Quercis Pharma Appoints Philippe Douste-Blazy, M.D. to Board of Directors

Former French Minister of Health, Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and Chairman of UNITAID Brings Global Healthcare Expertise

ZUG, Switzerland, Nov. 12, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Quercis Pharma AG, a private, clinical stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging its novel antithrombotic platform to deliver innovative, safe, and broadly accessible treatments to patients with potentially life-threatening conditions, today announces the appointment of Prof. Philippe Douste-Blazy, M.D., to its Board of Directors.

“We are delighted to welcome Philippe to the Quercis board of directors. His knowledge and insight as a physician and a global government health minister will be invaluable as we advance our clinical development pipeline in a number of important diseases. As chairman of UNITAID, an international organization that supports innovations to prevent, diagnose and treat serious viral diseases more quickly, affordably and effectively, Philippe’s approach to drug development is well aligned with Quercis’ mission,” stated Thomas Lines, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Quercis Pharma. “At Quercis, we are developing innovative new drugs that are carbon-neutral through our fully biological farms in Brazil that produce raw material with the goal to provide an affordable drug to people and communities in need, particularly those in areas with less developed healthcare systems.”

“I am pleased to be joining the Quercis board of directors at this important stage in the Company’s growth as this team shares my passion for ethical drug development to create innovative and safe new medicines for patients with life-threatening diseases around the globe,” stated Dr. Douste-Blazy.

Dr. Douste-Blazy recently founded and is President of UNITLIFE, a United Nations (UN) initiative fighting chronic malnutrition through innovation. Dr. Douste-Blazy is a French UN official who, over the course of his career, served as Under-Secretary-General of the UN, Special Adviser on Innovative Financing for Development in the UN and chairman of UNITAID. He previously served as French Minister for Health (1993–1995 and 2004–2005), Minister of Culture (1995–1997) and as Foreign Minister in the cabinet of Dominique de Villepin (2005–2007). He was mayor of Lourdes (1989–2000) and of Toulouse (2001–2004).

Dr. Douste-Blazy studied medicine at Toulouse Sciences University, where he became a Professor of Medicine in 1988. Since 2016, he has been a visiting Professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

About Quercis Pharma AG

Quercis Pharma AG is a private, biopharmaceutical company based in Zug, Switzerland. Quercis Pharma is advancing a development pipeline of late-stage clinical studies that focus on the prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in cancer patients. In addition, Quercis targets other diseases associated with thrombotic events, such as sickle cell disease (SCD), Ebola and COVID-19. The Company’s lead drug candidate, Kinisoquin™, is centered around the plant-based active pharmaceutical ingredient, isoquercetin, which acts as an antithrombotic with significantly lower risk of adverse events than existing preparations. Quercis plans to initiate two Phase III studies for the prevention of VTE in pancreatic cancer and glioblastoma patients and will pursue U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the prevention of VTE in all cancer types based on these two Phase III studies. In addition, the Company expects to initiate Phase II studies of Kinisoquin for the treatment of SCD and COVID-19 (Phase II/III) and an animal study for the treatment of Ebola, which is expected to serve as a registration study.

Contact:

Ilias Läber, Ph.D.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Quercis Pharma
ilaeber@quercis.com

Anne Marie Fields
Managing Director
Rx Communications Group
afields@rxir.com

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SOURCE Quercis Pharma AG