Joël Jean-Mairet to become Chairman of Cellerix
Madrid, 13th October 2008- Cellerix, a biopharmaceutical company that develops and produces innovative treatments based on cell therapy, has appointed Joël Jean-Mairet Chairman of its Board of Administration and Eduardo González as Director. Joël Jean-Mairet succeeds Cristina Garmendia after her appointment as Science and Innovation Minister.
Mr Jean-Mairet holds a degree in Biology and a Master in Biochemical Sciences, and he specialized in Biotechnology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich), Mr Jean-Mairet received a PhD in Cell Biology and Immunotherapy from the ETH Zurich. He co-founded GLYCART Biotechnology AG (Zurich, Switzerland) in March 2001, and was Chief Executive Officer from its foundation until 2006. As Chief Executive Officer of GLYCART, he led a number of key in/out licensing deals, and oversaw the acquisition of the company by F. Hoffmann La-Roche Ltd. Mr. Jean-Mairet is currently Partner and co-founder of Ysios Capital Partners in Barcelona the venture capital firm that has recently announced the first closing of the largest venture capital fund specializing in biotechnology in Spain.
Joël Jean-Mairet has noted: “I’m honoured with this new appointment. With an outstanding development in the past years, Cellerix is now in a decisive period with Ontaril® , now in phase III, and expected to be on the market in 2011. I’m therefore proud to be Chaiman of this Board and contribute, as far as possible, to reach all our objectives”.
Eduardo González (Madrid, 38 years old) was appointed as Member of Cellerix’ Board as Genetrix’ representative, company of which he is currently Chairman. Thus he has succeeded Cristina Garmendia after her appointment as Minister of Science and Innovation in Spain. Before joining Genetrix in January 2008, Eduardo González held the position of Financial Economic and Investments Director at the Corporación Empresarial ONCE, and had formerly carried out different positions in Philips, Iberian and International.
Gonzalez has a degree in Business from the University CEU Luis Vives in Madrid, holds a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, and completed the Executive Management Program at the IESE business school (Spain).
Note to the Editors:
Cellerix is a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative medicines based on cell therapy. The company has two products undergoing clinical trials: Ontaril® (Cx401) for the treatment of perianal fistulas, currently in Phase III, and Cx501 for skin regeneration, currently in Phase II. Ontaril®and Cx501 have orphan status by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA). Cellerix closed in September 2007 a €27.2 million financing round led by blue chip venture capital companies. In October 2007 it entered into an exclusive license and development agreement with Axcan Pharma for the North American rights to Cx401.