Celixir appoints Dr Mubasher Sheikh as Chairman of the Board
Dr Fiona Murray, CBE, Professor Gary Pisano, Conor Kehoe and Professor Sir
Martin Evans also join Celixir's Board
Stratford-upon-Avon, UK, 26 February 2018 - Celixir, a private company discovering and developing life-saving cell therapies, announces the appointment of Dr Mubasher Sheikh (Chairman), Professor Fiona Murray CBE, Professor Gary Pisano, Conor Kehoe and Professor Sir Martin Evans as Non-Executive Directors.
Celixir recently announced approval of a clinical trial application from the UK's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to initiate a potentially pivotal Phase IIb human clinical trial with its HeartcelTM regenerative cell therapy for adult heart failure. This milestone follows a successful 2017 which saw Celixir partnering with Daiichi Sankyo in Japan, completing an institutional funding round, gaining GMP manufacturing approval and completing the FDA pre-IND process for HeartcelTM.
Ajan Reginald, Chief Executive Officer of Celixir, commented: "I'm delighted to welcome our new Directors and to congratulate and thank our retiring Chairman, Lord Digby Jones, for his exemplary service to Celixir. This new Board provides us with international experience, diversity and expertise in bio-pharmaceuticals, finance and in developing world-class technology companies. The cell therapy segment has become particularly attractive, we're blessed with a rare combination of great people, disruptive technology and breakthrough medicines. The Board is well positioned to help the company fulfill its great potential."
Biographies in brief:
Dr Mubasher Sheikh is a partner and Head of Healthcare at the private equity firm Permira, prior to which he was a partner at McKinsey & Co. in London leading the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology R&D practice. He is a former transplant physician with qualifications in medicine from the University of London and the Royal College of Physicians.
Professor Fiona Murray, CBE, is the Associate Dean of Innovation at the MIT Sloan School of Management and William Porter Professor of Entrepreneurship. She serves on the UK Prime Minister's Council on Science and Technology and has been appointed a CBE for her services to innovation and entrepreneurship. Fiona holds MA from the University of Oxford and an AM and PhD from Harvard University in Applied Sciences.
Professor Gary Pisano is the Harry E. Figgie Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1988. He is the author of over 70 articles and case studies, and six books. He has experience of serving on the Boards of NASDAQ listed biotech companies Gary holds a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley and a BA in economics from Yale University.
Conor Kehoe is an Emeritus Senior Partner and Director at McKinsey & Company, where he founded the investor industry practice. Originally a software engineer, Conor was a member of the Executive Committee of McKinsey Solutions which invests in management software tools, and previously led McKinsey's Technology and Telecommunications practice in Europe. He was a member of the Global Risk Committee at McKinsey and an adjunct lecturer at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Conor previously served as Chairman, Services to Business Division of FTSE 100 company Granada Group PLC. Conor holds a BA in engineering from Trinity College Dublin and an MBA from INSEAD.
Professor Sir Martin Evans, 2007 Nobel Laureate, is a co-founder of Celixir and Chief Scientific Officer. Sir Martin isolated the first embryonic stem cells in 1981 and has published more than 120 scientific papers and received numerous awards for his ground-breaking research including the Albert Lasker Award in 2001, the Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine, the Copley Medal of the Royal Society and the Baly Medal of Royal College of Physicians.
Ends
For more information, please contact:
Celixir
Ajan Reginald, CEO
+44 1789 269 838
info@celixir.com
Consilium Strategic Communications
Mary Jane Elliott / Ivar Milligan / Sukaina Virji
+44 (0)20 3709 5700
celixir@consilium-comms.com
About Celixir
Celixir is a private UK regenerative medicine company that discovers and develops life-saving and life-altering regenerative medicines for patients with the greatest medical need. Celixir, founded in 2009, is made up of a world class team of scientists and biopharmaceutical executives, led by Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Martin Evans and former Roche Global Head of Emerging Technologies, Ajan Reginald. Celixir's unique platform technology allows it to adopt an 'off-the-shelf' approach to deliver regenerative medicines to patients.