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Molecular Partners Appoints Jörn Aldag as Chariman
of the Board
Zurich-Schlieren, Switzerland, November 08, 2007.
Molecular Partners AG, a pioneer in the development of a novel class of
therapeutic proteins termed DARPins, has announced the appointment of Jörn Aldag
as President to the Board.
Jörn Aldag is President and CEO of Evotec. After the successful IPO in 1999, he
was instrumental in growing Evotec from a small technology provider to one of
the leading drug discovery and development companies with a promising CNS
pipeline in Europe.
Dr. Christian Zahnd, CEO of Molecular Partners welcomed Jörn Aldag to the board:
“Jörn brings the experience, strategic vision and dedication to help advance
Molecular Partners and build on the full potential of the Company’s DARPin
technology. His experience in developing pharmaceutical businesses will be key
as we further grow Molecular Partners.”
Commenting on his appointment, Jörn Aldag added: “Molecular Partners’ novel
class of therapeutic compounds shows great potential in providing new therapies
for unmet clinical needs. This is an exciting time for Molecular Partners and I
am delighted to have this opportunity to contribute to the expansion of the
Company and to become part of this dedicated team.”
Prior to Evotec, Jörn Aldag was Vice President and Finance Director of MAN
Gutehoffnungshütte AG, a subsidiary of MAN AG, Munich and Business Director of
Treuhandanstalt, the privatization agency for East German businesses after the
reunification. Jörn Aldag is currently a Member of the Monopoly Commission of
the Federal Republic of Germany. Jörn Aldag holds business degrees from the
Harvard Business School and the European Business School.
-ends-
For further details please contact:
At the Company
Molecular Partners AG
Dr. Christian Zahnd, CEO
Tel: +41 (0) 44 755 77 00
info@molecularpartners.com
Media relations
Tony Stephenson, Senior Account Manager
Claire Mosley, Account Executive
Sue Charles, CEO
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7268 3002
mp@northbankcommunications.com
Notes to editors:
About Molecular Partners:
Molecular Partners is a privately held biotech company focusing on the
commercialization of a novel class of biological drugs known as DARPins.
Molecular Partners holds the exclusive patent rights for full freedom to operate
with DARPins for all applications.
Molecular Partners has engineered and developed a novel class of therapeutic
proteins known as DARPins, with the potential to replace antibodies in many
different applications. DARPins are derived from ankyrin repeat proteins, an
abundant and versatile class of naturally occurring binding proteins. DARPins
can be easily produced in bacterial expression systems at very high yields and
belong to the most stable proteins known. Highly specific, high-affinity DARPins
to a broad range of target proteins, including receptors, cytokines, kinases,
proteases, viruses and integral membrane proteins have been selected. DARPins
show high efficacy in preclinical models, including tumor targeting, viral and
bacterial growth inhibition and in anti-inflammatory applications.
Molecular Partners was incorporated in 2004 as a spin-off company of the
University of Zürich. The technology was developed in the laboratories of Prof.
Andreas Plückthun, a renowned antibody specialist. In August 2007, Molecular
Partners closed a Series A equity investment round raising 18.5 Mio CHF (€11.28
million, $15.56 million). The round was led by Index Ventures and was further
supported by an international syndicate of investors, representing the US and
Europe, including BB Biotech Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation
and Endeavour. In 2005, the DRP technology was awarded the “Swiss Technology
Award 2005”, the most prestigious technology award of Switzerland.
Molecular Partners has active collaborations with Bayer-Schering (Germany) in
oncology and with Hoffmann-La Roche (Switzerland).
For more information, please visit www.molecularpartners.com
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