Date: 2015-12-01
Type of information: Nomination
Compound:
Company: Promethera Biosciences (Belgium)
Therapeutic area: Metabolic diseases - Genetic diseases - Liver diseases
Type agreement: nomination
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Disease:
Details: * On December 1, 2015, Promethera Biosciences, a Belgian biotechnology company developing stem cell therapies for the treatment of inborn errors of metabolism and acquired liver diseases, announced two senior appointments. Dr Jürgen Beck has been appointed as VP Clinical and Medical Affairs and Patrick Stragier as VP Operations. One of the initial tasks for Jürgen Beck will be to drive forward the clinical development of Promethera’s lead product HepaStem® in its current target of inborn errors of liver metabolism. He will also expand the focus of HepaStem® to a wider target of acquired liver diseases and will contribute to the expansion of the Promethera product pipeline in large indications. Jürgen Beck has acquired more than 20 years of experience in medical affairs and clinical research in companies such as Boehringer Ingelheim, Synthélabo, Epigenomics and InterMune. He also spent 5 years in clinical neurology and psychiatry. Jürgen obtained a medical doctor degree from Heidelberg University and an MBA degree from Hagen University. “I consider Promethera’s product portfolio, especially its lead product HepaStem, has the potential to change the landscape of treatment in those adult liver diseases with a high unmet medical need and poor prognosis such as Acute on Chronic Liver Failure (ACLF),” said Dr Jürgen Beck, VP Clinical and Medical Affairs. “As a result, I look forward to contributing to Promethera extending its clinical development beyond the diseases of inborn errors of liver metabolism. This could directly affect the improval of survival and improve the quality of life for patients with a range of conditions who currently have no or no satisfactory alternative treatment options.” Patrick Stragier will be responsible for developing the Promethera production and operations strategy. In the short term, he will be in charge of the production of HepaStem® for ongoing clinical trials. In addition, he will be responsible for the strategy for scaling up production for later stage clinical trials, market needs and commercialisation. Patrick will utilise his broad experience specifically in the cell therapy industry to contribute to the optimization of Promethera’s production processes. These will need to meet Promethera’s high industrial standards whilst maintaining affordable costs both for the patient and the community. Patrick Stragier is a biochemist with more than 25 years of international operational and managerial experience. He has worked for biopharmaceutical companies such as Solvay, DSM-Biologics, Genzyme and Lonza. Since 2009, Patrick has been working as a consultant specializing in cell therapy. He is also the co-founder of MaSTherCell.
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