SenzaGen appoints Axel Sjöblad as new CEO – mission to lead the company into an expansive sales phase
Over the last few years SenzaGen has made major progress, bringing the company to the next phase with increased focus on marketing and sales. In accordance with the company's strategic plan and accelerating commercial activities, SenzaGen's Board has appointed Axel Sjöblad as new CEO starting June 17, 2019. Axel most recently held the position as CEO of BioGaia and replaces Anki Malmborg Hager, who after five years as CEO, is nominated to become a member of the company’s board.
Axel Sjöblad has extensive experience in managing and developing global growth companies in medical technology and Life Science. He was most recently the CEO of BioGaia AB, a company with sales in 100 countries. During his time as CEO of BioGaia from 2016 to 2018, the company strengthened its market-leading position, with an increased market cap from around SEK 4 billion to approximately SEK 7 billion. Prior to working for BioGaia, Sjöblad was President Sales and Service North Europe and CEO of Getinge Sverige AB and Regional Vice President Northern European Markets at Gambro with responsibility for subsidiaries running operations in several European countries. He holds an MBA and Executive MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics. He is a board member of VibroSense Dynamics and former elite player in handball.
“We are pleased to welcome Axel Sjöblad as CEO during this important phase of our growth journey. Axel has solid commercial background in the Life Science sector and will add valuable expertise through his broad experience of driving sales expansion into international markets. The Board is convinced that Axel has the necessary skills, vision and determination to build on the foundations that CEO Anki Malmborg Hager, has successfully laid in recent years,” says Carl Borrebaeck, Chairman of SenzaGen.
Axel's focus is to expand global sales based on SenzaGen's unique product portfolio for animal-free allergy tests.
“SenzaGen is a very well-run company that has developed with a long-term and serious focus and I look forward to further leading the company towards full-scale commercialization. The company's test methods have the potential to fulfill a unique customer need and to promote a paradigm shift for industrial tests. For the first time substances that cause allergies can be identified both with greater accuracy and most importantly without any animal testing. I very much look forward to being a part of this,” says Sjöblad.
SenzaGen has evolved rapidly from an exciting innovative start-up to a company in the commercialization phase, since Anki Malmborg Hager joined in 2014. In a short time, the company has developed a unique test methodology with strong potential in several application areas and industries, as well as signing important license and distribution partners. Within the testing industry, a conversion process is already underway in which SenzaGen is playing a key role.
“Anki has done a fantastic job by taking an academic innovation into a finished product. With her drive and vision, she has broadened the market potential for the GARD® platform thereby building the company's market value with an increased number of license and distribution agreements. In order to secure continued access to her broad expertise and experience, the company's main shareholders will propose Anki as a board member of SenzaGen at the Annual General Meeting on May 15,” says Carl Borrebaeck, Chairman of SenzaGen.
For more information, please contact:
Carl Borrebaeck, Chairman of the board, SenzaGen AB
Email: carl.borrebaeck@immun.lth.se | Telephone: +46 708 218330
Tina Dackemark Lawesson, Director Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
Email: tina.lawesson@senzagen.com | Telephone: +46 708 202944
This information is information that SenzaGen is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the contact person set out above on April 12, 2019 at 08.30 CET.
About GARD®
GARD® consists of a group of tests for analyzing chemicals' ability to start an allergic reaction in humans. By analyzing hundreds of markers, GARD® generates large amounts of data and delivers results with over 90 percent accuracy. This can be compared to today's standard method – tests on mice – which only achieves 70-75 percent precision. SenzaGen's test can also quantify the allergenic potential of a chemical substance.
About SenzaGen
SenzaGen makes it possible to replace animal experiments with in vitro genetic testing to determine the allergenicity of the chemicals we come into contact with in our daily lives, such as for example in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, food products and dyes. The company's patented tests are the most reliable on the market and provide more information than traditional evaluation methods. We ourselves sell the tests in Sweden and the USA, and we sell through partners in several other countries. Over the next few years the company will expand geographically, make alliances with more distribution partners and launch further unique tests. SenzaGen has its headquarters in Lund in Sweden and a subsidiary in the USA.
SenzaGen AB is listed on Nasdaq First North in Stockholm (ticker: SENZA) and FNCA Sweden AB, +46(0)8-528 00 399 info@fnca.se, is the company’s Certified Adviser. For more information, please visit www.senzagen.com.
