– UK, London – Roquefort Therapeutics (LON: ROQ | OTC: ROQAF), the biotech company focused on the oncology segment, today announced the appointments to its Board of Directors of Ajan Reginald as CEO; Professor Sir Martin Evans (Ph.D., Nobel Laureate) as Group CSO and Dr. Darrin Disley as Non-Executive Director.
About Ajan Reginald
Ajan is an experienced biotechnology CEO with a track record in drug development, biotech transactions, and commercialization. Over 20 years, he has served as the Global Head of Emerging Technologies for Roche Group (SWX: ROG), COO and CTO of Novacyt S.A (LON: NCYT), and CEO of Celixir Ltd.
With Prof. Sir Martin Evans, Ajan founded Celixir PLC and developed a novel cardiac cellular medicine which completed pre-clinical development and won FDA, MHRA, and EU regulatory trial approvals. Celixir completed a licensing deal for its lead program in the Japanese market with Daiichi Sankyo, a Japanese pharmaceutical company which included a £12.5M upfront payment and a £5M equity investment which valued Celixir at ~£220 million.
Ajan is a graduate of the University of Oxford (MSc Experimental Therapeutics), Kellogg Business School (MBA) Northwestern University, and University of London (BDS). He is also a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship and alumni of Harvard Business School (AMP) and has represented England at the Hockey Masters World Cup and European Championships.
About Professor Sir Martin Evans, Nobel Laureate
Sir Martin was the first scientist to identify embryonic stem cells, which can be adapted for a wide variety of medical purposes. His discoveries are now being applied in virtually all areas of biomedicine – from basic research to the development of new therapies. In 2007, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine, the most prestigious honor in world science, for these “ground-breaking discoveries concerning embryonic stem cells and DNA recombination in mammals.”
Sir Martin has published more than 120 scientific papers. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1993 and is a founder Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He was awarded the Walter Cottman Fellowship and the William Bate Hardy Prizes in 2003 and 2001 was awarded the Albert Lasker Medal for Basic Medical Research in the US. In 2002 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, regarded as one of the world’s foremost centers for medical and scientific training. He has also received honorary doctorate awards from the University of Bath, University of Buckinghamshire, University College London, the University of Wales, and the University of Athens. Sir Martin gained his BA in Biochemistry from Christ College, the University of Cambridge in 1963. He received an MA in 1966 and a DSc in 1966. In 1969 he was awarded a Ph.D. from University College, London. He joined the Cardiff University School of Biosciences in 1999. He was knighted in 2004 for his services to medical science and in 2009 was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine in recognition of his valuable contribution to medicine. In 2009 he also received the Baly Medal from the Royal College of Physicians and the Copley Medal, the Royal Society’s oldest award, joining an eminent list of previous recipients including Albert Einstein.
About Dr. Darrin M Disley
Darrin is a renowned scientist, entrepreneur, angel investor, and enterprise champion who has started, grown, or invested in over 40 start-up life science, technology, and social enterprises, raising US$600 million in business financing and closing US$700 million in commercial deals. He was CEO of Horizon Discovery Group plc for 11 years, during which he led the company from start-up through a US$113 million IPO, and rapid scale-up powered by multiple acquisitions of US peer companies to become a global market leader in gene editing and gene modulation technologies. He was awarded a lifetime Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion in 2016 for his work in promoting enterprise across the UK and appointed OBE in 2018 for his services to businesses and enterprise in the healthcare sector.
About Roquefort Therapeutics
Roquefort Therapeutics is a biotech company developing first-in-class drugs in the high-value and high-growth oncology segment before partnering or selling to big pharma.
Since listing in March 2021, Roquefort Therapeutics has successfully acquired Lyramid Pty Limited, a leader in the development of medicines for a new therapeutic target, Midkine (a human growth factor associated with cancer progression), and most recently acquired Oncogeni Ltd, founded by Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Martin Evans, which has developed two families of innovative cell and RNA oncology medicines.
Roquefort Therapeutics’ portfolio consists of four fully funded, novel patent-protected pre-clinical anti-cancer medicines. The highly complementary profile of four best-in-class medicines consists of:
- Midkine antibodies with significant in vivo efficacy and toxicology studies;
- Midkine RNA therapeutics with novel anti-cancer gene editing action;
- MK cell therapy with direct and NK-mediated anti-cancer action; and
- siRNA targeting novel STAT-6 target in solid tumors showing significant in vivo efficacy.
For more information: https://www.roquefortplc.com/
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