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Adenovir Pharma strengthens its board

Adenovir Pharma, a project company in P.U.L.S., Sweden’s leading life science incubator, has strengthened its board of directors with the addition of two new members with solid experience from the pharma industry, Karin Wingstrand and Mats Lidgard.

Karin Wingstrand has long experience of pharmaceutical and clinical drug development from AstraZeneca, where she recently served as global head of clinical research. Today she works as an advisor in life science, among other things as a board director of P.U.L.S. and as chairman of the board in Mevia AB.

Mats Lidgard has a comprehensive background in business law. He is a senior partner in the human venture capital company Lavindia AB and previously worked for the Pharmacia Group, Active Biotech AB and SBL Vaccin AB, among others, as general counsel and in other leading positions. He also serves on the boards of Cebix AB, Jatab Care AB, Scan­dinavian Biopharma Holding AB and Synphora AB.

With their experience Karin and Mats will provide valuable contributions to Adenovir Pharma’s development and the preparations for an exit. Björn Lundgren, who has made a very strong contribution to the pharmaceutical development of Adenovir Pharma, will now leave the board.

“The recruitment of Karin Wingstrand and Mats Lidgard to the board of Adenovir Pharma is an important step in the company’s continued development. With their experience of clinical development and business law in the pharma industry they will complement the management team of Adenovir Pharma in its strategic as well as operational work. It is very positive that we have managed to attract people like Karin and Mats to our board in the current phase, as we are preparing the company for an exit,” says Stefan Appelgren, chairman of the board of Adenovir Pharma.

Drug against infectious eye disease
Adenovir Pharma is developing a drug against the infectious eye disease EKC (epidemic keratoconjunctivitis), for which there is currently no effective treatment. A double-blind randomized phase II study is in progress at eight eye clinics in Sweden and Germany. Adenovir Pharma has previously demonstrated that this drug candidate is well tolerated in a phase I study. In 2014 the company received a development grant from Vinnova (Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation) for the development of a second generation drug against EKC.

“Millions of people all around the world are affected by EKC every year. As there is no effective treatment available today, we hope that our drug candidate can be developed into the treatment that the patients need. We aim to have the results from the ongoing phase II study later this year and we have now actively started the preparations for the search for a collaboration partner for further development and marketing,” says Björn Dellgren, project manager at Adenovir Pharma.

About epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC)
External ocular infections caused by adenoviruses are among the most common eye infections worldwide. Conjunctivitis accounts for a large proportion of patient visits to ophthalmologists. Epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC), which is caused by adenoviruses, is a serious and highly-contagious disease. Globally, EKC affects millions of people every year. EKC occurs sporadically and epidemically and is endemic in many regions. EKC is particularly problematic in Japan where there are more than one million cases of EKC each year. The economic and social costs of community EKC epidemics are high. Work places and public institutions, such as schools and day care centers, must be closed when the outbreak of an EKC epidemic is detected. Many productive hours are lost each year as a consequence of the disease. EKC is recognized as a major health problem in affected regions. A pharmaceutical therapy that can be used both to treat EKC and to prevent the spread of infection is highly desirable for affected patients, for those who come into contact with such patients, and for treating physicians. Currently, there are no approved treatments. Patients with EKC receive no medical therapy other than for symptomatic relief.

For more information, please contact:
Björn Dellgren, project leader at Adenovir Pharma, by email at bjorn.dellgren@adenovir.com or by calling +46 707-455 005. Please also visit www.adenovir.com.

About Adenovir Pharma AB
Adenovir Pharma is a project company that is part of the life science incubator P.U.L.S. AB, based in Helsingborg, Sweden (www.pulsinvest.se). Other project companies of P.U.L.S. are AcuCort, Glactone Pharma, Laccure, LIDDS and Oncorena. Adenovir Pharma is developing proprietary technology for new antiviral pharmaceutical solutions that can be used in the treatment of infectious eye diseases. The initial development was carried out by virology researchers at Umeå University and chemists from the Department of Organic Chemistry at Lund University in collaboration with P.U.L.S. AB. Several highly-qualified external service providers who specialize in pharmaceutical development have been involved in the development work. The importance of the research carried out at Umeå University on adenovirus receptor molecules, which forms the basis for the development of the new drug, has featured in the prestigious journal Nature Medicine and in the equally high-ranking journals Nature Reviews Drug Discovery and Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. Adenovir Pharma is developing a new drug in the form of eye drops for the treatment of EKC.

About P.U.L.S.
P.U.L.S. (Partners for Development investments in Life Sciences) is a unique life science development company. P.U.L.S. invests in early projects and actively develops them in close collaboration with the innovators, all the way from idea to projects attractive for the industry. Since 2002 P.U.L.S. has started nine project companies and exited three, of which one is listed. P.U.L.S. is headquartered in Helsingborg, Sweden. P.U.L.S.’ current projects are: AcuCort, Adenovir Pharma, Glactone Pharma, Laccure och Oncorena. www.pulsinvest.se.

 

P.U.L.S. (Partners för Utvecklingsinvesteringar inom Life Sciences) är ett unikt utvecklingsbolag inom life science. PULS investerar i tidiga projekt och aktivt utvecklar dem i nära samarbete med innovatörerna hela vägen från idé till attraktiva projekt för industrin. Sedan 2002 har PULS startat nio projektbolag och avyttrat tre, varav ett är börsintroducerat. PULS har sitt huvudkontor i Helsingborg. PULS pågående projekt är: AcuCort, Adenovir Pharma, Glactone Pharma, Laccure och Oncorena.www.pulsinvest.se.