Diamyd Medical launches search for new CEO
Diamyd Medical (Nasdaq Stockholm First North, Ticker: DMYD B) informs that President and CEO Peter Zerhouni will move on to a position as CEO with another company active in drug development. The Company’s Chairman will take over as Acting President and CEO from March 1, 2015.
”It feels sad that Peter Zerhouni now leaves us after eight years, of which four as CEO,” says Anders Essen-Möller, Chairman of the Board of Diamyd Medical. “Peter has been an outstanding help in managing and developing the company through several clinical studies with the Diamyd® diabetes vaccine as well business transactions, both as CEO and previously as Director of Business Development. His broad experience and expertise is obviously attractive for other companies and we wish him all the best in his continued career.”
”I want to thank Diamyd Medical for all the experiences and opportunities I have been given during my eventful years with the Company,” says Peter Zerhouni. “The Company and the development of the diabetes vaccine Diamyd® are in a positive phase with a clear plan of what to do next, which makes it at the same time both difficult and possible to take this step.”
The search for a new CEO will now be launched. While Anders Essen-Möller is Acting President and CEO, the Board Member lawyer Erik Nerpin will assume the role of Chairman of the Board.
About the Diamyd® diabetes vaccine
Diamyd® is the world’s furthest developed Antigen Based Therapy for preventing, delaying or stopping the autoimmune attack on beta cells in type 1 diabetes and other forms of autoimmune diabetes and thus preserving the body’s own ability to produce insulin. The diabetes vaccine Diamyd® is easily administered in any clinical setting and has been used in studies with more than 1000 diabetes patients. In a European Phase III study with children and adolescents recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, Diamyd® showed an overall 16% efficacy (p=0.10) versus placebo in preserving endogenous insulin secretion. Ongoing development work is aimed at enhancing the efficacy of the treatment by combining Diamyd® with other agents. Two clinical studies with Diamyd® are ongoing and an additional four are being launched.
About Diamyd Medical
Diamyd Medical is dedicated to fighting type 1 diabetes and to working toward a cure for the disease. Its projects include development of combination regimens with the GAD-based Diamyd® diabetes vaccine for arresting the successive destruction of insulin-producing beta cells. Diamyd Medical has an exclusive license to patent rights held by the UCLA related to the GAD molecule. The company has also an exclusive license from UCLA for GABA for the treatment of diabetes and other inflammation-related conditions.
Diamyd Medical is a shareholder in the stem cell company Cellaviva AB, which is establishing a Swedish commercial bank for private family saving of stem cells in umbilical cord blood and other sources of stem cells. Stem cells are expected to be used in Personalized Regenerative Medicine (PRM), for example, to restore beta cell mass in diabetes patients where autoimmunity has been arrested. Diamyd Medical also has an ownership stake in the US medical technology company Companion Medical, Inc., and a minor shareholding and other financial interests in the US gene therapy company Periphagen Holdings, Inc.
Remium Nordic AB is the Company’s Certified Adviser.
Diamyd Medical AB (publ). Kungsgatan 29, SE-111 56 Stockholm, Sweden. Phone: +46 8 661 00 26, Fax: +46 8 661 63 68. E-mail: info@diamyd.com. Reg. no.: 556242-3797. Website: www.diamyd.com.