Ascension Healthcare Appointment of Medical and Scientific Advisory Board

Ascension Healthcare plc

Appointment of Medical and Scientific Advisory Board

LONDON, February 25, 2019 – Ascension Healthcare plc (“Ascension” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercialising innovative therapies for haemophilia and osteoarthritis, is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Edward Tuddenham, Dr Ulrich Thibaut, Dr Bill Henry and Dr Leysan Shaydullina to its newly created Medical and Scientific Advisory Board.

Biresh Roy, Chief Executive Officer of Ascension, said: “We feel privileged to have assembled this eminent panel of clinicians, scientists and leading industry experts to form our medical and scientific advisory board. These appointments underline the outstanding quality of our science and the clinical and market potential of our products to improve prophylactic treatment care for all haemophilia A patients.

“We warmly welcome each distinguished member of this panel to Ascension.  I am very much looking forward to working with each of them and leveraging their respective expertise, as we forge ahead in achieving our objectives and continue to drive our haemophilia product candidates through clinical trials towards commercialisation.”

Professor Edward Tuddenham is a pioneer in the field of haemophilia and considered one of the world’s leading haematologists having published over 300 original scientific papers, review articles and books.  After receiving his medical degree from the University of London in 1968, he trained as a pathologist at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Liverpool before continuing his training in haematology at the University of Connecticut. From 1978 to 1982, whilst working as first director of the new Haemophilia Centre at the Royal Free Hospital in London, his group completed the first large scale purification to homogeneity of human factor VIII. This enabled the sequencing of the protein, cloning of its gene and production of recombinant factor VIII in cultured cells.   From there he went on to set up the Haemostasis Research Group for the Medical Research Council, which he led for 20 years, during which time his group made many advances in rare bleeding disorders such as deficiency of factor VII, factor XI, combined factor V and VIII and platelet function disorders.  Professor Tuddenham is now Emeritus Professor of Haematology at University College London where he is continuing his research on the establishment of gene therapies, Haemophilia A, Haemophilia B and factor VII deficiency and the structure, function and interaction of factor VIII with other proteins.

Dr Ulrich Thibaut has almost 30 years’ experience working in a variety of scientific and managerial roles in research and development.  His most recent executive role was as Executive Board Member at Octapharma Group, a manufacturer of human proteins including haematology concentrates for patients with bleeding disorders.  At Octapharma he held responsibility for the global R&D organization of the Group and he has a proven track record of several large and successful product launches. His previous roles include Executive Vice President Global R&D of ALTANA Pharma and Chief Technology Officer at Drägerwerk. Dr Ulrich Thibaut studied Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Tübingen University in Germany and has a PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry. He is teaching at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland.

Dr Bill Henry is an experienced executive in the healthcare industry who has specialised in process scale-up for the commercial supply of pharmaceutical actives and intermediates. He has held various senior positions throughout his career at Zeneca Bioproducts, Schering Plough, Vericore, Celltech, PowderMed and was a founder of the fund whose assets now form a part of Ascension’s business today. Dr Bill Henry studied as a BP scholar at the University of Edinburgh and has a PhD in Organic Chemistry, which is complemented by a first degree in Biochemistry

Dr Leysan Shaydullina has more than 10 years’ experience working in the venture capital industry and currently leads early stage investment assets in life science companies at Management Company RUSNANO LLC. Leysan has held, and continues to hold, positions as a member of the Board of Directors of clinical stage biotech and medtech companies, including those that are developing products using nanotechnology approach in hemostasis and bleeding disorders, rare diseases, oncology and immunology. Previous roles include senior positions at Innovative Technopark IDEA, a Russian based tech incubator providing seed financing and early-stage equity investment, and a position of Surgeon for the Children’s Republican Clinical Hospital of the Ministry of Health in Russia. Dr Shaydullina holds a medical degree from Kazan State Medical University and MBA from the Academy of National Economy under the Government of the Russian Federation.

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About Ascension Healthcare plc

Ascension Healthcare plc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercialising innovative therapies for the treatment of haemophilia and osteoarthritis.

The Company has three products in clinical or pre-clinical development for the treatment of Haemophilia A and also a range of internationally marketed products for osteoarthritis sufferers.  

For more information please visit: www.ascension.co.uk/