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30th September, 2008
Evolva appoints new advisors
Basel, Switzerland, September 2008 – Evolva SA, an international biotech company which develops drugs with genetic chemistry, has expanded its Scientific Advisor team by appointing Jessica Mann and Michael S. Marriott.
"This is an important step for Evolva, as we are progressing our two lead compounds to enter Phase I in early 2009", said Alexandra Santana Sorensen, VP R&D
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Dr. Jessica Mann, MD, PhD is a cardiologist with long-standing experience in the cardiovascular and metabolic drug development arena; in particular as Medical Director and member of the Management group at Speedel, which has recently been sold to Novartis for $880 million. Before joining Speedel, Jessica worked for Roche and Novartis. In her current role as Company Head of CVDC GmbH she provides medical input and support to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, banks and investment funds. Jessica will be supporting Evolva’s EV-077-3201-2 clinical development alongside another advisor, Kjell Sakariassen, Prof., PhD, FAHA, who provides pharmacology support. Kjell was World Wide Head of Pharmacology at Serono, Director of Pharmacology at Pharmacia and Director of Discovery Research for Nycomed and has in particular extensive expertise in the antiplatelet therapeutic area gained in profiling Linotroban, Clopidogrel and Aspirin. EV-077-3201-2 is a highly potent antiplatelet compound with distinctive benefits - in particular for cardiovascular patients who also have diabetes or kidney disease. It has shown efficacy in animal models of thrombosis and diabetes and has a good safety profile. |
Dr. Michael S. Marriott, BSc, PhD has extensive pharmaceutical industry experience in the antiinfectives field. His early career was at Pfizer where he held increasingly senior positions, including leading the microbiology team that discovered and developed fluconazole (Diflucan), which reached peak sales over $800 million. Michael was also Director for Anti-Infectives of GlaxoSmithKline. Michael is now acting as a consultant to the Biotechnology and Venture Capital Industries worldwide and is a member of the Wellcome Trust's referee panel. Michael is adding support to Evolva’s second late stage pre-clinical compound EV-086-3314 for fungal infections alongside another advisor, Jay E. Birnbaum PhD. Prior to starting his own consulting company, Jay was vice president of global project management at Novartis/Sandoz, where he had responsibility for strategic planning and development of the company's dermatology portfolio, including Lamisil®, world’s largest dermatology brand of antifungal with a peak sales over $1 billion in 2004. EV-086-3314 is a broad spectrum, fast-acting fungicidal compound with a novel mechanism. It will be developed for several indications and has shown activity against both systemic and topical infection in animal models. |
About Evolva. Evolva uses genetic chemistry technology platforms to replicate, on an industrial basis, the ability of nature to evolve molecules with exquisite “design”. Evolva employs c. 65 people at locations in Switzerland, India, USA and Denmark. For more information see www.evolva.com.
