AlgiPharma announces the appointment of Dr. Charles A Johnson and Mr. Mike Walters to the Board
We are extremely pleased to announce the appointment of two experienced and high-calibre pharmaceutical experts to the AlgiPharma Board as non-executive Board Members. Their combined expertise will be invaluable in bringing AlgiPharma’s alginate technology closer to market.
Dr Charles Johnson is an independent consultant with over 30 years’ experience in the biotechnology industry. He gained his degree in medicine at the University of Cape Town and specialised in Paediatrics and subsequently pulmonology with a particular interest in cystic fibrosis. He completed his Paediatric Pulmonary Fellowship at Washington University and continued to practice medicine for 18 years before moving to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. He has held leadership positions APT Pharmaceuticals, Inspire, Vertex and Neurotech. While Vice President and Head of the Immunology and Tissue Repair clinical group at Genentech he had responsibility for the development and approvals of XOLAIR®, for asthma, LUCENTIS® for wet age-related macular degeneration and RITUXAN® for rheumatoid arthritis. He has published widely in the scientific literature in his field of expertise and presented clinical data at international medical conferences. He is a citizen of the United States of America.
Mr. Mike Walters brings almost 40 years of business experience in pharmaceuticals. He began his career at Johnson and Johnson, and during his 14-year tenure took on roles of increasing responsibility within sales and marketing management and led training and senior management development for two of its operating companies. He left Johnson and Johnson in 1996 to start his first company, an organization focused on building the commercial infrastructure for organizations with no experience in product introductions and lifecycle management in the US. Much of his career has focused on Cystic Fibrosis, where he founded Source CF (which was sold to Eurand Pharmaceuticals in 2007), MVW Nutritionals and CF Global Services. He has led each of these companies to bring to market many of the products that are standard of care today. Mr. Walters attended Vanderbilt University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry and Chemistry. He is a citizen of the United States.
About AlgiPharma AS:
AlgiPharma AS is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company, founded in 2006 on decades of research and development carried out by FMC BioPolymer AS and the Institute of Biotechnology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway. AlgiPharma has completed 5 clinical trials with two formulations of its lead drug candidate, OligoG, to treat respiratory symptoms of cystic fibrosis. AlgiPharma is developing its proprietary alginate technology for:
- Delivery platforms for nanoparticles, small and large molecule based drugs.
- Drug conjugates, adding functionality and reducing toxicity of parent compound.
- API in disease areas such as cystic fibrosis, COPD, and infectious diseases.
AlgiPharma has pharmaceutical scale production capabilities for its technology protected by a broad family of patents.
AlgiPharma owns or licenses all relevant patents upon which the technology platform and products are developed. The company is supported by national and international research programs, and collaborates with a network of key opinion leaders, highly recognized academic institutions, research and patient organizations in Europe and USA.
AlgiPharma has received more than USD 46 million in research and development grants from EU’s 7th framework program, Horizon 2020, and Eurostars programs, the Norwegian Research Council, Innovate UK, Innovation Norway, US Army through Congressional Earmark funding, the Australian R&D Tax Incentive, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF).
AlgiPharma is a privately owned company registered and domiciled in Norway.
For additional information contact:
Yngvar P. Berg, CEO: yngvar.berg@algipharma.com
Arne Dessen, COO and Chairman of the Board: arne.dessen@algipharma.com