TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cybin Corp. (the “Company or “Cybin”), a life sciences company advancing psychedelic pharmaceuticals, is pleased to announce that Mr. Doug Drysdale has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer.
Doug has more than 30 years of experience in the health care sector. As a skillful corporate director, in early 2014, Doug led the recapitalization of a NASDAQ-listed pharmaceutical company, raising $65 million. Within the first year of taking the helm as Chairman and CEO, Doug rebuilt the management team and board of directors, and built a 220-person sales team, complete with supporting functions (marketing, sales training, sales operations, and analytics). His efforts grew the company’s enterprise value exponentially from $80 million to around $800 million. Under Doug’s leadership, the pharmaceutical company raised $465 million of capital.
Earlier in his career, Doug served as Head of M&A at Actavis Group, leading 15 corporate acquisitions across three continents, between 2004 and 2008, including a high-profile public hostile takeover attempt in Central Eastern Europe. Over this period, Doug raised approximately $3 billion of capital and managed lending syndicates, including over 25 banks, to fund its growth. Actavis was sold to Watson Pharmaceuticals in 2012 for €4.25 billion.
“With his myriad business accomplishments, Doug is the ideal leader for Cybin,” said Paul Glavine Cybin’s Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer. “We believe that his extensive health care sector background and international company management skills will help Cybin strengthen partnerships, develop strategic alliances, and expand our international presence. We believe his strong leadership experience will help focus Cybin during our initial path to profitability.”
“I am beyond excited to be joining the Cybin team,” said Doug Drysdale. “I believe Cybin’s business model and talented management team uniquely positions the company to examine the efficacy of psychedelic-based therapies and delivery systems in treating mental illness and addiction disorders. I expect Cybin’s expanding development pipeline will allow Cybin to additionally explore cost-effective and timely array of health care alternatives. We will continue to organically grow our IP portfolio and shall be looking to add to our IP through accretive acquisitions. Research to date is showing positive indications for the potential use of psychedelic-based therapies as alternatives to current chronic depression medications and habit-forming opioids, for various treatment-resistant issues such as eating disorders, smoking cessation, PTSD, anxiety and depression. Mental illness and addiction have profoundly personal meanings for me and affect millions of people across the globe. I am proud to be in a position at Cybin to work to try to help countless patients and their families through the development of novel treatments.”(1)
“I am pleased to work with a pharmaceutical professional with such extensive business acumen and a deep understanding of product development,” said Jukka Karjalainen, Chief Medical Officer for Cybin Corp.
In 2008, Doug teamed up with investors to lead the turnaround of Norwich Pharmaceuticals and became the Founding CEO of its parent company, Alvogen Group. During his five-and-a-half-year tenure as CEO, he transformed Norwich’s manufacturing from a two-product facility to over 25 products. Doug built extensive R&D capabilities, improving staffing efficiency by 25%. Simultaneously, Alvogen grew from inception to $450 million in revenue across 35 countries, building an R&D facility in New Jersey, a Contract Research Organization in India, and creating a product development pipeline of over 50 products for the U.S. market.
Doug holds a bachelor’s degree in Microbial and Molecular Biology from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. Ernst and Young recognized him as Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012.
About Cybin
Cybin is a life sciences company advancing mushroom-based psychedelic pharmaceuticals and non-psychedelic nutraceutical products for diverse markets as potential therapies for various psychiatric and neurological conditions. Cybin is developing technologies and delivery systems aiming to improve bioavailability to achieve the desired effects of psychedelics at low dosage levels. The new delivery systems will be studied through clinical trials to confirm the safety and efficacy of therapies for major depressive disorder, addictions, and cognitive improvement. (1)
Note
(1) Cybin makes no medical or treatment claims about Cybin’s proposed products. Certain statements regarding psilocybin have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration or other similar regulatory authorities, nor has the efficacy of psilocybin been confirmed by FDA-approved research. There is no assurance that psilocybin can be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or condition and robust scientific research and clinical trials are needed. In addition, Cybin has not conducted clinical trials for the use of its proposed products. Any references to quality, consistency, efficacy and safety of potential products are not intended to imply that such claims have been verified in clinical trials or that Cybin will be able to complete such trials. If Cybin is not able to obtain the approvals or research necessary to commercialize its business, it may have a material adverse effect on the Cybin’s performance and operations.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release constitute forward-looking information. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release, including, without limitation, those regarding the ability to receive all necessary approvals, the bioavailability of delivery systems, the potential safety and efficacy of psilocybin, research and clinical trial programs, statements regarding Cybin’s future, strategy, plans, objectives, goals and targets, and any statements preceded by, followed by or that include the words “believe,” “expect,” “aim,” “intend,” “plan,” “continue,” “will,” “may,” “would,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” or similar expressions or the negative thereof, are forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts but instead represent only Cybin’s expectations, estimates, and projections regarding future events. These statements do not guarantee future performance and involve assumptions, risks, and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied, or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements included in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update such forward-looking information or forward-looking information to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise unless required by applicable securities law.
