Healthcare Industry News: EDEMA4
News Release - April 26, 2007
Dyax Announces the Appointment of Gustav Christensen as Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(HSMN NewsFeed)--Dyax Corp. (Nasdaq: DYAX ) announced today that Gustav A. Christensen is joining the Company as Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer. Mr. Christensen joins Dyax's executive management team where he will oversee and lead the Company's partnering strategy as well as other business development activities such as licensing and collaboration transactions."Gustav Christensen brings a broad range of experience in advising and leading biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies and we are extremely pleased to have someone of his talent join the Dyax team," stated Henry Blair, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dyax. "As our Licensing and Funded Research Program continues to expand and other potential drug candidates emerge from our pipeline, Gustav's demonstrated leadership, paired with his strong negotiating skills and ability to close strategic deals, will be a tremendous asset to the Company."
Dyax also announced that Dr. Ivana Magovcevic-Liebisch has been promoted to Executive Vice President of Administration while maintaining her duties as General Counsel and supervision of Corporate Communications. Dr. Magovcevic-Liebisch is assuming responsibility for the Company's administrative functions while Stephen Galliker, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will continue to oversee finance, transaction and compliance activities, a role that has expanded significantly as Dyax moves towards commercialization.
Mr. Blair continued, "Ivana has demonstrated strong leadership abilities in her six years at Dyax. Moving the daily administrative functions under her direction is a natural transition in the evolution of our company as we now have 100% ownership of the DX-88 franchise. This change will allow Steve to focus on the development and implementation of financial strategy as Dyax evolves into a product company."
Mr. Christensen is a seasoned manager who brings to Dyax over 25 years of diverse experience in the biotechnology industry and has been the CEO or senior manager of seven biopharmaceutical firms. Most recently, he was Managing Director of Apeiron Partners, LLC, a boutique life sciences investment bank.
He began his career as General Manager at Baxter Travenol Laboratories. In 1983, he left Baxter to become the Vice President of Business Development at Genetics Institute Inc. Subsequently he was the CEO, Chairman, or Founder of each of: Immulogic Pharmaceutical Corp., Alpha-Beta Technology, Inc., Phytera, Inc., Primedica Inc., and Phylos, Inc. He also has been involved in raising over $250 million in public and private equity transactions for biopharmaceutical firms and has negotiated over a dozen pharmaceutical deals in the United States, Europe and Japan. Additionally, he has been a seed investor in Geltex, Diatide, Phase Forward and others.
Currently, Gustav serves on the Board of Alantos Pharmaceuticals and on the Advisory Boards for two venture funds. Mr. Christensen received his master's of science degree in economics from the University of Aarhus (Denmark) and a master's degree in business administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School.
About Dyax
Dyax is focused on advancing novel biotherapeutics for unmet medical needs, with an emphasis on oncology and inflammatory indications. Dyax utilizes its proprietary drug discovery technology to identify antibody, small protein and peptide compounds for clinical development.
Dyax's lead product candidate is DX-88, a recombinant small protein that is currently in clinical trials for its therapeutic potential in two separate indications. Dyax has successfully completed three Phase 2 trials and a Phase 3 trial of DX-88 for the treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE). Dyax initiated its second Phase 3 trial, known as EDEMA4, in April 2007. DX-88 has orphan drug designation in the U.S. and E.U., as well as Fast Track designation in the U.S. for the treatment of acute attacks of HAE.
Additionally, Dyax has successfully completed a Phase 1/2 trial of DX-88 for the prevention of blood loss during on-pump coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedures. Dyax is initiating a Phase 2 trial for further development of DX-88 in on-pump cardiothoracic surgery (CTS), including CABG and heart valve replacement and repair procedures.
Dyax identified DX-88 and other compounds in its pipeline using its patented phage display technology, which rapidly selects compounds that bind with high affinity and specificity to therapeutic targets. Dyax leverages this technology broadly with over 70 revenue generating licenses and collaborations for therapeutic discovery, as well as in non-core areas such as affinity separations, diagnostic imaging, and research reagents.
Dyax is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and has antibody discovery facilities in Liege, Belgium. For online information about Dyax Corp., please visit www.dyax.com.
Dyax and the Dyax logo are the registered trademarks of Dyax Corp.
Source: Dyax
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