GenKyoTex S.A. CEO Resigns

Genkyotex Announces Leadership Transition

GENEVA & ARCHAMPS, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Genkyotex, the leading developer of selective NOX inhibitors, announced today that Dr. Ursula M. Ney has resigned as chief executive officer and as a member of the Board of Directors effective September 30^th 2015. Genkyotex’s Board of Directors has promoted Elias Papatheodorou to the role of acting Chief Executive Officer and Dr. Philippe Wiesel to Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. Mr. Papatheodorou joined Genkyotex in March 2015 as Chief Business Officer.

“Ursula’s contributions have been instrumental in establishing Genkyotex as the leader in the development of NOX inhibitors with broad therapeutic potential across a wide range of fibrotic and inflammatory diseases of the liver, skin, lungs, and kidney. On behalf of the entire Board, I would like to thank her for her work in building a solid foundation for the company,” said Ernest Loumaye, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman of the Genkyotex Board of Directors. “The Board remains committed to the promise of NOX inhibitors, and we are grateful to Elias for his willingness to expand his leadership position and assume this important role.”

Mr. Papatheodorou has more than 20 years of experience with private and public biotechnology companies, as well as with The Coca-Cola Company and Philip Morris International. Prior to joining Genkyotex, Mr. Papatheodorou served as Chief Business Officer of Covagen AG where he was instrumental in the closing of a CHF46 million series B round and in the subsequent sale of Covagen to Jannsen Pharmaceuticals, a J&J Company. Previously Elias was Senior Vice President for Operations and Business Development at Medigene AG, where he negotiated the original deal between Medigene and Syncore. Elias has also served as the CEO of novosom AG where he led the company’s exit and deal with ProNAi Therapeutics. He received his undergraduate education at Ithaca College and his graduate education at Cornell University.

Philippe Wiesel joined Genkyotex in 2010 and has been responsible for all clinical development activities at the company. Previously, Philippe founded Genexion, a clinical development company focused on developing early stage clinical assets with emerging biotech companies and European venture capital firms. Prior to Genexion, Philippe was Medical Director at Serono, where he was involved with the global development of several biologics and small molecules. In particular, he led the late-stage clinical development of Raptiva, achieving the first marketing authorization in Europe for a biological therapy targeting psoriasis. Before joining the biotech industry, he conducted basic research for over five years at Harvard Medical School and at the Division of Hypertension in Lausanne. Philippe holds a M.D. degree from the University of Lausanne.

About Genkyotex

Genkyotex is unlocking the potential of selective NOX enzyme inhibition to discover and develop a pipeline of drugs for hard to treat chronic diseases. NOX enzymes oxidize proteins, activating multiple disease pathways. Our first-in-class NOX inhibitors block this process to achieve broad therapeutic benefit in a range of prevalent and orphan diseases. For further information please visit www.genkyotex.com.

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