– IRELAND, Belfast – Fusion Antibodies plc (LON: FAB), specialists in pre-clinical antibody discovery, engineering, and supply for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications, today announced the appointment of Dr. Richard Jones as CEO, replacing Dr. Paul Kerr who stands down from the Board with immediate effect to pursue other opportunities.
“Richard joins us at an exciting time as we focus on the commercial roll out of OptiMAL, our Mammalian Antibody library and, in particular, on opportunities to develop COVID-19 targets as well as our oncology targets.” said Board Chairman, Simon Douglas.
He added: “I would like to extend the Board’s thanks to Paul for his contribution to the business and his stewardship over the last 10 years, during which time we have established a strong position supporting our customer base as they develop new antibody therapeutics and achieved the significant milestone of becoming a publicly-traded company.”
About Richard Jones
Richard Jones is an accomplished life sciences executive with 25 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry both in big pharma and biotech companies as well as running a contract development and manufacturing organization. He joins Fusion from BrYet Limited, a biotech company focused on the discovery and development of transtherapeutics nanotechnology for the treatment of metastatic liver and lung cancers. As CEO of BrYet, Richard led the company’s transition from a research group to a start-up biotechnology company.
Previously, Richard was SVP, Head of Europe for NASDAQ listed Akcea Therapeutics, a US biotech company focused on rare diseases. During his time in charge of the European operations, Richard successfully built a business with over 100 staff across 16 countries, generating revenues of c. $25m. Before this, Richard was CEO of Holostem Advanced Therapies S.r.l, a cell and gene therapy developer/CDMO, where he led the transformation of the business from an ‘early stage’ research-based company to a fully-fledged development, commercial and production entity. Before this, Richard was CEO of Akinion Pharmaceuticals AB, Swedish biotech focused on the discovery and development of signal transduction inhibitors for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia.
Richard previously served at Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline’s Global Oncology division, for GSK’s Rare Diseases unit, for Genzyme’s Global Oncology and Transplant business, and as International Franchise Director for Shire Pharmaceuticals.
Richard Jones said: “I am delighted to be leading Fusion Antibodies into the next phase of the Company’s evolution, building on the strong foundations and expanding its commercial success. Fusion Antibodies has a world-class and cutting-edge antibody discovery, development, and supply technology platform built over the last decade and validated through high-profile collaborations. Fusion Antibodies has the potential to generate significant shareholder value from its exciting technology platforms and services in rapidly growing therapeutic areas and in particular OptiMal, which represents a key future growth driver for the business. I believe that Fusion will play a significant global role in the discovery and development of novel, effective antibody therapeutics.”
Richard holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Oncology and Signal Transduction.
About Fusion Antibodies plc
Fusion is a Belfast-based contract research organization providing a range of antibody engineering services for the development of antibodies for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications.
The Company’s ordinary shares were admitted to trading on AIM on 18 December 2017. Fusion provides a broad range of services in antibody generation, development, production, characterization, and optimization. These services include antigen expression, antibody production, purification and sequencing, antibody humanization using Fusion’s proprietary CDRxTM platform, and the production of antibody generating stable cell lines to provide material for use in clinical trials. Since 2012, the Company has successfully sequenced and expressed over 250 antibodies and completed over 200 humanization projects, and has an international, blue-chip client base, which has included eight of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies by revenue.
The Company was established in 2001 as a spin-out from Queen’s University Belfast. The Company’s mission is to enable pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies to develop innovative products in a timely and cost-effective manner for the benefit of the global healthcare industry. Fusion Antibodies provides a broad range of services in antibody generation, development, production, characterization, and optimization.
Fusion Antibodies growth strategy is based on combining the latest technological advances with cutting-edge science to deliver new platforms that will enable Pharma and Biotech companies to get to the clinic faster, with the optimal drug candidate, and ultimately speed up the drug development process.
The global monoclonal antibody therapeutics market was valued at $135.4 billion in 2018 and is forecast to surpass $212.6 billion in 2022, an increase at a CAGR of 12.0 percent. for the period 2018 to 2022. In 2017, seven of the world’s ten top-selling drugs were antibody-based therapeutics with the combined annual sales of these drugs exceeding $63.2 billion.
For more information: https://www.fusionantibodies.com/
- Disclaimer - News, data, and statements included in this release are intended exclusively for general information purposes. Talent4Boards does not guarantee that news is accurate or about the correct person and accepts neither liability for the consequences of the reader’s reliance, nor responsibility for the accuracy of the information. Nothing in this release should be considered for decisions about referred securities. Products and brand names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.