Herantis Pharma Plc prepares for next stage of company development by appointing new CEO
Herantis Pharma Plc
Company release, insider information 11 May 2020 at 9:00 AM Eastern European Time
Herantis Pharma Plc (“Herantis” or “Company”) announced today that it has appointed Dr. Craig Cook as its new CEO effective 1st of July 2020. Pekka Simula, the current CEO, will continue as CEO of Herantis until that date, followed by a three-month handover period during which Mr. Simula will support Dr. Cook in his role through the transition.
As a medical doctor with an MBA from the London Business School, Dr. Cook brings more than 20 years of experience in the international pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. Throughout the course of his career he held increasingly senior roles in drug development and commercialization at pharmaceutical companies such as Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and EMD Serono. Most recently, Dr. Cook was CEO of Midatech Pharma PLC, a UK-based company focused on delivering innovative oncology and rare disease products to patients. Craig has worked in multiple therapeutic areas including central nervous system (CNS) and immunology.
“Under Pekka’s leadership Herantis has evolved into a public drug development company with a unique clinical pipeline in regenerative medicine. The Board and I wish to thank Pekka for his outstanding work and commitment to pushing forward our mission of breaking the boundaries of standard therapeutic approaches with the goal of improving outcomes for patients,” commented Timo Veromaa, Herantis’ Chairman. “The Board and management have together decided that this is an optimal time to prepare for the Company’s transition to the next stage of growth by bringing Craig’s leadership as well as his significant international expertise in business development, clinical stage drug development and capital markets (NASDAQ US & London) to the Company.”
“In the last years, Herantis has achieved key milestones in their drug development process including the recent and successful completion of the first part of the Phase 1-2 clinical trial testing CDNF in patients with Parkinson’s disease and the completion of patient recruitment and treatment in the Phase 2 AdeLE trial in breast cancer associated lymphedema. With the Company poised for important next steps forward in both pillars of its pipeline, I am excited to join Herantis and collaborate with the management and Board to bring the company through the next phase of late stage development with the objective of reaching eventual commercialisation of our proprietary assets,” said Craig Cook.
“I have greatly enjoyed my time leading Herantis through the first phases of clinical development and I am genuinely happy to welcome Craig to the team and to pass the baton to him as he continues to strategically advance the Company. I have great interest in Herantis both from the viewpoint of a patient advocate and shareholder, and truly consider this appointment a significant positive development for the Company. I look forward to supporting Craig in his new role at the Company,” added Pekka Simula, Herantis’ CEO.
Further information:
Herantis Pharma Plc, Pekka Simula, CEO, telephone: +358 40 7300445
Herantis Pharma Plc, Timo Veromaa, Chairman, telephone: +358 40 5739933
Company web site: www.herantis.com
Certified Advisor: UB Securities Ltd, Finland: +358 9 25 380 225, Sweden: +358 40 5161400
About Herantis Pharma Plc
Herantis Pharma Plc is an innovative drug development company breaking the boundaries of standard therapeutic approaches. Our regenerative medicine drug candidates, CDNF and Lymfactin®, aim to revolutionize the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, and of secondary lymphedema. The shares of Herantis are listed on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market Finland and Nasdaq First North Growth Market Sweden. Subscribe to Herantis’ news at https://herantis.com/subscribe/.