OXFORD, England, June 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT), a global biotechnology
company developing first-in-class, antibody-based cancer medicines
to fulfil unmet patient needs, today announces the appointment of
Bryan G. Morton as the Company's new
Non-executive Chairman.
Bryan Morton has over 30 years
experience as a successful entrepreneur and senior manager in the
pharmaceutical industry. Morton was previously CEO of EUSA Pharma,
a global speciality oncology company, which was acquired by Jazz
Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: JAZZ) in 2012 for $700 million. After founding EUSA in 2005,
Morton was able to fund the company's growth by raising
$265 million from several prominent
life science investors, including Goldman Sachs, Essex Woodland,
3i, Advent, SV Life Sciences, Neomed and Novaquest. In 2003, Morton
founded and was appointed CEO of Zeneus Pharma Ltd (2003), a
European speciality oncology and critical care company. He sold
Zeneus to Cephalon (Nasdaq: CEPH) for $360
million, delivering generous returns to Apax Partners, an
early investor. Prior to running Zeneus, Morton was president of
Convatec, EMEA (Bristol Myers Squibb, NYSE: BMY) and spent over 20
years in positions of increasing responsibility at Merck & Co
(NYSE: MRK).
Christian Rohlff, CEO and
Founder of OBT, commenting on today's announcement said: "I am
delighted that Bryan has decided to accept the position of Chairman
at OBT. His success in building valuable businesses and knowledge
of the cancer space in particular will be important as we look to
further develop our pipeline of antibody based cancer medicines to
fulfil unmet patient needs. I would like to take this opportunity
to thank Dr Michael Moore for his
wise counsel and support over the last three and a half years.
During this time we have built OBT into a leading global mAb
developer and have signed important development alliances with
Menarini and Sanofi."
Bryan G. Morton, Chairman of
OBT, said: "I am glad to have this opportunity to work with
Christian and the team at OBT. I have been very impressed at how
they have leveraged the unique OGAP database to generate their own
exciting pipeline of antibody medicines and to sign collaborations
with a broad range of companies focused on developing new
treatments for cancer. I am looking forward to using my experience
in building successful specialty pharma businesses to allow me to
make an important contribution to OBT as it enters the next phase
of its corporate development."
About Oxford BioTherapeutics
Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT) is a leading global biotechnology
company focused on delivering innovative and cost-effective
first-in-class medicines to fulfil major unmet patient needs in the
field of cancer. OBT is developing cutting-edge antibody-based
cancer medicines, with integrated diagnostics, against novel
targets that it has discovered through its unique
OGAP® proteomic database.
OGAP® represents the
world's largest proprietary collection of disease-associated
proteins; with proteomic data on over 7,500 cancer membrane
proteins and proprietary protein disease expression information on
over three-quarters of the entire human proteome. Over two
million human protein fragments have been sequenced in
OGAP® in 50 distinct human tissues representing 60 human
diseases, including 25 forms of cancer.
OBT has access to world leading antibody technologies and
expertise through its partnerships with Seattle Genetics (Nasdaq:
SGEN), Bristol Myers (BMY), Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN), Alere (NYSE: ALR)
and BioWa, and through its development alliances with Menarini and
Sanofi (SA). These partnerships have enabled OBT to convert its
world leading capabilities in the discovery of novel oncology
targets into a highly attractive pipeline of therapeutic oncology
antibodies.
For further information, please see
http://www.OxfordBioTherapeutics.com.
OBT Contact Information:
Chief Executive Officer:
Christian Rohlff, Ph.D.
+44(0)1235-861770
E-mail: cr@oxbt.co.uk
Media enquiries/Citigate:
David Dible/Sita Shah
+44(0)207-638-9571
E-mail: david.dible@citigatedr.co.uk