On December 10, 2018 CohBar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CWBR), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing mitochondria based therapeutics (MBTs) to treat age-related diseases, reported that it has appointed Philippe P. Calais, Pharm.D., Ph.D. as its interim Chief Executive Officer, effective December 7, 2018 (Press release, CohBar, DEC 10, 2018, View Source [SID1234532004]). Dr. Calais will continue to serve on the company’s Board of Directors, which he joined in June 2018. CohBar is currently engaged in search activities for a successor CEO, for which Dr. Calais is considered a leading candidate, as well as for an additional independent director to join CohBar’s Board.
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"We are very pleased that Philippe has agreed to contribute his extensive biopharmaceutical leadership experience to our management team at this important time for CohBar," said Albion J. Fitzgerald, Chairman of the Board of Directors. "We anticipate the coming year will be instrumental to the ongoing development of our lead clinical candidate, CB4211, for the treatment of NASH and obesity, as well as to the advancement of our preclinical pipeline of mitochondria based therapeutics targeting other large-population diseases with underlying metabolic dysfunction. We believe Philippe’s broad range of management experience and extensive therapeutic expertise, spanning all aspects of drug development, financing, partnering and commercialization, make him particularly well-suited to lead the company."
"On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Simon Allen for his contributions and leadership during CohBar’s evolution to a clinical stage NASDAQ listed biotechnology company, and for his support through this transition," Mr. Fitzgerald concluded.
"I joined CohBar’s Board earlier this year with a firm belief in the potential of the company’s discoveries and intellectual property to be developed as mitochondria based therapeutics to improve clinical outcomes for large and growing patient populations suffering from age-related diseases," commented Dr. Calais. "My tenure as a director has strengthened my belief in the CohBar team’s ability to translate these discoveries into a new class of therapeutics for the potential benefit of patients and shareholders alike. I look forward to working with the management team to efficiently advance the company’s clinical and preclinical pipeline, while continuing to explore strategic partnership and funding opportunities."
Dr. Calais brings to the CohBar team more than 30 years of large and small-cap biopharmaceutical experience in product development and commercialization, partnerships, collaborations and financings. He most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Isarna Therapeutics B.V., a developer of oligonucleotide therapeutics, where he led the company through a successful Phase 1 study of ISTH0036 in advanced glaucoma, and was responsible for a number of strategic licensing, partnering and asset sale transactions during his tenure. Prior to Isarna, Dr. Calais led several clinical stage biopharmaceutical companies in Canada and in Europe, and headed Univalor LTD, a large technology transfer organization focused on commercializing innovations from the University of Montreal. Earlier in his career, he had multiple roles of increasing responsibility over a ten year period at F. Hoffmann-La Roche, ultimately becoming Global Head of its Anti-Infectives, Dermatology and Anti-Fungals Business Unit, with direct responsibility over strategy, marketing, and licensing transactions. Dr. Calais received his bachelor’s degree in pharmacy and his doctor of pharmacy from the Université François-Rabelais in Tours, France.
Details for Conference Call
Date: December 11, 2018
Time: 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Dial-in U.S. and Canada: (800) 239-9838
Dial-in International: (323) 794-2551
Conference ID Number: 1003502
We kindly request that you call into the conference audio approximately 10 minutes before the start time so that we can begin promptly.
An audio replay of the call will be available beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time on December 11, 2018, through 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on January 1, 2019. To access the recording please dial (844) 512-2921 in the U.S. and Canada, or (412) 317-6671 internationally, and reference Conference ID# 1003502. The audio replay will also be available at www.cohbar.com from December 11, 2018, through January 1, 2019.
About CB4211
CohBar’s lead program is based on CB4211, a first-in-class mitochondria based therapeutic (MBT) that has demonstrated significant therapeutic potential in preclinical models of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and obesity. CB4211 is a novel and improved analog of MOTS-c, a naturally occurring mitochondrial-derived peptide (MDP) which was discovered in 2012 by CohBar founder Dr. Pinchas Cohen and his academic collaborators and has been shown to play a significant role in the regulation of metabolism. In July 2018, CB4211 entered a Phase 1a/1b clinical trial which includes a potential activity readout relevant to NASH and obesity. In November 2018, the company announced the temporary suspension of the trial to address mild injection site reactions that were unexpectedly persistent. NASH has been estimated to affect as many as 12% of adults in the U.S., and there is currently no approved treatment for the disease.