Krakow, Poland, November 5, 2013 / B3C newswire / - Polish biotechnology company Selvita, announced today the appointment of Dr. Miroslawa Zydron to the position of Member of the Management Board, Director of Chemistry Division and Dr. Krzysztof Brzozka to the position of Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer.
As of 5 November 2013, the Management Board of Selvita includes the following members:
- Pawel Przewiezlikowski - Chief Executive Officer,
- Boguslaw Sieczkowski – Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer,
- Krzysztof Brzózka – Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer,
- Milosz Gruca - Member of the Management Board, Director of Biology Department
- Sebastian Kwasny - Member of the Management Board, Director of Bioinformatics Department
- Miroslawa Zydron - Member of the Management Board, Director of Chemistry Division
The new appointments follow the extension of the scale of company’s operations, and are aimed at strengthening the new members’ responsibility for the results of their departments, respectively the Chemistry Services Division and internal R&D pipeline, as well as facilitate their contacts with the current and future Selvita’s business partners.
Miroslawa Zydron will be responsible for further stable development of Chemistry Services Division strengthening Selvita’s market position and building long-term relationships within the pharmaceutical, biotech, chemical and agrochemical environments.
Krzysztof Brzozka will be responsible for supervision of current internal projects aimed at the development of novel small molecule therapies both in currently established and future strategic collaborations with commercial partners, further development of the department and initiation of new research projects with both industrial and academic partners, strengthening international position of Selvita and to building both research and business relationships with pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions and investors.
Pawel Przewiezlikowski, the Chief Executive Officer of Selvita commented: “We are extremely happy with Krzysztof’s and Miroslawa’s performance. Our R&D division, headed by Krzysztof is progressing dynamically our multiple early stage programs in oncology, CNS and autoimmune disorders and has recently delivered two pre-clinical candidates in our Pim and CDK8 kinase programs. Krzysztof has also been instrumental in forging of our two co-discovery alliances with H3 Biomedicine and Merck Serono.
Mirka’s (Miroslawa’s) Chemistry Services Division has also been expanding rapidly, delivering successful projects to our existing customers from the innovative and generic pharma industry as well as starting new relationships in pharma, chemicals and agrochemicals markets in the USA, Europe and Asia.
We welcome the extended scope of responsibility of both colleagues and look forward to their continued building of exceptional value for our business partners, shareholders and employees”
“Since 2009, the Chemistry Division at Selvita, with our skills, experience, professionalism, flexibility and openness to the needs of our customers, has won their trust and worked on differentiated projects covering a broad range of chemistries and scientific approaches. Our current goal is to constantly grow in a stable way and further strengthen our market position in the area of R&D outsourcing, through continuous acquisition and ongoing development of highly skilled specialists, development of infrastructure and ensuring the highest quality of service, thus building long-term relationships with our clients in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical and agrochemical businesses.” said Dr. Miroslawa Zydron.
“The ultimate aim of our internal research and development activities is the development of breakthrough therapies in areas such as cancer or Alzheimer’s disease. Since its inception, Selvita created a unique in Central and Eastern Europe both in terms of scale and skills team of specialists that joined their efforts to develop first and best in class therapies which are guided by the current high standards of personalized medicine and the requirements of safety and effectiveness of new therapies. We sincerely hope that the intellectual property developed so far and the first-in-class molecules developed by our team will confirm their effectiveness in clinical trials, not only changing the lives of patients struggling with incurable diseases, but also allowing continued growth of the company and value for shareholders, as well as further development of the biotechnology sector in Poland” said Dr. Krzysztof Brzozka.
Dr Miroslawa Zydron joined Selvita in December 2009, and has been responsible for the formation and organization of the Chemistry Services Division, strategic development of the chemistry research services, presentation of the company’s offer and building relationships with international clients from the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical and agrochemical environments, as well as overseeing the ongoing projects to ensure the highest quality of services.
Dr. Zydron gained her experience in project management, formation of research and development structures and management of R&D teams in international organizations both in the scientific environment and Pliva company (then: Barr Pharmaceuticals, TEVA), as Head of R&D Laboratory, overseeing analytical and preformulation activities at the stage of drug form development and packaging processes in pilot production in GMP environment.
Dr. Zydron graduated from the Silesian Technical University (Poland), with MSc and PhD Degree in chemistry. Her PhD Thesis gained distinction from Academy of Sciences, Committee of Analytical Chemistry, for the best doctoral thesis in the area of analytical chemistry in Poland in 2004 - 2005. In 2009, she completed a two-year MBA Program at the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University in Rotterdam (Netherlands).
Dr Krzysztof Brzozka joined Selvita in 2007 as a specialist responsible for evaluation, due diligence and in-licensing of research projects. In 2009 he became a Project Manager of the first anticancer project initiated at Selvita and in subsequent years initiated further research projects, also in additional therapeutic indications. In January 2012 he was appointed to the position of Chief Scientific Officer and Member of the Management Board and is currently responsible for development of internal pipeline of novel, small molecule therapies across various indications.
Dr. Brzozka holds a PhD degree from Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich (Germany) and an MSc degree in Biotechnology, specializing in Molecular Biology, from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow (Poland). He also completed a two-year Executive MBA at Stockholm University School of Business and the Cracow University of Economics Business School. In the years 2003 - 2007, Dr. Brzozka conducted research at the Ludwig Maximilian University in the field of intracellular signaling, pathogen defense mechanisms leading to the immune system inhibition and the innate immune response. Dr. Brzozka has unique interdisciplinary expertise in development of projects in the preclinical phase, ranging from in silico studies, medical chemistry and, in vitro and in vivo molecular biology studies and toxicology.
About Selvita
Selvita is a Polish biotechnology company engaged in the discovery and development of breakthrough medicines to treat oncology, CNS and autoimmune disorders, as well as provision of drug discovery services. It was established in 2007 and currently employs 167 people, including 53 PhDs. Selvita has currently several internal projects at early or late discovery stage and is expected to move its first candidates to the clinic in 2014. The most advanced programs at Selvita are SEL24, a pre-clinical PIM/FLT3 mutant kinase inhibitor, with indications in AML and other hematological malignancies and SEL120, first-in-class small molecule inhibitor of cyclin dependent kinase CDK8. Other innovative projects currently in development include SEL141, an early stage discovery program of DYRK1A kinase inhibitors with therapeutic potential in the treatment targeting Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome, SEL201 – novel small molecule MNK1/2 inhibitors in oncology and inflammasome platform. Drug discovery clients of Selvita include more than fifty large and medium-sized pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies from USA and Europe. Selvita is listed on the NewConnect market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange in Poland (SLV).
Media contact:
Selvita S.A.
Paulina Wolanin
+48 668 111 456
paulina.wolanin@selvita.com
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