GlycoVaxyn Appoints Philippe Dro as CEO

ZURICH-SCHLIEREN, Switzerland, May 20 /PRNewswire/ -- GlycoVaxyn AG, a
pioneer in glycoengineering primarily developing innovative conjugated
vaccines, today announced the appointment of Dr Philippe Dro as Chief
Executive Officer and member of the Supervisory Board. Dr Dro brings to
GlycoVaxyn nearly 20 years entrepreneurial experience in the life science
industry, including playing a pivotal role in executing strategic
transactions at several biotech/medtech companies.
"Philippe's extensive experience working with emerging companies in
strategic, business and commercial development capacities will prove
extremely valuable to GlycoVaxyn," said Michel Greco, Chairman of GlycoVaxyn.
"With multiple bioconjugate vaccines moving towards the clinic, GlycoVaxyn
has started to deliver on its milestones. As a leader who has demonstrated
great success, the Board believes Philippe will build on these early
achievements, taking the company forward to the next stages of its corporate
development.
"GlycoVaxyn is a unique company that has the potential to change
significantly the conjugated vaccine field as well as other therapeutic
areas," noted Dr Dro. "The current team has laid substantial foundations and
it will be my goal to build on these and drive the company forward, as well
as ensuring that financing is secured to bring these important products to
patients."
Most recently, Dr Dro was Chairman and CEO of Endoart SA, a medtech
company developing telemetric driven implants for cardiac disease and
obesity, that was sold to Allergan, Inc. Dr Dro spearheaded the
transformation of Endoart from a distressed position to one that commanded a
cash price of CHF 120 million. From 1999 to 2003, Dr Dro was Chief Operating
Officer (COO) and part of the founding team of AXOVAN AG, a GPCR focused drug
discovery company, that grew the company to a clinical-stage entity which was
acquired by Actelion Ltd for CHF 252 million. Prior to this, Dr Dro held the
position of COO and director of the Board of Antares Pharma, Inc (AMEX: AIS),
a drug delivery company formed by the merger of Permatec Group and Mediject,
Inc. Dr Dro also held executive director positions at Skyepharma Ltd during
its listing on the LSE and in finance at Sandoz Pharma AG (now Novartis).
Dr Dro earned a Pharm D from University of Grenoble (France) and an MBA
jointly from Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Lyon (France) and Cranfield
School of Management (UK).
About Conjugated Vaccines and Glycovaxyn
Conjugated vaccines have been produced since 1987, providing a means of
safe protection against a growing range of life-threatening bacterial
infections. With the perpetual rise in demand for conjugated vaccines,
GlycoVaxyn has developed a proprietary glycoengineering technology that is
able to significantly improve the production process of existing
glycoconjugates, develop new multiple sugar antigens and create
highly-defined products. This innovation in vaccine development will enable
the company to address novel targets.
GlycoVaxyn is developing a portfolio of novel bioconjugated vaccines and
other therapeutics against common, severe bacterial infections. This allows
GlycoVaxyn to target bacterial diseases for which an effective or affordable
vaccine is currently not available. Currently, Glycovaxyn is working on
vaccines against diarrheal infections, nosocomial infections as well as
meningitis. Glycovaxyn is exploring the application of its technology to
other areas, like therapeutic vaccines and therapeutic proteins. GlycoVaxyn,
a spin-out of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), is based in
Schlieren, near Zurich, Switzerland. The company is financed by Sofinnova
Partners (Paris) and Index Ventures (Jersey, Geneva, London), both of which
have strong expertise in healthcare and biotech. For further information,
visit http://www.glycovaxyn.com.

Contacts:

Philippe Dro Mike Sinclair
GlycoVaxyn AG Halsin Partners
Tel: +41-44-733-8581 Tel: +44-20-7084-5955
philippe.dro@glycovaxyn.com msinclair@halsin.com

SOURCE GlycoVaxyn AG

Contacts: Philippe Dro, GlycoVaxyn AG, Tel: +41-44-733-8581,
philippe.dro@glycovaxyn.com; Mike Sinclair, Halsin Partners, Tel:
+44-20-7084-5955, msinclair@halsin.com