GlycoEra AG Expands Board of Directors and Appoints Georges Gemayel, Ph.D., as Chair

Philippe Dro, Luciole Medical, and Kush Parmar, 5AM Ventures, named to Board of Directors

SCHLIEREN, Switzerland and BOSTON, July 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GlycoEra AG announced today key appointments of biotech industry leaders to its Board of Directors, including Georges Gemayel, Ph.D., as Chair, as well as Philippe Dro, Ph.D., M.B.A., and Kush Parmar, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Gemayel is an industry veteran with more than 30 years' experience including global management, executive positions and a range of board appointments. Dr. Dro is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer at Luciole Medical and has deep experience in biotech business strategy at various emerging biotechnology and medtech companies. Dr. Parmar is a physician-scientist and Managing Partner at 5AM Ventures, where he is focused on building next-generation life science companies.

"I am thrilled to welcome Georges, Philippe, and Kush to the GlycoEra Board of Directors as GlycoEra continues to grow and assemble a world-class team to realize the full potential of our CustomGlycan glycoengineering platform," said Ganesh V. Kaundinya, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of GlycoEra. "Georges' international biopharmaceutical leadership experience and track record of developing successful medicines will prove invaluable as we build a high-value pipeline of medicines. In addition, both Philippe and Kush bring strategic, business and company building expertise to help guide our trajectory of growth."

Dr. Gemayel served as President and CEO of Altus Pharmaceuticals, Executive Vice President at Genzyme Corporation, and Vice President, National Specialty Care at Roche Labs Inc. Dr. Gemayel is currently the Chair of the Boards of Dynacure, Gemini Therapeutics, and Enterome SA. Previously, Dr. Gemayel served as Executive Chair of FoldRx Pharmaceuticals and of Syndexa Pharmaceuticals, as Chair of Dimension Therapeutics, OxThera, Orphazyme A/S and Epitherapeutics, and as Director of Prosensa, Raptor Pharmaceuticals, NPS Pharma, Momenta Pharmaceuticals, and Adolor. Dr. Gemayel completed his doctorate in pharmacy at St. Joseph University in Beirut, Lebanon and earned a Ph.D. in pharmacology at Paris-Sud University in Paris, France.

"I am impressed with the power of the CustomGlycan Platform to create a portfolio of novel biological products that degrade circulating and membrane proteins in a highly selective and targeted fashion. Removing and degrading disease-causing proteins has broad potential therapeutic applications across autoimmune diseases, oncology, neurology, allergy, and infectious diseases," said Dr. Gemayel. "I am excited to collaborate with the experienced leadership team and Board, including Philippe and Kush, to deliver on our shared vision of developing novel biologics for a wide range of indications."

In addition to Dr. Gemayel, Drs. Dro and Parmar bring years of experience and deep knowledge in biotech leadership to GlycoEra:

Dr. Dro has deep experience initiating and executing strategic transactions at various emerging biotechnology and medtech companies. He is currently Chairman of the Board and CEO at Luciole Medical, while also serving on the Board of several life science companies. He was CEO and member of the Supervisory Board at GlycoVaxyn AG prior to its acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline. Previously, Dr. Dro was CEO and Chairman of the Board of Endoart SA, where he led the company through a successful turnaround resulting in its acquisition by Allergan. He also was a member of the founding team at Axovan, a biotechnology company acquired by Actelion in 2003. Prior to that, he served in management positions at Novartis, SkyePharma, and Antares Pharma.

Dr. Parmar currently serves as a Director on the Boards of both private and public companies, including Akouos, Ensoma, Entrada Therapeutics, Homology Medicines, Rallybio, and Vor Biopharma. He previously served as Board Member or Observer for Achaogen, Arvinas, Audentes, Envoy (acquired by Takeda), and scPharmaceuticals, and as Acting VP of Strategy and Corporate Development at Novira (acquired by Johnson & Johnson). Dr. Parmar serves on the Advisory Boards of Penn Medicine, Princeton University's Department of Molecular Biology, and the Grace Science Foundation, and is a fellow of the Society of Kauffman Fellows.

Drs. Gemayel, Dro, and Parmar join Monique Schiersing of Roche Venture Fund, Graziano Seghezzi of Sofinnova Partners, and Dr. Kaundinya on the Board of Directors.

GlycoEra AG is a biotechnology company building a high-value pipeline of medicines based on deep expertise in glycobiology and protein degradation. GlycoEra's innovative CustomGlycan platform enables the design, engineering, and development of novel biologics for a broad range of indications. GlycoEra is advancing a range of assets toward human clinical studies. The company raised more than $49 million (CHF 45 million) in a 2021 Series A financing round co-led by 5AM Ventures, Sofinnova Partners, and Roche Venture fund. GlycoEra is based in Schlieren, Switzerland and Boston, Mass., USA. For further information, please visit www.glycoera.com. 

SOURCE GlycoEra AG