Appointment of New Chairman and Notice of AGM

Synairgen plc

18 September 2024

 

 

Synairgen plc

('Synairgen' or the 'Company')

Appointment of New Chairman

Posting of Report and Accounts and Notice of AGM

 

Southampton, UK - 18 September 2024: Synairgen plc (LSE: SNG), the respiratory company developing SNG001, an investigational formulation for inhalation containing the broad-spectrum antiviral protein interferon beta, announces that Simon Shaw will retire as Chairman at the conclusion of the forthcoming Annual General Meeting, to be held on 10^th October 2024.

Mark Parry-Billings, latterly Global Head of Drug Development at Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A ("Chiesi"), will succeed Simon following that meeting.

Dr. Parry-Billings joins Synairgen as an accomplished international biotech and pharmaceutical executive with a successful track record of more than 30 years heading R&D and leading businesses. Most recently, he held the role of Global Head of Drug Development at Chiesi, the privately owned global pharmaceutical company which focuses on innovative therapeutic solutions in respiratory health, rare diseases and specialty hospital-based care.

Mark has deep expertise in respiratory therapeutics and drug delivery to the lungs, notably having led multiple novel respiratory assets from early stage through clinical development to market approvals, with a primary focus on inhaled drug delivery across respiratory areas including asthma, COPD, pulmonary arterial hypertension, alpha-1 anti-trypsin deficiency, cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis and chronic cough.

Prior to his tenure at Chiesi, Mark led the Canadian clinical-stage respiratory biotech Topigen Pharmaceuticals as CEO until its acquisition by Pharmaxis in 2010. Mark also has more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and conference abstracts spanning activities throughout his pharmaceutical and academic career to-date.

Simon Shaw, Chairman of the Board of Synairgen, said: "I am delighted to hand over the reins to Mark, who is a world class inhaled drug development leader. Synairgen now has both a rigorous development plan for SNG001 and someone with the optimal experience to guide the company's direction through this next phase." 

Mark Parry-Billings said: "I have followed Synairgen's approach to SNG001 as a potential broad-spectrum antiviral for a wide range of severe lung infections for some time and look forward to working with the Board and broader team on its clinical development in a crucial area of unmet need, whilst acknowledging Simon's highly effective leadership of the Board to date."

2024 Annual General Meeting

The Company will hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at 2:00pm on 10 October at Numis, 9th Floor, 45 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7BF. The AGM will be held in person only.

The results of voting on all resolutions at the AGM will be announced via a Regulatory Information Service and the full results of the voting published on the Company's website, in the usual way, as soon as practicable after the conclusion of the AGM.

Annual Report

The Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023 and Notice of its 2024 Annual General Meeting have been posted to shareholders. These documents are available on the Company's website at www.synairgen.com.

Information required under Rule 17 and Schedule Two, paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies ("AIM Rules")

Full name:	Mark Parry-Billings
Age:	60
Shares held in the Company:	None
Current directorships:	None
Historic directorships in previous 5 years:	Atopix Therapeutics Limited Zymenex Holding ApS

On 17 November 2016, Mark Parry-Billings was appointed as a director of Atopix Therapeutics Limited. The company was dissolved on 2 May 2024 following members' voluntary liquidation. There were no creditor losses.

On 31 January 2019, Mark Parry-Billings was appointed as a director of Zymenex Holding ApS. The company was dissolved on 3 December 2020 following voluntary liquidation. There were no creditor losses.

There is no further information to be disclosed in relation to the appointment pursuant to Rule 17 and Schedule Two, paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules.

For further enquiries, please contact:

Synairgen plc

[e-mail]

Tel: + 44 (0) 23 8051 2800

Cavendish Capital Markets Limited (NOMAD and Joint Broker)

Geoff Nash, Camilla Hume, Trisyia Jamaludin (Corporate Finance)

Sunila de Silva (ECM)

Nigel Birks - Life Science Specialist Sales

Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7220 0500

Deutsche Numis (Joint Broker)

Freddie Barnfield, Duncan Monteith, Euan Brown

Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7260 1000

ICR Consilium (Financial Media and Investor Relations)

Mary-Jane Elliott, Namrata Taak, Lucy Featherstone

[e-mail]

Tel: [phone]

Notes for Editors

About Synairgen

Synairgen is a UK-based respiratory company focused on drug discovery and the development of SNG001 (inhaled interferon beta) as potentially the first host-targeted, broad-spectrum antiviral treatment delivered directly into the lungs for severe viral lung infections.

Millions of people globally are hospitalised every year due to viral lung infections and there are currently no approved antiviral therapies for the majority of these patients. Synairgen is developing SNG001 to address this need.

Synairgen is quoted on AIM (LSE: SNG). For more information about Synairgen, please see www.synairgen.com

 

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