Xenikos Appoints Eric Van Hooren As Chief Development Officer To Drive Forward T-Guardtm Clinical Development Program
Nijmegen, the Netherlands, November 2nd, 2016 - Xenikos B.V., focused on the development of innovative immunotherapies for the treatment of patients suffering from serious immune diseases or rejection after transplantation, announced today that it has hired Eric van Hooren as Chief Development Officer (CDO).
Mr. van Hooren has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including extensive work in clinical project and clinical trial management. Prior to joining Xenikos, he was Director Clinical Operations at Acerta-Pharma, where he was responsible for the set up and line management of the European clinical operations group, including the execution of Phase 1, 2 and 3 clinical trial programs with the compound acalabrutinib, a potential best-in-class irreversible oral Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor, that contributed to a major transaction with AstraZeneca in December 2015. Mr. van Hooren previously worked as a Program Manager at Merck, where he managed Women's Health Programs. He also worked for many years at Organon in positions of increasing responsibility in both clinical development and medical marketing.
At Xenikos, Mr. van Hooren will be responsible for preparing and executing the EU/US randomized active-controlled Phase 2 pivotal study of T-Guard in acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), as well as exploring new potential indications that might benefit from T-Guard's promise as a therapeutic tool for safely and swiftly resetting the body's immune system in T-cell-mediated diseases. He will take over the responsibilities of Dr. Edna Venneker, who is leaving the company to pursue another opportunity.
Xenikos announced just recently that the last patient has completed treatment in the Company's Phase 1/2 trial evaluating T-Guard for the treatment of steroid-resistant acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Ypke van Oosterhout, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, said: "We are delighted to welcome Eric to Xenikos in this very important phase of the T-Guard development. He has a broad background in strategic drug development for both new biological and new chemical entities, as well as in global clinical trial management and medical marketing. His many years of experience will be invaluable as we continue to advance our product candidate, T-Guard in clinical development and eventual registration for market approval in acute graft-versus-host disease, as well as explore other opportunities for this promising development candidate." Dr. van Oosterhout continued: "I would also like to warmly thank Dr. Venneker, who has been instrumental in driving our clinical program. We wish her the very best in her next endeavor."
About Xenikos B.V.
Xenikos B.V. is developing new, innovative immunotherapies to help restore patients' health and save lives. It is developing new therapies based on the action of conjugated antibodies that enables patients suffering from serious immune diseases or rejection after transplantation to reset their immune systems quickly and efficiently. Its lead product candidate T-GuardTM is currently being developed for the second-line treatment of steroid-resistant acute GVHD. Further information is available at www.xenikos.com .
Mr. van Hooren has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including extensive work in clinical project and clinical trial management. Prior to joining Xenikos, he was Director Clinical Operations at Acerta-Pharma, where he was responsible for the set up and line management of the European clinical operations group, including the execution of Phase 1, 2 and 3 clinical trial programs with the compound acalabrutinib, a potential best-in-class irreversible oral Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor, that contributed to a major transaction with AstraZeneca in December 2015. Mr. van Hooren previously worked as a Program Manager at Merck, where he managed Women's Health Programs. He also worked for many years at Organon in positions of increasing responsibility in both clinical development and medical marketing.
At Xenikos, Mr. van Hooren will be responsible for preparing and executing the EU/US randomized active-controlled Phase 2 pivotal study of T-Guard in acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), as well as exploring new potential indications that might benefit from T-Guard's promise as a therapeutic tool for safely and swiftly resetting the body's immune system in T-cell-mediated diseases. He will take over the responsibilities of Dr. Edna Venneker, who is leaving the company to pursue another opportunity.
Xenikos announced just recently that the last patient has completed treatment in the Company's Phase 1/2 trial evaluating T-Guard for the treatment of steroid-resistant acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Ypke van Oosterhout, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, said: "We are delighted to welcome Eric to Xenikos in this very important phase of the T-Guard development. He has a broad background in strategic drug development for both new biological and new chemical entities, as well as in global clinical trial management and medical marketing. His many years of experience will be invaluable as we continue to advance our product candidate, T-Guard in clinical development and eventual registration for market approval in acute graft-versus-host disease, as well as explore other opportunities for this promising development candidate." Dr. van Oosterhout continued: "I would also like to warmly thank Dr. Venneker, who has been instrumental in driving our clinical program. We wish her the very best in her next endeavor."
About Xenikos B.V.
Xenikos B.V. is developing new, innovative immunotherapies to help restore patients' health and save lives. It is developing new therapies based on the action of conjugated antibodies that enables patients suffering from serious immune diseases or rejection after transplantation to reset their immune systems quickly and efficiently. Its lead product candidate T-GuardTM is currently being developed for the second-line treatment of steroid-resistant acute GVHD. Further information is available at www.xenikos.com