "Company")

Appointment of Chief Financial Officer

LONDON, U.K. AND NEW YORK, U.S. (12 September 2023). Trellus Health plc (AIM: TRLS), which is commercializing a scientifically validated and clinically proven personalized resilience-driven self-management solution for chronic health conditions at their intersection with mental health, announces the appointment of Joy Bessenger as Chief Financial Officer in a non-Board capacity, effective from 18 September. Joy's appointment follows the appointment of Steve Young, Interim Chief Financial Officer, as full-time CFO of EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc. Joy has been working as a consultant for Trellus Health since late July as part of an orderly handover from Steve.

Joy has worked for over 20 years with both privately and publicly held life sciences and healthcare companies, with significant experience across finance, operations, corporate strategy and development, compliance and governance and strategic communications.

Her most recent full-time role was at IMV, Inc., a clinical-stage, dual-listed (NASDAQ/TSX) biotechnology company, where she served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations. There, she took responsibility for a large portion of the CFO role, working closely with the CEO to develop a new capital markets and corporate strategy, helping to secure a $25m debt facility and engaging with current and potential partners, as well as institutional investors.

From 2017-2019, Joy served as Senior Vice President, Finance and Strategy of IN8bio, a then privately-held biotechnology company, where she helped raise a $10 million Series A financing, engaging with new and existing investors. Prior to this, Joy was the Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer of 3D Forensic, Inc., a privately held forensic animation company, where she raised seed investment from angel investors, and developed a five-year strategic plan.

Dr. Marla Dubinsky, CEO and Co-Founder of Trellus Health, said: "I am delighted to welcome Joy to the Trellus Health team as our new CFO. I believe her wealth of experience in life sciences and healthcare companies will be of great value to Trellus Health as we look to further execute our commercial strategy and secure additional partnerships, having evolved our delivery model and aligned our expenditure to lengthen the cash runway into at least 2025. On behalf of the Board, I would also like to thank Steve Young for his contribution to the Company during his time as Interim CFO, and wish him the best in his new role."

Joy Bessenger, incoming CFO of Trellus Health, said: "I believe the Trellus Elevate™ program has the potential to change the lives of people with chronic illnesses. I am excited to join Trellus Health at this stage in its journey and help deliver its whole-person healthcare approach to as many people as possible."

For further information please contact:

Trellus Health plc		https://trellushealth.com/
Dr. Marla Dubinsky, CEO and Co-Founder		Via Walbrook PR
Dr. Daniel Mahony Chairman
Singer Capital Markets (Nominated Adviser and Broker)		Tel: [phone]
Aubrey Powell / Jen Boorer
Walbrook PR	Tel: [phone] or [e-mail]
Paul McManus / Sam Allen / Phillip Marriage	Mob: [phone]

About Trellus Health plc (www.trellushealth.com)

Trellus Health (LSE: TRLS) is the first resilience-focused digital health company targeting the intersection of chronic illness and mental health. Trellus Health integrates its proprietary resilience-based methodology with the technology, tools, and expert coaching and educator team to deliver Trellus Elevate™, a whole-person technology-enhanced experience that empowers individuals to master their health and results in relieving disease burden, building self-management skills and promoting positive health behaviours that improves outcomes and enables thriving in the face of a chronic condition.

The Company was founded by Mount Sinai faculty members Marla C. Dubinsky, MD and Laurie Keefer, PhD, both experts at treating and healing both the physical and emotional impacts of IBD and IBS and have been innovators for whole person healthcare for a combined 50 years.

The Company was initially focused on inflammatory bowel disease ("IBD"), which includes the chronic incurable conditions of Crohn's Disease and ulcerative colitis but has now added Irritable Bowel Syndrome ("IBS"). Given the common emotional and mental health struggles often experienced by individuals suffering from a variety of chronic conditions, Trellus Health considers its approach to have potential utility and demand across many conditions.

The Trellus Elevate™ program incorporates the GRITT™ methodology and learnings on resilience from clinical research and practice conducted at the Mount Sinai IBD Center for more than five years. This proprietary, resilience-driven methodology has been scientifically validated to demonstrate meaningful improvements in patient outcomes, 71% reduction in Emergency Department (A&E) visits, and 94% reduction in unplanned hospitalisations, which the directors of the Company believe indicates the potential for significant cost savings for healthcare payers. Patients with IBD managed with the proprietary resilience methodology also experienced a 49% reduction in required opioid use and a 73% reduction in corticosteroid use 12 months following starting the program which is a major indicator of improved health outcomes¹.

Shares in Trellus Health were admitted to trading on AIM in May 2021, under the ticker TRLS. For more information on Trellus Health, visit:  www.trellushealth.com

¹ Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1542356521012258)

 

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