Cereno Scientific's nomination committee proposes Dr. Gunnar Olsson and CEO Sten R. Sörensen as new members of the Board of Directors
Cereno Scientific (Nasdaq First North: CRNO B), a company developing innovative treatments for common and rare cardiovascular disease, today announced that the nomination committee’s proposed resolutions for the 2024 annual general meeting includes the new election of Dr. Gunnar Olsson and Cereno’s CEO Sten R. Sörensen as new members of the Board of Directors.
The nomination committee proposes re-election of board members Anders Svensson and Jeppe Øvlesen as well as new election of board members Dr. Gunnar Olsson and CEO Sten R. Sörensen.
”Cereno is currently taking great strides in both pipeline development and company growth. With the upcoming completion of the Phase II study of CS1 in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) and CS014 moving into clinical development, the company enters a new phase, both in terms of R&D and Business Development. The Nomination Committee has therefore proposed changes to the board composition to ensure that the board, as a whole, has competencies, experience and operational capacity well aligned with the company’s current development phase and growth strategy, “said Joakim Söderström, Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Gunnar Olsson is an MD, PhD in Medical Sciences at the Karolinska Institute and Honorary Doctor of Medicine at the Gothenburg University. He was previously Adjunct Professor at the Karolinska Institute and has extensive experience from leading R&D positions in the pharmaceutical industry. He has 25 years of experience in different Global R&D management positions at AstraZeneca and contributed to more than a dozen successful global product registrations for medicines in cardiovascular and gastrointestinal indications, among others thrombosis prevention. Seven of the drugs he has been responsible for the development of have achieved blockbuster status. Dr. Gunnar Olsson has been on the board of European Society of Cardiology (ESC), a leading global association of cardiologists, that awarded him the ESC President Award in recognition of his outstanding lifetime achievements, in 2023.
Dr. Gunnar Olsson is currently the CEO and Board Member of IRLAB Therapeutics AB. He is also a Board Member in, among others, Amplifier Tx AB, and Gesynta Pharma AB as well as being Vice Chair for the Swedish Heart Lung Foundation and Bundy Academy, Lund University. He was a Board Member in Cereno Scientific between 2016-2018 and has been a Member of the Scientific Advisory Board since this was established in 2019. Dr. Gunnar Olsson has been a Senior Advisor to the Executive Management Team since 2018 and is a Member of the Clinical Steering Committee of the ongoing clinical Phase II study with CS1 in PAH.
Sten R. Sörensen has extensive leadership experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries spanning over 30 years. He is currently CEO of the clinical stage biotech company Cereno Scientific, a company which he joined as a Board Member 2014-2016 and assumed the CEO role in 2015 when the Company, established in 2012, was still in a very early project stage. Under Sten R. Sörensen’s leadership, the company has been propelled into having a promising three candidate drug pipeline, all potentially groundbreaking therapies in rare and common cardiovascular diseases with high unmet needs. Cereno is listed at NFGM with a current market cap of approx. 1 billion SEK.
Before Cereno, Sten R. Sörensen has held senior positions in major pharma including Head of International Marketing Operations for the 10 billion SEK pharma portfolio at Monsanto (GD Searle, Chicago, US) and Global Marketing Director for the 4 billion SEK portfolio of Secondary Prevention Products, Cardiovasculars at AstraZeneca (Gbg, Sweden). Sten R. Sörensen has during his career at Monsanto and AstraZeneca initiated two groundbreaking preventive survival studies in heart failure, RALES and MERIT-HF, both establishing a paradigm shift for mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonism (spironolactone) and beta-blocker (metoprolol) drug therapies in heart failure, significantly improving quality of life and life expectancy. He is Chairman of SARomics Biostructure since 2013. Sten R. Sörensen holds a Bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Lund University.
“Cereno is at an important inflexion phase in the company’s growth journey and the Nomination Committee see a need to strengthen the Board with strong global experience from big pharma development, commercialization and deal making, which all are part of my operative background. I look forward to extending my contributions to Cereno at the Board level,” said Sten R. Sörensen, CEO, Cereno Scientific.
For further information, please contact:
Henrik Westdahl, Director IR & Communications
Email: henrik.westdahl@cerenoscientific.com
Phone: +46 70-817 59 96
Sten R. Sörensen, CEO
Email: sten.sorensen@cerenoscientific.com
Phone: +46 73-374 03 74
About Cereno Scientific AB
Cereno Scientific develops innovative treatments for common and rare cardiovascular disease. The lead drug candidate, CS1, is a HDAC (histone deacetylase) inhibitor that acts as an epigenetic modulator with pressure-reducing, reverse-remodeling, anti-inflammatory, anti-fibrotic and anti-thrombotic properties. A Phase II study is ongoing to evaluate CS1’s safety, tolerability, and efficacy in patients with the rare disease pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). A collaboration agreement with global healthcare company Abbott allows Cereno to use their cutting-edge technology CardioMEMS HF System in the study. Two initiatives performed during the ongoing Phase II study have shown positive findings suggesting the potential clinical benefit of CS1 in PAH patients. These initial findings are, however, not a guarantee of the final study results that are expected in Q3 2024. Since January 2024, we are delighted that the FDA´s Expanded Access Program will enable patients with PAH, a serious life-threatening disease condition, to gain access to CS1 where no comparable alternative therapy options are available. Cereno also has two promising preclinical drug candidates in development through research collaborations with the University of Michigan. Investigational drug CS014 is a HDAC inhibitor in development as a treatment for arterial and venous thrombosis prevention. The innovative drug candidate represents a groundbreaking approach to antithrombotic treatment potentially without the associated increased risk of bleeding in humans. CS014 is a new chemical entity with a multi-fold mechanism of action as an epigenetic modulator – regulating platelet activity, fibrinolysis, and clot stability for the prevention of thrombosis without increased risk of bleeding as documented in preclinical studies. Drug candidate CS585 is a prostacyclin receptor agonist that has been documented in several preclinical studies to target the IP receptor for prevention of thrombosis without increased risk of bleeding, which also has been recognized in the medical community. CS585 was in-licensed from the University of Michigan in 2023. The company is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, and has a US subsidiary Cereno Scientific Inc. based in Kendall Square in Boston, Massachusetts, US. Cereno is listed on the Nasdaq First North (CRNO B). More information on www.cerenoscientific.com.
