MaaT Pharma Appoints Savita Bernal as Chief Business Officer

MaaT Pharma strengthens management team adding strategic business development and product marketing expertise

LYON, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- MaaT Pharma announced today that Savita Bernal, PhD, has joined the company as Chief Business Officer (CBO). Dr. Bernal assumes this role from industry veteran, Jean-Marc Renard, MS, MBA, who had joined MaaT Pharma as CBO last year and has announced that he will continue to advise the company. Dr. Bernal will lead MaaT Pharma’s business and corporate development activities as well as develop commercial strategies as the company advances its portfolio of microbiome-based therapeutics designed to improve outcomes in the treatment of cancer and other life-threatening diseases. MaaT Pharma has evaluated its lead candidate, MaaT013, in 65 patients with acute graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD), including in a Phase 2 clinical trial and a registered compassionate use program in France (ATU nominative). In addition, the Company is actively developing an oral formulation of MaaT013 (a capsule, MaaT033), which will ease administration as the company expands its microbiome restoration biotherapeutics into new oncological indications.

“Savita’s business and marketing expertise in life sciences will complement the strong R&D activities and robust platform we have built to develop a new class of microbiome-based drugs in oncology,” said Hervé Affagard, co-founder and CEO of MaaT Pharma. “Her corporate development achievements over the last 10 years and her diverse skill set will greatly benefit MaaT Pharma as we continue to advance our lead biotherapeutics toward commercialization. I am excited to have Savita join our leadership team and I would also like to sincerely thank Jean-Marc for his invaluable contributions and for the breadth of experience he provided to MaaT Pharma.”

Commenting on her appointment, Savita Bernal added, “Microbiome-based products are increasingly recognized as important therapeutic options for patients. MaaT Pharma is at the forefront of establishing rigorous safety and efficacy testing standards for its products, with a commitment to improve patients’ outcomes in severe oncology indications. I am joining MaaT Pharma at a very exciting time and I look forward to working with the leadership team on the company’s growth strategies.”

Prior to joining MaaT Pharma, Dr. Bernal was the Director of Strategic Marketing and Corporate Communications, Business Development at biopharmaceutical company ADOCIA (Euronext Paris: FR0011184241 – ADOC) where she was responsible for several out-licensing deals and R&D collaborations with major biopharmaceutical companies. While at ADOCIA, Dr. Bernal led cross-functional teams and contributed to the company’s strategic decisions on its drug development programs ranging from preclinical to Phase 3 studies. Before this, she was Business Development Manager at e(ye)BRAIN, a medical device company that provided assistance in diagnosing neurological and psychiatric diseases. She led the development of the company’s commercial strategy in Northern Europe including engaging patient advocacy groups and key opinion leaders, which led to the first sales of its products overseas. Additionally, she was a Senior Consultant in the Life Sciences division of Ernst and Young in Paris. Dr. Bernal has a specialized master’s from the HEC Paris Business School and obtained a PhD degree in Cognitive Neuroscience as well as a Masters in Cognitive Science from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie and Ecole Normale Supérieure.

About MaaT Pharma

MaaT Pharma, a clinical stage company, has established the most complete approach to restoring patient-microbiome symbiosis to improve survival outcomes in life-threatening diseases. Committed to treating blood cancers and graft-versus-host disease, a serious complication of allogeneic stem cell transplantation, MaaT Pharma has already achieved proof of concept in acute myeloid leukemia patients. Supporting the further expansion of our pipeline into larger indications, we have built a powerful discovery and analysis platform to evaluate drug candidates, determine novel disease targets and identify biomarkers for microbiome-related conditions. Our therapeutics are produced through a standardized cGMP manufacturing and quality control process to safely deliver the full diversity of the microbiome. MaaT Pharma benefits from the commitment of world-leading scientists and established relationships with regulators to spearhead microbiome treatment integration into clinical practice.

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