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OctoPlus N.V. (AMS:OCTO) OctoPlus N.V. ("OctoPlus" or the "Company") (Euronext: OCTO), the drug delivery and development company, announces today that the Board of Supervisory Directors will propose to expand the Executive Board with two new members at the next general meeting of shareholders later this year. The new Board will consist of Chief Executive Officer, Simon Sturge, Joost Holthuis, current CEO and founder, who will take up the new position of Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer Hans Pauli and Chief Business Officer Gerben Moolhuizen.
Expansion of the Executive Board to four people and the new division of responsibilities will ensure optimal use of expertise and experience to guide the Company to the next level and position OctoPlus for future growth and the building of shareholder value once the Company has secured a long term financing solution.
Proposed CEO Simon Sturge has over 27 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. He has founded and led several life sciences companies and executed a number of major business development deals. He has been on the Executive Board of several companies including Celltech, RiboTargets and Vernalis. He was CEO of Vernalis for the past 5 years. Mr. Sturge has a large network in the pharma and biotech industry as well as in the financial community.
Gerben Moolhuizen joined OctoPlus in 2001 and has been Chief Business Officer since January 2006. OctoPlus' current Executive Board of Joost Holthuis and Hans Pauli will be expanded with the two new members Mr. Moolhuizen and Mr. Sturge.
"We look forward to welcome Simon Sturge and Gerben Moolhuizen to our Executive Board and to see their combined experience benefit OctoPlus' future," comments Hans Stellingsma, Chairman of the Board of Supervisory Directors of OctoPlus. "The Board nominates Mr. Sturge based on his excellent track record leading innovative publicly listed life sciences companies, as well as his large business network and strong executive qualities. We thank Joost Holthuis for his immense contribution to the growth and success of OctoPlus during the past 13 years. His continued involvement as Chief Operating Officer ensures that his valuable experience remains with the Company."
Joost Holthuis says: "Upon my request, our Board of Supervisory Directors has accepted my resignation from my CEO duties, enabling me to focus on OctoPlus' R&D and manufacturing operations. I look forward to continue contributing to the future of OctoPlus in my new position as Chief Operating Officer. As a co-founder and major shareholder of OctoPlus I am very confident that Simon Sturge is the right man to be my successor in taking OctoPlus to the next level."
Simon Sturge comments: "OctoPlus has a unique drug delivery technology for the controlled release of injectable products. This technology has been validated by the Phase II data of our most advanced product Locteron. I look forward to being part of this very exiting opportunity. I am very glad that Joost Holthuis will stay on in the position of Chief Operating Officer. This way the Company will continue to benefit from his experience and in-depth knowledge of OctoPlus and its development through the years." For further information, please contact: Rianne Roukema, Corporate Communications, telephone number +31 (71) 524 1071 or e-mail IR@octoplus.nl.
About OctoPlus OctoPlus N.V. is a product-oriented biopharmaceutical company committed to the creation of improved pharmaceutical products that are based on OctoPlus' proprietary drug delivery technologies and have fewer side effects, improved patient convenience and a better efficacy/safety balance than existing therapies. Rather than seeking to discover novel drug candidates through early stage research activities, OctoPlus focuses on the development of long-acting, controlled-release versions of known protein therapeutics, other drugs, and vaccines.
Our pipeline consists of 5 products in pre-clinical and clinical development. Our lead product is Locteron, a controlled release formulation of interferon alfa for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C, which we are co-developing with Biolex Therapeutics. Locteron is currently in Phase II clinical studies. Furthermore, our pipeline comprises a product candidate for the treatment of chronic middle ear infection, which has completed Phase II clinical proof of concept testing, a pre-clinical GLP-1 analogue product candidate for the treatment of diabetes and two pre-clinical-stage single-shot vaccines.
In addition, OctoPlus is a European leading provider of advanced drug formulation and clinical scale manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, with a focus on difficult to formulate active pharmaceutical ingredients. The earnings and expertise that we derive from rendering formulation and manufacturing services help to support our own drug development programs.
OctoPlus is listed on Euronext Amsterdam by NYSE Euronext under the symbol OCTO. For more information about OctoPlus, please visit our website www.octoplus.nl.
This document may contain certain forward-looking statements relating to the business, financial performance and results of OctoPlus N.V. and the industry in which it operates. These statements are based on OctoPlus N.V.'s current plans, estimates and projections, as well as its expectations of external conditions and events. In particular the words "expect", "anticipate", "predict", "estimate", "project", "plan", "may", "should", "would", "will", "intend", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We caution investors that a number of important factors, and the inherent risks and uncertainties that such statements involve, could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. In the event of any inconsistency between an English version and a Dutch version of this document, the English version will prevail over the Dutch version.
