SINGAPORE AND DENVER, COLORADO, Dec. 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SINGAPORE AND DENVER, COLORADO, 20 December 2019 – Cerecin, an innovative biopharmaceutical company focused on brain health, today announced that Joseph S. Zakrzewski has joined the Company’s Board of Directors as Chairman. Mr. Zakrzewski is an industry veteran with more than 25 years of biopharma experience. After serving as Chairman since 2012, Dr. Claude Nash will step down but continue to serve as a Board Director.
Mr. Zakrzewski currently serves as a director of several publicly held companies: Acceleron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: XLRN), Amarin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AMRN) and Sangamo Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SGMO). In addition, he serves on the boards of a number of privately held companies. Among a number of CEO and executive roles in the biotech, venture capital and pharmaceutical industries, Mr. Zakrzewski has served in two senior roles for lipid-based therapeutic companies with significant relevance to Cerecin. He was Chairman and CEO of Amarin Corporation during which Vascepa®, a lipid-based drug, was successfully developed and launched. As indicated, he continues to serve on the Board of Directors of Amarin. Mr. Zakrzewski also served as Chief Operating Officer of Reliant Pharmaceuticals during the period when Omacor®/Lovaza®, another lipid-based drug, was successfully developed and launched, leading to its 2007 acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline. In addition, Mr Zakrzewski spent 17 years with Eli Lilly & Company in a variety of executive roles in R&D, manufacturing, finance and business development. His most recent role was in Corporate Business Development where he had global responsibility for all licensing activities.
Charles Stacey, President and CEO of Cerecin commented, “We are very pleased to have Joe join as Cerecin’s Chairman of the Board. He brings highly relevant experience in the development of lipid-based drugs for areas of significant unmet clinical need. His expertise and knowledge will be of tremendous value to our lead program, CER-0001 (tricaprilin), which we are developing for Alzheimer’s disease.” Dr. Stacey, continued, “The Board of Directors and I are very grateful to Dr. Claude Nash for his remarkable contribution to Cerecin since 2012. His guidance and leadership have been invaluable to the Company and have contributed to our successes to date. We are glad to have his continued input and guidance as a Board Director.”
Mr Joseph Zakrzewski, the new Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cerecin said, “Cerecin is a very promising company with an exciting lead program addressing a large need and market opportunity, Alzheimer’s disease. As CER-0001 enters Phase 3, I am pleased to contribute my experience in this area to help navigate the final stages of development, approval and ultimately commercialization. I look forward to working with Cerecin’s strong management team and experienced Board to build a highly innovative brain health company.”
ENDS
About Cerecin
Cerecin is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the commercialization and development of therapeutics to improve brain health. Cerecin’s product development program leverages its extensive experience in lipid science and the potential therapeutic benefits of medium chain triglycerides. Cerecin is led by an expert executive management team with strong global expertise in central nervous system drug development and supported by two partners, Nestlé and Wilmar, one of the world’s leading manufacturers and traders of fatty acids and lipids. Bringing together the deep industry expertise of its leadership team and a highly differentiated portfolio, Cerecin is growing its global presence to serve the brain health needs of patients and people across the world.
About CER-0001 (tricaprilin)
CER-0001 (tricaprilin) is being developed as a potential first-in-class treatment for patients with mild to moderately severe Alzheimer’s disease that are non-carriers of the APO e4 allele. CER-0001 is a semi-synthetic form of an eight-carbon medium chain triglyceride in a proprietary formulation which has undergone rigorous manufacturing processes designed to optimise the clinical profile of the compound. CER-0001 (tricaprilin) is intended to address the cerebral metabolic deficit that is characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease by providing the brain with an alternative energy substrate. Cerecin has been issued multiple patents internationally based on the unique clinical profile of CER-0001. The company is currently preparing CER-0001 (tricaprilin) for a global pivotal study.
Cerecin also distributes Axona®, a proprietary medical food designed to address a distinctive nutritional need in mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (www.about-axona.com).
For more information visit www.cerecin.com.
For further information, please contact:
Emma Thompson/Tianning He
+65 6751 2021
pr@cerecin.com
© 2019 Cerecin AC-19-879 12/19