London, 23 January 2015 – Tiziana Life Sciences plc (“Tiziana” or the “Company”, AIM: TILS), the clinical stage biotechnology company focused on targeted drugs to treat diseases in oncology and immunology, announces that with effect from 5pm GMT on the date of this announcement Professor Christopher McGuigan and Dr Kunwar Shailubhai have been appointed as non-executive directors and that Andrew Gutmann has resigned from the board.
Professor Christopher McGuigan
Professor McGuigan is Chairman of Life Sciences Hub Wales Limited, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cardiff University and Director of the National Research Network in Health and Life Sciences of the Welsh Government. He is also on the boards of Synergy Pharmaceuticals and ContraVir Pharmaceuticals, both New York biotechnology companies listed on NASDAQ and on the scientific advisory board of Nucana Biomed, an Edinburgh based company with assets in clinical trials. To date Professor McGuigan has invented three new agents that have reached clinical trials, with peak value of US$3bn. He has over 220 peer reviewed scientific publications with over 100 patents filed.
Further information pursuant to schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for nominated advisers is set out below.
Professor Christopher Barry McGuigan, age 56
Current directorships and partnerships as at the date of appointment as a director to the Company
Life Science Hub Wales Limited
ContraVir Pharmaceuticals, Inc
Synergy Pharmaceuticals, Inc
Arthurian Life Sciences Limited
Directorships and partnerships for the five year period prior to appointment as a director to the Company Inhibitex Inc
Dr Kunwar Shailubhai
Dr Shailubhai Ph.D., M.B.A. is a Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Synergy Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (previously senior vice president), a NASDAQ-listed biotechnology company focusing on innovative therapeutics for treatment of gastrointestinal disorders and diseases, and colon cancer. Dr Shailubhai has held leadership positions at Monsanto Life Sciences Company (St. Louis, MO), where he worked on a number of projects in inflammatory diseases, and Callisto Pharmaceuticals. Dr Shailubhai previously served as a Senior Staff Fellow at the National Institutes of Health and as an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland. Dr Shailubhai has 17 issued patents, several pending patent applications and 40 research publications in journals of international repute. Further information pursuant to schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for nominated advisers is set out below.
Dr Kunwar Shailubhai, age 57
Current directorships and partnerships as at the date of appointment as a director to the Company None
Directorships and partnerships for the five year period prior to appointment as a director to the Company None
Gabriele Cerrone, Chairman of Tiziana, said: “Christopher and Kunwar are valuable additions to Tiziana’s board and I look forward to working with them. They both bring a plethora of knowledge and relevant experience in drug discovery and drug development.
“On behalf of the board I would like to express our thanks to Andrew for the contribution he has made to the company since his appointment. Andrew helped guide the Company through the reverse takeover process that provided the foundation for Tiziana.”
Contacts:
Tiziana Life Sciences plc
Philip Boyd, CFO
+44 (0)20 7493 2853
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nominated adviser)
Liam Murray / Avi Robinson
+44 (0)20 7148 7900
Beaufort Securities Limited (Broker)
Saif Janjua
+44 (0)20 7382 8300
FTI Consulting
Simon Conway / Rob Winder / Natalie Garland-Collins
+44 (0)20 3727 1000
About Tiziana Life Sciences
Tiziana Life Sciences plc is a UK biotechnology company that focuses on the discovery and development of novel molecules that treat human disease in oncology and immunology.
The Company’s lead asset is foralumab, the only fully human engineered anti-human CD3 antibody in clinical development. This phase II asset has potential application in a wide range of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, type-1 diabetes (T1D), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis, where modulation of a T-cell response is desirable.
Tiziana Life Sciences’ research team has discovered that Bcl-3 has a prominent role in the metastasis of mammary cancers, and has elucidated the mechanism of Bcl-3 action to be a regulator of cancer cell motility. Tiziana has also determined that Bcl-3 inhibition suppresses cell motility in triple-negative, HER-2-positive PR- and ER-positive breast cancer sub-types, suggesting that Bcl-3 may be a master regulator of this metastatic property not only in aggressive breast cancers, but across the clinical spectrum of breast disease.
Earlier this month, the Company entered into an exclusive licence from Nerviano Medical Centre relating to Milciclib which blocks the action of specific enzymes called cyclin-dependent kinases involved in cell division as well as a number of other protein kinases. Milciclib is currently in phase II clinical trials for thymic carcinoma in patients previously treated with chemotherapy.
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