DGAP-News: CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH / Key word(s): Miscellaneous CEVEC further strengthens organization to drive industrialization and commercialization of CAP(R) technologies 29.06.2016 / 08:30 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- CEVEC further strengthens organization to drive industrialization and commercialization of CAP(R) technologies - Life sciences industry veteran Bart Bergstein to join CEVEC's Supervisory Board - Two newly formed Scientific Advisory Boards for CEVEC's CAP(R)GT and CAP(R)Go technologies will further drive industrialization Cologne, Germany, June 29th, 2016 - CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH (CEVEC), the expert in the production of tailor-made recombinant glycoproteins and gene therapy vectors, today announced a strengthening of the Company reflective of its strategic progress. Bart Bergstein, industry veteran and well-known former life sciences venture capitalist, has been appointed to CEVEC's Supervisory Board, replacing Rainer Christine, who stepped down for personal reasons. Bart Bergstein brings over 25 years of experience in finance, executive management and investment in innovative life sciences companies to CEVEC's Advisory Board. Bart's career includes milestones such as the establishment of the life sciences venture team within ABN AMRO where he and his team built a portfolio of over EUR 100 million in life sciences investments and realizing multiple highly profitable exits. He co-founded Forbion Capital Partners, a Dutch based venture capital firm managing over EUR 500 million in various funds. High return investments under Bart's responsibility included Rhein Biotech, Crucell and AM Pharma. Bart also has executive experience as CFO of Cellnovo Group SA where he managed a successful IPO on Euronext Paris. Bart Bergstein said: "I am looking forward to contributing to the future development of CEVEC and helping to accelerate the Company's growth. With its outstanding platforms, CEVEC, today, is a very attractive company in the emerging fields of gene therapy vector production and difficult to produce proteins. With many key opportunities ahead of CEVEC, it's certainly a very exciting time to join the Board." Furthermore, CEVEC implements two new Scientific Advisory Boards, which will specifically support the Company to further drive industrialization and commercialization of its proprietary expression platforms; CAP(R)GT for gene therapy vector production and CAP(R)Go for glycosylated difficult to produce proteins. The new CAP(R)GT Scientific Advisory Board, consisting of Dr. Otto Merten, expert in viral vector production from Généthon, and Prof. Dr. Stefan Kochanek, gene therapy specialist from the University of Ulm, both support the Company by enlarging its knowledgebase and network with respect to the industrial scale CAP(R)GT derived lentivirus (LV), adenovirus (AV) and adeno-associated virus (AAV) development and production. The CAP(R)Go Board, consisting of Prof. Dr. Thomas Noll, specialist in industrial cell culture technologies from the University of Bielefeld and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Hubbuch, expert in downstream processing of proteins from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, are focusing on the industrialization of CAP(R)Go-based protein manufacturing. "Our CAP(R) technologies close gaps created by HEK293 and CHO based production systems regarding industrial viral vector production and manufacturing of proteins previously out of reach," commented Frank Ubags, Chief Executive Officer of CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH. "By involving internationally recognized experts, we expect to further accelerate the execution of our strategy to set new global standards in biopharmaceutical production. We plan, also, to strengthen our Boards with the further appointment of key industry experts as we further grow and penetrate markets." About the Scientific Advisory Board CAP(R)GT members: Dr. Otto-Wilhelm Merten is Head of Applied Vector Studies at Généthon, a department that helps to innovate and optimize vector production. Dr. Merten has long term experience in the development of virus production processes, first for vaccination and then for treatment applications, gained at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France and at the Sandoz Research Institut in Vienna, Austria. During his career, Dr. Merten has had more than 100 articles published in international scientific journals. Prof. Dr. Stefan Kochanek brings to the board 20 years of scientific expertise in virus-based gene therapy vectors. Prof. Kochanek started his career at the Institute of Genetics in Cologne, Germany, before he moved to Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, USA, developing improved virus-based vector technologies. Since 2003 he is Director of the Department of Gene Therapy at the University of Ulm, Germany. About the Scientific Advisory Board CAP(R)Go members: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Hubbuch brings more than 15 years of experience in chemical engineering, biotechnology process development, biomolecular separation and engineering from leading positions at international Universities and Institutes including: University of Karlsruhe, Germany; Technical University of Denmark; Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany. Prof. Hubbuch currently heads the Institute of Engineering in Life Science Section IV: Biomolecular Separation Engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. He is co-founder of GoSilico a spin-off from his group in Karlsruhe. Prof. Dr. Thomas Noll started his career in 2000 as Vice Head of Cell Culture Technology Group at the Institute for Biotechnology at the Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Germany. Prof. Noll is full Professor and Chair for Cell Culture Technology at the University Bielefeld, Germany and is co-founder and member of the board of Xell AG, a company that develops and markets high quality culture media for production of biopharmaceuticals and diagnostics with animal and human cell cultures. In addition, Prof. Noll works as Deputy Scientific Director of Bielefeld Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec), Germany. About CEVEC: CEVEC is a center of expertise for the production of biopharmaceuticals using a unique human cell-based expression system. CAP(R)GT is a regulatory endorsed expression platform for scalable viral vector production. CAP(R)GT suspension cells grow to high cell densities and show a broad viral propagation spectrum. Gene therapy vectors such as lentivirus (LV), adenovirus (AV) and adeno-associated virus (AAV) can be produced at industrial scale. CAP(R)GT enables better scale-up and competitive production costs when compared to adherent cell culture systems. CAP(R)Go enables the production of proteins previously out of reach. The expression platform comprises a portfolio of glyco-optimized human suspension cell lines for tailor made glycosylation of recombinant proteins. The cells highly efficiently produce a broad range of difficult to express glycoproteins and provide authentic human post-translational modifications. More information: www.cevec.com. Follow CEVEC on LinkedIn. Contact: <pre> CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH MC Services AG Frank Ubags Anne Hennecke Chief Executive Officer Public Relations T.: +49 221 46020800 T.: +49 211 52925222 E.: ubags@cevec.com E.: anne.hennecke@mc-services.eu www.cevec.com </pre> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 29.06.2016 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. 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DGAP-News: CEVEC further strengthens organization to drive industrialization and commercialization of CAP(R) technologies
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