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