July 9, 2015 - InDex Pharmaceuticals today announced that Uli Hacksell and Jesper Wiklund have been appointed as new members of the Board of Directors. Professor Hacksell and Mr Wiklund together bring to InDex over 40 years of senior management experience from the life sciences industry in drug development, commercial operations, and business development.
“We are very happy to welcome Uli Hacksell and Jesper Wiklund to the Board of Directors,” said Peter Zerhouni, CEO of InDex Pharmaceuticals. “Their deep knowledge, broad experience and extensive network add significant strength to our company as we move our lead drug candidate Kappaproct forward towards the market.”
Professor Hacksell commented: “Kappaproct is a promising drug candidate in late stage clinical development that addresses a significant unmet medical need of patients with ulcerative colitis, and I am very excited about the project’s great potential.”
Jesper Wiklund added: “I look forward to continue working with the InDex team as a member of the Board of Directors. I know the company well from my time as CEO and I am confident we will build significant value for both patients and owners as we advance Kappaproct through development.”
Uli Hacksell has over 20 years of international management experience from both large pharmaceutical and biotech companies. He was the CEO of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from September 2000 to March 2015, and led the company from a private start-up to becoming a public multibillion dollar company listed on the NASDAQ. Previously, Prof. Hacksell held senior executive positions at Astra AB and was president of Astra Draco, one of Astra’s largest Research and Development subsidiaries, where he directed an organization of more than 1,100 employees. Earlier in his career he held the position of Professor in Organic Chemistry at Uppsala University. He has a diverse Board experience from several long-term assignments, including SynAct Pharma A/S, SLS Invest AB, Action Pharma A/S and the Swedish Medical Products Agency. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Uppsala University.
Jesper Wiklund has over 20 years of international commercial experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. Mr Wiklund currently holds the position of Managing Director at Oberland Capital. Mr Wiklund was CEO of InDex Pharmaceuticals from September 2011 to March 2015. Over the course of his career he has completed strategic transactions with an aggregate value exceeding USD 700 million. He previously worked at Swedish Orphan Biovitrum where he was responsible for Business Development, at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Elan Pharmaceuticals in the United States and at Evotec in Germany. Mr Wiklund has a B.Sc. from St Marys College of California and a MBA from Harvard Business School.
Contact InDex Pharmaceuticals:
Peter Zerhouni, CEO
Tel: +46 8 508 847 35
peter.zerhouni@indexpharma.com
About Kappaproct®
Despite today’s drug treatment options, there are ulcerative colitis patients with persistent severe symptoms such as pain and frequent, bloody diarrhea. Kappaproct®, a DNA-based immunomodulatory sequence (DIMS) targeting the Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9), is a new type of drug that provides a powerful anti-inflammatory effect locally in the intestine, which leads to mucosal healing and alleviation of clinical symptoms. Kappaproct® also has, in contrast to many other drugs within the field, an excellent safety profile. Efficacy and safety data from completed clinical trials suggest that Kappaproct® can give seriously ill patients the opportunity to return to a normal life.
About InDex Pharmaceuticals
InDex Pharmaceuticals develops Kappaproct® - a new type of drug that can help patients with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis back to a normal life. The company is based in Stockholm. Among the main shareholders are SEB Venture Capital, Industrifonden and NeoMed Management. For more information, please visit www.indexpharma.com
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