Promethera Biosciences Provides Update on Executive Management Team

MONT-SAINT-GUIBERT, Belgium--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- PROMETHERA Biosciences S.A./N.V., a global innovator in cell-based medicines and liver diseases, today announced the promotion of Mark Johnston to Chief Commercial Officer of Promethera Biosciences group (Belgium) and Managing Director of Promethera Biosciences LLC (USA); and Jef Pinxteren, Ph.D., to Vice President Operations of Promethera Biosciences group, effective immediately. Both have more than 20 years of experience in the field of cell therapy.

“The leadership and expertise contributed by Mark and Jef has been instrumental in the continued success of building Promethera as a leader in innovative cell-based therapies for liver diseases,” commented Dr. John Tchelingerian, CEO of Promethera. “Their promotion within the company reflects the opportunities that Promethera provides to its team to grow and evolve with it, and our ongoing efforts to ensure that we have the right personnel leading the groups responsible for the company’s operations.”

Mark Johnston has been promoted to the position of Chief Commercial Officer of Promethera Biosciences group and Managing Director Promethera Biosciences LLC. He joined Promethera in 2016 and has been responsible for all operations in the United States including Organ Procurement Organization management – an area where Promethera sees continued growth opportunities – cell manufacturing according to GMP, commercial manufacturing of Heparesc as well as starting and managing multiple revenue programs. Previous to joining Promethera, Mr. Johnston served as President of several regenerative medicine companies including ADMET Technologies, Vesta Therapeutics and Cytonet, LLC, the latter’s assets being acquired by Promethera in 2016. He received his MBA from the London Business School and has a BS in Physical Sciences from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Jef Pinxteren, Ph.D., has been promoted to Vice President, Operations of Promethera Biosciences group. He joined Promethera in 2016 as Director of Preclinical and Product Development in the research and development department and then transitioned to become Director of Process Development in the operations department. Prior to joining Promethera, Dr. Pinxteren served as Managing Director and Head of Research and Development of ReGenesys, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Athersys, Inc., where he built the company and established a strong research team with 17 scientists. At ReGenesys, his focus was to develop a compact and more cost-effective way of expanding the company’s product for clinical production. Dr. Pinxteren received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Antwerp, Belgium.

About Promethera Biosciences

Promethera Biosciences is a global innovator in liver cell-based medicines whose mission is to help patients overcome acute and chronic liver diseases. Our lead clinical program, derived from our patented cell technology platform HepaStem, is designed to benefit from its immune-modulatory and anti-fibrotic properties. We are a team of international experts operating out of R&D and GMP facilities in Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium, and Durham, NC, USA.

Promethera^®, HepaStem^®, H2stem^®, Cytonet^®, Heparesc^® are all registered trademarks of the PROMETHERA group.

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