LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rexgenero, a regenerative medicine company developing advanced cell therapies to treat chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLI), today announces that Dr Huw Jones has joined the Company’s Board as a non-executive director, and will chair the Company’s remuneration committee. This follows the appointment earlier this week of Dr David Horn Solomon as Chairman of Rexgenero’s Board.
Huw is currently CEO of Chronos Therapeutics Limited (Chronos), a spin out from the University of Oxford, UK focused on the development of a therapies for behavioral brain diseases. He has completed a transformation of Chronos, including extracting the company from the university, restructuring the organisation and completing the acquisition of an early brain disease development portfolio from Shire PLC (now part of Takeda). Huw was recently voted European CEO of the Year, Drug Discovery by print and online publication European CEO Magazine, alongside industry leaders from companies such as Adidas, Unilever and Spotify in their respective sectors.
Huw is also CEO of Gen2 Neuroscience Limited (Gen2), a company based in Cambridge, UK focused on tauopathies via interference with specific toxic types of extracellular tau. Gen2 is funded by the UK Dementia Discovery Fund.
David Horn Solomon, Rexgenero’s new Chairman commented, “Huw brings a huge amount of commercial, development and leadership experience from many senior industry roles. He joins Rexgenero as we ramp up recruitment for our Phase III SALAMANDER trials of REX-001 in patients with chronic limb-threatening ischemia and start planning for the next stage of our growth and development.”
Huw Jones added, “The promise of cell and gene therapies has long been recognised. I believe that Rexgenero’s deep understanding of this fast-moving and exciting area, together with a late-stage clinical asset targeting a large global patient population positions it well for future success. I look forward to helping Rexgenero achieve this.”
Huw has held a number of senior leadership roles at pharmaceutical and biotech companies and founded strategy consultancy Daffodil Consulting LLP. Prior roles include non-executive director and then CEO of Ardana PLC; President, Europe for NASDAQ-quoted cardiovascular company CV Therapeutics Inc.; non-executive chairman of UK speciality pharma company Ashbourne Pharmaceuticals; and SVP Northern Europe at Elan Pharmaceuticals. He started his career at SmithKline Beecham (now part of Glaxo SmithKline PLC), where he was appointed in a wide number of commercial and business development roles of increasing responsibility over a decade.
Huw holds a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Birmingham, UK.
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About Rexgenero
Rexgenero is a privately held, UK-based regenerative medicine company pioneering the development of patient-specific cell-based therapies to treat serious diseases such as chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLI).
Rexgenero’s lead product, REX-001, consists of a suspension of immune and progenitor cells involved in immune modulation, blood vessel regeneration and remodelling and improvement in blood flow. It is manufactured using a patient’s own cells, avoiding undesired immune responses.
REX-001 is currently being tested in two pivotal, placebo-controlled, double-blind, adaptive Phase III SALAMANDER trials in patients with CLI and diabetes mellitus at multiple sites across Europe. Previous randomised REX-001 clinical trials have already demonstrated statistically significant proof of concept. In a Phase I/II and Phase II clinical trial, REX-001 showed very strong positive results in improvement of blood flow, healing of ulcers and alleviating chronic ischemic rest pain. All ulcers healed within 12 months in 82% of patients after treatment with REX-001 at the dose being currently tested in Phase III trials.
Rexgenero was incorporated in 2015 using therapies that were developed by the Andalusian Health Authority and Andalusian Initiative of Advanced Therapies, world experts in the development of advanced cell and gene therapies. This partnership and Rexgenero’s leading expertise in cell therapy clinical development, manufacturing and biology is a major platform for development of new therapies and continued leadership in advanced therapies.
Rexgenero has offices in London, UK and R&D and manufacturing operations in Seville, Spain and additional manufacturing capability in Frankfurt, Germany.
For more information, please visit www.rexgenero.com
Connect with us: Twitter: @_Rexgenero; LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rexgenero-limited/
About the Phase III SALAMANDER trials
Rexgenero is planning to treat a total of 60 diabetic patients with CLI and rest pain and 78 diabetic patients with CLI and non-healing ischemic ulcers in two independent Phase III SALAMANDER trials in approximately 30 hospitals across Europe. The trials are given the name SALAMANDER in reference to the amphibian’s ability to regenerate cells in its tail and limbs.
For more information about the REX-001 Phase III SALAMANDER trials, please visit the clinical trial website.
