LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rexgenero, a regenerative medicine company pioneering the development of advanced cell-based therapies to treat chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLI), today announces that Dr. David Horn Solomon has been appointed to the role of Chairman, effective immediately.
David is a strong strategic, operational and innovation-minded leader, with a proven track record of success in a number of senior roles in the life sciences, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries in the US and Europe over a period of 30 years. He was the CEO of Silence Therapeutics, plc (LON:SLN), a leader in the discovery, development and delivery of novel RNA therapeutics for the treatment of serious diseases. At Silence Therapeutics, David restructured the Company’s Management, streamlined corporate and R&D operations and embarked on fundraising and business development deals in support of the Company’s lead assets. In July 2019, Silence Therapeutics announced the completion of a licensing and collaboration agreement with Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, valued at up to US$2.1 billion to advance gene-silencing medicines to treat complement-mediated diseases. During David’s leadership of Silence Therapeutics, the share price increased over 10-fold.
Prior to his time at Silence Therapeutics, David held a number of senior position, most recently as CEO at Akari Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKTX), Managing Partner and Chairman at Sund Capital ApS, President and CEO at Bionor ASA (OSLO:BIONOR) and President and CEO at Zealand Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ZEAL). He is currently the Chairman of Advicenne in Paris France (EURONXT:ADVIC), a Phase III renal care company, and has also served as Chairman at Promosome LLC in La Jolla, California, and on the boards of Onxeo (EURONXT: ONXEO) and TxCell (EURONXT:TXCL), recently acquired by Sangamo in the United States.
During his tenure as CEO at Zealand Pharma, David helped build the Company’s novel proprietary pipeline of revolutionary medicines, listed the Company on NASDAQ in 2010, raising $80 million, and completed deals with Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim, Helsinn, AbbVie and Lilly. While at Zealand Pharma, their first medicine – the GLP-1 receptor agonist lixisenatide, now sold by Sanofi as Adlyxin® – received sales and marketing approval.
David studied at the Weil Cornell Medical College and its Graduate School of Medical Sciences where he received his PhD. He was a faculty member at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons in the departments of Pharmacology, Neurology and Biological Sciences. From 2003–2006, David headed healthcare investing at Carrot Capital Healthcare Ventures in New York City.
Gaby Salem, Rexgenero’s previous Chairman said, “I am pleased to welcome David to the Rexgenero Board. I look forward to working with him as we continue to shape our strategy and transition the Company in preparation for the next phase of our growth. Rexgenero has an outstanding Management Team and Scientific Advisory Board, and David’s accession to the Board significantly increases our expertise and improves governance.”
David Horn Solomon, newly appointed Chairman of Rexgenero said, “I would like to thank Gaby Salem for his guidance and support in joining as Board Chairman. I look forward to working with Gaby as he remains active on the Board and with the Rexgenero Executive Team and new Board colleagues as we build on Rexgenero’s achievements to date. I firmly believe that the Company’s innovative autologous cell therapy and strategic approach can yield a transformational therapy that fully addresses the significant unmet need of patients with chronic limb-threatening ischemia.”
Joe Dupere, CEO of Rexgenero added, “The team at Rexgenero are very excited to welcome David as Chairman. David has a proven track record of success in a range of Senior Executive, R&D and Board positions. We look forward to leveraging his experience as we progress patient recruitment for our Phase III SALAMANDER clinical trials and plan for regulatory submissions for REX-001, our lead programme. David’s expertise will prove an invaluable asset to the company as we progress our operations.”
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About Rexgenero
Rexgenero is a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company developing innovative cell-based therapies targeting serious diseases with unmet medical needs.
The Company’s lead candidate, REX-001, is a highly innovative autologous cell therapy that is being studied in a Phase III clinical programme in patients with chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLI) with diabetes, a poorly treated disease with a high risk of amputation and death. REX-001 has been shown to be effective in Phase I/II and Phase II trials, alleviating CLI in the majority of patients, offering the potential to increase the quality of life of CLI patients by reducing pain, alleviating ulcers, increasing mobility, improving sleep and reducing the need for amputation. Rexgenero is developing REX-001 in a range of indications and, pending approval, intends to launch and market this specialty product in major territories.
Rexgenero is a privately-owned company, which draws on an exceptional understanding of the fundamental science of cell therapies developed by the Andalusian Health Authority (Servicio Andaluz de Salud) and Andalusian Initiative of Advanced Therapies.
The Company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in London (UK) with R&D and manufacturing operations in Seville (Spain) and Frankfurt (Germany).
For more information, please visit: www.rexgenero.com
Connect with us: Twitter: @_Rexgenero; LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rexgenero-limited/
If you are interested in photos of David Horn Solomon, please contact Rexgenero@instinctif.com.
About REX-001 and the Phase III SALAMANDER clinical trials
REX-001 consists of bone-marrow-derived white blood cells extracted from the patient (autologous) and has shown efficacy in 80% of patients in Phase II and I/II studies.
Rexgenero is in the process of treating a total of 138 patients with CLI and diabetes in two pivotal, placebo-controlled, double-blind and adaptive Phase III clinical trials (dubbed the ‘SALAMANDER’ clinical trials) at approximately 30 sites across Europe.
The clinical trials use a highly innovative and adaptive trial design with novel primary endpoints that increase the sensitivity of the study and increase the likelihood of REX-001 succeeding as a breakthrough treatment for CLI.
For more information, please visit: https://www.cli-treatment.com/en/home
