Wilson Therapeutics AB

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN / ACCESSWIRE / May 14, 2024 / Vicore Pharma Holding (STO:VICO) Stockholm, May 14, 2024 - Vicore Pharma Holding AB, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company unlocking the potential of a new class of drug candidates, angiotensin II type 2 receptor agonists (ATRAGs), is pleased to announce the election of Hans Schikan, PharmD, as the new Chair of the Board of Directors as well as the election of two new Board members, Ann Barbier, MD, PhD and Yasir Al-Wakeel BM, BCh. Hans Schikan has been a member of the Board since 2018 and is a leader in rare disease drug development and strategy. He was previously CEO of Prosensa (Nasdaq: RNA), a company developing therapies for rare diseases including Duchenne muscular dystrophy acquired by BioMarin. He is also co-founder and Vice-Chair of Pharvaris (Nasdaq: PHVS), a clinical stage company developing therapies for the rare disease hereditary angioedema. Prior to Pharvaris and Prosensa, Hans Schikan was an executive at rare disease pioneer Genzyme. He also served on the boards of Wilson Therapeutics (Nasdaq Stockholm: WTX), acquired by Alexion, Therachon, acquired by Pfizer, and VectivBio (Nasdaq: VECT), acquired by Ironwood. "It has been a privilege to serve on the Vicore Board and I am pleased to be taking on an expanded role with the company," said Hans Schikan. "I am looking forward to leading the Board as the company seeks to drive transformational impact for patients suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and advance its leadership in angiotensin II pathway biology and drug discovery." Ann Barbier, MD, PhD, has more than 20 years of experience in drug discovery and development in rare diseases, including rare respiratory diseases She previously served as Chief Medical Officer of Translate Bio (Nasdaq: TBIO), a biotechnology company developing drugs for rare respiratory diseases acquired by Sanofi as well as Chief Medical Officer at CAMP4 Therapeutics. "Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a huge unmet medical need and the data generated by the Vicore team to date reflect disease modifying potential for patients who have limited options today," said Ann Barbier. "I am proud to join Vicore's effort to impact this disease and look forward to serving on the Board as the company advances to Phase 2b development of buloxibutid." Yasir Al-Wakeel is a leader in biotech strategic finance and business development. He is currently the CEO of a private biotech company and member of the Maxcyte (Nasdaq: MXCT) board. Yasir Al-Wakeel was previously the Chief Financial Officer and Head of Corporate Development at Kronos Bio (Nasdaq: KRON), Chief Financial and Strategy Officer at Neon Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NTGN), acquired by BioNTech, and Chief Financial Officer and Head of Corporate Development at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: MACK), leading its 1 billion USD asset sale to Ipsen. "Vicore's potential therapy for IPF is incredibly promising and I am excited to join the Vicore Board as the company seeks to expand its global footprint as it advances to late-stage development of buloxibutid," said Yasir Al-Wakeel. "I am looking forward to leveraging my experience in both strategic finance and corporate development during this important time for the company." This information was submitted for publication on May 14, 2024, at 08:00 CET. About Vicore Pharma Holding AB (publ) Vicore is an innovative clinical-stage pharmaceutical company unlocking the potential of a new class of drugs with disease-modifying potential. The company is establishing a portfolio in respiratory diseases, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Buloxibutid (C21) is a first-in-class orally available small molecule angiotensin II type 2 receptor agonist (ATRAG) currently in phase 2a development for IPF. Almee™ (an investigational medical device in clinical development) is a digital therapeutic based on cognitive behavioral therapy created to address the psychological impact of living with pulmonary fibrosis. Almee has received Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA, reflecting its potential to have transformative impact. Using its unique expertise in ATRAG chemistry and biology, Vicore is further fueling its pipeline with several new therapies across additional potential indications. The company's shares (VICO) are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm's main market. For more information, see . Attachments Vicore Expands and Strengthens its Board of Directors SOURCE: Vicore Pharma Holding View the original press release on accesswire.com

AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot AstraZeneca has dumped a rare disease drug candidate once considered worth $855 million after chalking up a pair of phase 2 flops, despite the prospect previously hitting the mark in a much larger phase 3 trial. The drugmaker disclosed the action alongside news of the jettisoning of a nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) therapy. Alexion paid $855 million to acquire Wilson Therapeutics and take control of its phase 3 asset WTX101, now known as ALXN1840, in 2018 as it sought to rebuild its pipeline after some M&A misadventure left it lacking a path to growth beyond Soliris. Evidence of the success of the plan emerged last year when AstraZeneca, having bought Alexion for $39 billion, revealed a phase 3 trial hit its primary endpoint. At the time, AstraZeneca said that “two ongoing mechanistic trials in Wilson disease are also underway” and that Alexion was “working closely with health authorities worldwide” and intended “to submit these data for review.” Ten months later, AstraZeneca has removed ALXN1840 from its clinical-phase pipeline. As recently as February, AstraZeneca was predicting (PDF) that it would file for approval in the second half of 2023. However, the Anglo-Swedish Big Pharma has since learned that two phase 2 trials missed their primary endpoints.  In a first-quarter earnings call with journalists, AstraZeneca Chief Financial Officer Aradhana Sarin described how the company had dropped (PDF) ALXN1840 “based off results of phase 2 mechanistic studies and discussions with regulatory authorities.” CEO Pascal Soriot expanded on the decision, explaining that the phase 2 studies had not been able “to show that copper was actually eliminated from the body.” “You may be facing a situation where copper is actually redistributed to all the organs, all the parts of the body,” the CEO said on the call. “We could have continued to invest and try to do more research, but we felt it was going to be a long shot, it was going to be taking too much time.” One phase 2 study enrolled nine patients and had a primary endpoint of mean daily copper balance. The other trial recruited 31 participants and had a primary endpoint of change from baseline at Week 48 in liver copper concentration. Neither study met its primary endpoint.  This morning's earnings update (PDF) also saw AstraZeneca clear the GLP-1/glucagon dual agonist cotadutide from its phase 2 pipeline. AstraZeneca took the candidate into a phase 2/3 NASH trial last year but recently revealed it stopped enrollment after recruiting 45 patients, well short of the targeted 1,860. Having dropped the daily cotadutide, AstraZeneca will focus on its weekly GLP-1/glucagon candidate AZD9550. “We have good clinical data [on cotadutide], but we decided to refocus on the weekly product,” Soriot told Fierce Biotech on the call. “A daily administration is not very convenient for patients, so we decided to focus our efforts on the follow-on compound, which is a weekly administration.”  Finally, the drugmaker discontinued a phase 1 trial of its anti-GDF15 candidate AZD8853 due to “strategic portfolio prioritization.” AstraZeneca moved the candidate into a phase 1/2 solid tumor trial last year in collaboration with ImaginAb, a biotech that it hooked up with in 2020.

STOCKHOLM, Feb. 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BioArctic AB (publ) (NASDAQ Stockholm: BIOA B) announced today that the company has recruited Anders Martin-Löf as its new CFO. Anders Martin-Löf brings broad experience from similar roles at companies such as Oncopeptides, Wilson Therapeutics, RaySearch and most recently at A3P Biomedical. Current CFO Jan Mattsson will remain in his role until Anders Martin-Löf takes up his position and will then move to a newly established role as VP Finance. "Jan joined BioArctic in early 2017 to assist in the important work of listing the company and has been instrumental to us ever since. I am very pleased that we will keep Jan and his expertise within the company, as he now chooses to step down," says Gunilla Osswald, CEO at BioArctic. "At the same time, I am very pleased that we have succeeded in recruiting Anders Martin-Löf as his successor. BioArctic is in an exciting phase where Anders' knowledge and experience from different parts of the Life Science sector will be of great benefit for our continued development." "I look forward to becoming part of BioArctic, Sweden's brightest star in biotechnology right now. This is a fantastic opportunity to work with a company that is uniquely positioned to fundamentally change the way patients with severe neurological diseases are treated, says Anders Martin-Löf. Anders Martin-Löf has Master of Science in Engineering Physics from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm and has a Bachelor of Science in Business administration and economics from Stockholm University. He has more than 20 years of experience from the Life Science industry in a number of different roles including CFO, Head of Marketing, Head of Investor Relations as well as several board assignments. Anders Martin-Löf will join BioArctic on June 1 at the latest, and will be part of the company's group management. This information is information that BioArctic AB (publ) is obliged to disclose pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was released for public disclosure, through the agency of the contact person below, on February 28, 2023, at 07.15 a.m. CET. For further information, please contact: Oskar Bosson, VP Communications and IR E-mail: [email protected] Phone: +46 70 410 71 80 About BioArctic AB BioArctic AB (publ) is a Swedish research-based biopharma company focusing on disease-modifying treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and ALS. BioArctic focuses on innovative treatments in areas with high unmet medical needs. The company was founded in 2003 based on innovative research from Uppsala University, Sweden. Collaborations with universities are of great importance to the company together with its strategically important global partner Eisai in Alzheimer disease. The project portfolio is a combination of fully funded projects run in partnership with global pharmaceutical companies and innovative in-house projects with significant market and out-licensing potential. BioArctic's Class B share is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Large Cap (ticker: BIOA B). For more information about BioArctic, please visit . The following files are available for download: SOURCE BioArctic