Staying up-to-date has never been simpler. Sign up for the free GenePool newsletter today!
Addex Completes Restructuring to Focus on Capturing Potential Upside from its Partnered Asset and CEO Steps Down
Geneva, Switzerland, 31 May 2013 - Addex Therapeutics (SIX: ADXN) announced today that it has completed the restructuring previously announced on 27th May and that Dr.Bharatt Chowrira has stepped down with immediate effect from his position as CEO of the Addex Group and director of Addex Therapeutics Ltd and Addex Pharma SA. In the interim, an operational subcommittee of the Board, headed by André J. Mueller, Chairman of Addex, will directly supervise the Addex Group. The Board has asked Tim Dyer, co-founder and CFO, to head the Addex Group’s plan to further reduce operating costs and seek investment, grants and partners to advance its pipeline and technology platform assets, including pursuing potential upside from its ADX71149 partnership with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ADX71149, an mGluR2 positive allosteric modulator (PAM) jointly developed with Janssen, is currently in Phase 2 clinical development for schizophrenia and anxious depression and funded entirely by Janssen. Dipraglurant, an mGluR5 negative allosteric modulator will also continue to be investigated for use in Parkinson’s disease in collaboration with The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Mr. Dyer, in his capacity as an external consultant, as previously announced, will also be in charge of the day-to-day operations in close cooperation with Board members.
As part of the reorganization, the Company has formally terminated 17 of its remaining 19 employment agreements, including all of the Executive Management, and these employees will work through their notice periods to execute the strategy. During this period, the Company will determine the optimal organizational and operating structure needed to build value for its shareholders.
“On behalf of the Addex Board of Directors, I would like to convey our sincere thanks and appreciation to all our employees for their hard work, dedication and wish them success in their future endeavors.” said André J. Mueller, Chairman of Addex. “In the coming months we will work diligently to secure the resources necessary to advance our pipeline and monetize our assets to capture potential upside for our shareholders.”
About ADX71149
Addex’ compound, ADX71149, an mGluR2 positive allosteric modulator (PAM) jointly developed in collaboration with Janssen, is currently in Phase 2 clinical development for schizophrenia and anxious depression and funded entirely by Janssen. The schizophrenia and anti-depressant markets represent worldwide sales of approximately $15 billion and $20 billion, respectively. Under terms of the agreement with Janssen, Addex is eligible to receive €109 million in pre-launch milestones for these indications as well as low double-digit royalties on net sales of products arising from the partnership. Recently, Janssen presented data at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatry Association, on their Phase 2, first-in-patient, trial investigating ADX71149 as an adjunctive treatment in patients with schizophrenia. The data showed that ADX71149 met the primary objectives of safety and tolerability and that ADX71149 demonstrated an effect in patients with residual negative symptoms.
About Addex Therapeutics
Addex Therapeutics (www.addextherapeutics.com) is a development stage company focused on advancing innovative oral small molecules against rare diseases utilizing its pioneering allosteric modulation-based drug discovery platform. The Company’s two lead products are being investigated in Phase 2 clinical testing: dipraglurant (dipraglurant, an mGlu5 negative allosteric modulator or NAM) is being developed by Addex to treat Parkinson’s disease levodopa-induced dyskinesia (PD-LID) and rare forms of dystonia; and ADX71149 (mGlu2 positive allosteric modulator or PAM) is being developed in collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to treat both schizophrenia and anxiety as seen in patients suffering from major depressive disorder. Addex also has several preclinical programs including: GABA-BR positive allosteric modulator (PAM) for Charcot-Marie-Tooth (type 1a) disease, spasticity in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), pain, overactive bladder and other disorders; and mGlu4 PAM for MS, Parkinson’s disease, anxiety and other diseases. Allosteric modulators are an emerging class of small molecule drugs which have the potential to be more specific and confer significant therapeutic advantages over conventional “orthosteric” small molecule or biological drugs. The Company uses its proprietary discovery platform to target receptors and other proteins that are recognized as essential for the therapeutic modulation of important diseases with unmet medical needs.
Tim Dyer
Addex Therapeutics
+41 22 884 1555
PR@addextherapeutics.com
Disclaimer: The foregoing release may contain forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as “seek”, “not pursue”, “not approvable”, “continue”, “believes”, “believe”, “will”, “remained open to exploring”, “would”, “could”, or similar expressions, or by express or implied discussions regarding Addex Therapeutics, formerly known as, Addex Pharmaceuticals, its business, the potential approval of its products by regulatory authorities, or regarding potential future revenues from such products. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of Addex Therapeutics regarding future events, future economic performance or prospects, and, by their very nature, involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, whether known or unknown, or any other factor that may materially differ from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Such factors may in particular cause actual results with allosteric modulators of mGlu2, mGlu4, mGlu5, GABA-BR or other therapeutic targets to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that Addex Therapeutics will complete the restructuring and reduction of its liabilities or any financing nor that allosteric modulators of mGlu2, mGlu4, mGlu5, GABA-BR or other therapeutics targets will be approved for sale in any market or by any regulatory authority. Nor can there be any guarantee that allosteric modulators of mGlu2, mGlu4, mGlu5, GABA-BR or other therapeutic targets will achieve any particular levels of revenue (if any) in the future. In particular, management’s expectations regarding allosteric modulators of mGlu2, mGlu4, mGlu5, GABA-BR or other therapeutic targets could be affected by, among other things, unexpected actions by our partners, unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; unexpected clinical trial results, including unexpected new clinical data and unexpected additional analysis of existing clinical data; competition in general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures; the company’s ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Addex Therapeutics is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable laws.
Help employers find you! Check out all the jobs and post your resume.