Allschwil, Switzerland, October 24, 2018
CMDO Debra Barker to leave Polyphor; Frank Weber to assist in the transition
Chief Medical and Development Officer Debra Barker has decided to leave Polyphor at year end for personal reasons and will support on a part time basis afterwards. Frank Weber, member of the Board, will further support the company during the transition and assume ad interim the CMDO responsibility from January 1st, 2019. A search for a replacement has been launched.
Polyphor announced today that Debra Barker, Chief Medical and Development Officer, will leave the company at her own request to focus more on her family and pursue part-time activity. She will continue to fully cover the position until the end of the year and after that will support the company on part-time basis to enable a smooth transition. Polyphor has initiated a search for a successor CMDO to cover the position as soon as possible. Additionally, Frank Weber, member of the Board and former Chief Medical Officer at Merck-Serono will support the company on a part-time basis during the transition period, and will assume ad interim the CMDO role from January 1st, 2019, until a new candidate will be retained.
"On behalf of the Board of Directors and executive team at Polyphor, I would like to thank Debra for her leadership and support during this crucial period of the company. She has been key in designing the murepavadin PRISM-MDR and PRISM-UDR Phase III trials, in the advancement of the balixafortide program and in supporting the IPO process, and wish her all the best for her future" said Giacomo Di Nepi, Chief Executive Officer of Polyphor.
About Polyphor
Polyphor is a clinical stage, Swiss biopharmaceutical company which has discovered and is developing the OMPTA (Outer Membrane Protein Targeting Antibiotics). The OMPTA are potentially the first new class of antibiotics against Gram-negative bacteria to have reached phase III stage in the last 50 years. The company's lead product, murepavadin, (POL7080) is in Phase III development against Pseudomonas aeruginosa - recognized as a critical priority 1 pathogen by WHO. Polyphor is also developing an immuno-oncology candidate, balixafortide (POL6326), which is in preparation for a pivotal trial program in combination with eribulin in patients with advanced breast cancer, and a pipeline of further preclinical antibiotics based on its OMPTA platform. Polyphor is based in Allschwil near Basel and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX: POLN). For more information, please visit www.polyphor.com.
For further information please contact:
For Investors:
Kalina Scott
Chief Financial Officer
Polyphor Ltd.
Tel: +41 61 567 16 67
Email: IR@polyphor.com
For Media:
Alexandre Müller
Dynamics Group AG
Tel: +41 43 268 32 31
Email: amu@dynamicsgroup.ch
