Pharnext announces the nomination of a new Board of Directors chaired by Michel de Rosen

PARIS, June 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Pharnext, an advanced clinical stage biopharmaceutical company specialized in neurodegenerative diseases, announces the nomination of a new Board of Directors chaired by Michel de Rosen. 

Following the General Assembly held on April 19, 2016 and conversion of the company's by-law into a limited company ("Société Anonyme"), Pharnext's new Board of Directors is now composed of the following members:

• Mr. Michel de Rosen – Chairman of Pharnext's Board of Directors. President of Eutelsat Communications and member of ABB and Faurecia's Boards of Directors. Michel de Rosen brings over 20 years of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. While at Rhône-Poulenc, he successively served as Chief Executive Officer of Pharmuka (1983-1986), Rhône-Poulenc Fibers and Polymers (1988-1993) and then as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rhône-Poulenc Rorer (1993-1999) in the United States. From 2000 to 2008, he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. company ViroPharma.
• Mr. Daniel Cohen, M.D., Ph.D. – Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pharnext. Professor of Medical Genetics and pioneer of modern genetics. Former Chief Scientific Officer at Genset (acquired by Serono) and Vice President Genetics Worldwide of the Serono Genetics Institute. He co-founded Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Généthon and the CEPH research institute ("Centre d'étude du Polymorphisme Humain"). He is the author of over 150 peer-reviewed publications in international journals and inventor/co-inventor of 25 patents.
• Mr. Jacques Attali – Independent Director. Economist, writer, founder of four international institutions: Action contre la faim, Eureka, EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) and Positive Planet – the main worldwide institution to support microfinancing.   
• Mr. Pierre Bastid – Main Shareholder, Director. Over 25 years of experience as Chief Executive Officer of major industrial groups such as Schlumberger, Schneider Electric, Valeo and Thomson. He is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Converteam Group, acquired from Alstom, then developed and sold to General Electric with a value multiplied by 30. His fund, ZAKA, has invested in several biotechnology companies, notably Carmat and Cellectis, where he also holds the position of Director.
• Mr. Christian Pierret – Independent Director. Former Minister in charge of Industry, Trade, SMEs and Consumer Affairs between June 1997 and May 2002. Christian Pierret has been Partner at the law firm August & Debouzy since 2002. He had a dual career both in politics and in the public and private sectors. He is also Director of two biotech companies: Abivax and Deinove.
• Mr. Philippe Pouletty, M.D., representing Truffle Capital – Co-Founder, main Shareholder, Director. Co-founder and Managing Director of Truffle Capital, a leading European venture capital fund specialized in Life Sciences and Information Technologies. Founder and chairman of Abivax and Deinove, co-founder and Board member of Carmat, Carbios, Theraclion and Vexim. Independent Board member of Innate Pharma. Founder of SangStat (acquired by Genzyme) and Conjuchem. Former chairman of France Biotech and former Vice-chairman of Europabio.  
• Mr. Nabil Sakkab, Ph.D., representing Sakkab LLC – Independent Director. Former Senior Vice President R&D at Procter & Gamble. Director of the following companies: Altria, Biowish Technologies, Celltex, Creata Ventures and Deinove. Honorary Professor of the Beijing Tsinghua University.

"The nomination of our new Board of Directors and the choice of its members reflect our goal to accelerate the development of Pharnext both in France and abroad. The strong and complementary profiles of each member coming from industry, entrepreneurship and international investment backgrounds are major assets for the further development of Pharnext and serve our ambitions," said Daniel Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pharnext.

Mr. Michel de Rosen, Chairman of the Pharnext's Board of Directors, added: "Pharnext is a very promising innovative company carrying great hope for the health sector. It is a great pleasure for me to accept the Chair of the Board of Directors and to keep contributing to this great adventure, which has the potential of tremendous success under Daniel Cohen's leadership."

About Pharnext
Pharnext is an advanced clinical stage biopharmaceutical company founded by renowned scientists and entrepreneurs including Professor Daniel Cohen, a pioneer in modern genomics. Pharnext focuses on neurodegenerative diseases and has two lead products in clinical development: PXT3003 is currently in an international Phase 3 trial for the treatment of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A and benefits from orphan drug status in Europe and the United States. PXT864 has generated positive Phase 2 results in Alzheimer's disease. Pharnext is the pioneer of a new drug discovery paradigm: Pleotherapy. The Company identifies and develops synergic combinations of repositioned drugs at low dose. These "pleodrugs" offer several key advantages: efficacy, safety, and intellectual property including several composition of matter patents already granted. The Company is supported by a world-class scientific team.

For more information, please visit www.pharnext.com

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