– UK, London – Roquefort Therapeutics (LON: ROQ), the biotech company focused on early-stage opportunities in the biotechnology sector, today announced the appointment of Jean Duvall to its Board as a Non-Executive Director.
“I welcome Jean Duvall to the Company’s Board, where she will provide invaluable insight and expertise in helping Roquefort Therapeutics develop and progress our preclinical programmes. Jean’s track record speaks for itself and her knowledge and experience in drug development, commercialising programmes and value creation in life sciences will be a valuable asset to our team. Roquefort Therapeutics is putting together a top team in place and we look to the future with optimism,” said Executive Chairman, Stephen West.
The company also announced the resignation of Mark Rollins as a Non-Executive Director.
About Jean Duvall
Ms Duvall is a highly accomplished individual in the biotech and pharma sector, with over 25 years of experience in executive roles in the industry. During this time, Ms Duvall acted for Ferring Pharmaceuticals, as one of the Executive Board Members who built the company from a US$700 million to US$2 billion in revenue. During her time at Ferring, Ms. Duvall led or co-led over 10 transactions and had legal oversight on over 25 transactions. Ms. Duvall has a significant track record in corporate development having led multiple successful M&A, divestment, and licensing deals throughout her career. During her time at Elan Corporation, Ms Duvall was responsible for the launch and commercialisation of Tysabri, a treatment for multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease, outside of the US in collaboration with Biogen Idec. She previously had the role of General Counsel at Elan and was legal lead, negotiating the divestment of over $2bn in assets.
Additionally, she has co-founded and led biopharma start-ups including Trizell and Amzell, resulting in multiple products having successful phase 2 and 3 clinical studies. Trizell in particular received several multi-billion dollar offers for its lead oncology gene therapy product, Adstiladrin, which is now in the registration phase.
Ms Duvall is currently CEO and Co-Founder of ReproNovo, a women’s health and reproductive medicine company focussing on R&D and manufacturing with potential products entering phase 2 and phase 1. Additionally, Ms. Duvall is a Non Executive Board member of an AIM-listed life sciences company, Ondine Biomedical Inc., a company focused on photo disinfection-based therapies to prevent and treat a broad spectrum of infections, including those caused by drug-resistant pathogens.
Jean Duvall commented: “I am excited to join the Board of Roquefort Therapeutics. The therapeutic potential of Midkine is very interesting and I believe has the potential to meet a number of indications of unmet needs in major markets. I look forward to working with the team on developing its preclinical drug programme in cancer and to exploring the many other indications blocking midkine could help treat.”
About Roquefort Therapeutics
Roquefort Therapeutics is a Main Market listed biotech company developing products through the pre-clinical phase before partnering or selling to big pharma. The Company is focused on developing first in class Midkine inhibiting RNA therapeutics drugs for the treatment of cancer, chronic inflammation, autoimmune disorder and COVID-19. Recent progress within mRNA therapeutics has led to a reduction in drug development timelines and costs, increasing the chance of early value creation.
Through extensive research resulting in validation through publication in over 1,000 scientific publications, Roquefort Therapeutics has identified the potential to exploit the broad therapeutic potential of Midkine for a number of clinical indications of significant unmet need. Roquefort Therapeutics holds the largest global IP portfolio on Midkine. The Midkine blocking drug development markets have significant global market potential (in the multi-billion dollars). Roquefort Therapeutics’s pre-clinical programme is currently underway with an initial focus on cancer treatment aiming to improve immunotherapy responses.
For more information: https://www.roquefortplc.com/
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