Acticor Biotech, a clinical-stage biotechnology company involved in the acute phase of thrombotic diseases, including acute ischemic stroke, announced the appointment of Mr. Alain Munoz as Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mrs. Sophie Binay and Mr. Yannick Pletan as General Managers. Mrs. Sophie Binay and Mr. Yannick Pletan will continue to assume their current functions in the company as CSO and CMO respectively.

“While finalizing the recruitment of our two phases 2 clinical trials in Acute Ischemic Stroke and in COVID-19 related ARDS, we are preparing the company for the next adaptive phase 2/3 clinical study in Acute Ischemic Stroke by strengthening our leadership team.” commented Gilles Avenard, CEO and founder of Acticor Biotech. “Alain, Sophie, and Yannick are already key to Acticor Biotech success and I welcome them to their new positions”.

Mr Alain Munoz, MD, PhD, new Chairman of the Acticor Board of Directors, is a physician, qualified in cardiology and intensive care. He has over 30 years of experience in the industry at senior management level. He served as SVP for international development in the Sanofi Group and in the pharmaceutical division of Fournier Laboratories. He has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the French drug agency, Chairman of the Board of Hybrigenics SA and Novagali Pharma SA (today SANTEN). He presently serves on the scientific advisory board of Valneva SA and it is an independent board member of Amryt Pharma plc, Auris Medical Holding AG, and Zealand Pharma A/S.

“I am very enthusiastic to step in as Chairman of the Board and would like to thank all board members for their confidence and support to Acticor Biotech. Particular thanks to Gilles Avenard for the accomplishment in leading Acticor Biotech to this stage of clinical development in these unmet medical need indications” commented Alain Munoz.

Mrs Sophie Binay, PhD, nominated as General Manager and CSO of Acticor Biotech, has over 20 years of experience in start-ups and mid-size companies within the biotechnology areas. She has strong expertise in oncology, immunology, and virology. Sophie has managed number of innovative R&D projects from proof-of-concept to early clinical development. In her previous positions, Sophie was Vice-President Research and Early Clinical Development at PEP-Therapy, responsible for nonclinical R&D activities at InnaVirVax, Head of translational programs in oncology at Gustave Roussy Cancer Center and R&D director at Onxeo (former Bioalliance Pharma).

Mr Yannick Pletan, MD, nominated as General Manager and CMO of Acticor Biotech. Yannick is an expert in clinical development within the pharmaceutical industry. He previously held leadership positions at Roche, Pfizer, Sanofi and Pierre Fabre. Before joining Acticor Biotech, he served as head of the Medical Division and was a board member of the Foundation at Roche France and member of the Global Medical Affairs Committee at Hoffman La Roche Ltd (Switzerland). Prior to these activities, he was also vice-president, head of Medical and Scientific Division and board member of the Foundation at Pfizer.

About glenzocimab (ACT017), the Therapeutic Candidate

Acticor is developing glenzocimab (ACT017), a humanized Antibody Fragment (Fab). The therapeutic candidate is directed against a novel target of major interest, platelet glycoprotein VI (GPVI), and inhibits its action. Evidence of antithrombotic efficacy of glenzocimab and safety of inhibition of GPVI have been established both ex vivo and in vivo. The target is involved in the growth of the thrombus, but not in physiological haemostasis. This limits the bleeding risk associated with its inhibition.

Glenzocimab is currently being evaluated in ACTIMIS (clinicaltrials.gov NCT03803007) an international, multi-center clinical phase 1b/2a in combination with the reference treatment in patients with acute ischemic stroke. ACTIMIS will enroll 160 patients in 6 European countries. The primary objective of ACTIMIS is to evaluate the safety of glenzocimab when added to standard-of-care (thrombolysis with or without thrombectomy).

GARDEN (clinicaltrials.gov NCT04659109) is a phase 2 study, randomized, double-blind, multicenter, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, exploratory efficacy and safety study of glenzocimab in sars-cov-2-related acute respiratory distress syndrome. GARDEN will enroll 60 patients in France and in Brazil. The primary objective of GARDEN is to evaluate the effect of glenzocimab in preventing clinical progression of disease, when added to standard-of-care in COVID-19 patients presenting with ARDS.

https://acticor-biotech.com/our product

About Acticor Biotech

Acticor Biotech is a clinical stage biotechnology company, spin-off of INSERM, dedicated to developing an innovative treatment in the therapy of acute thrombotic diseases, including ischemic stroke. Acticor Biotech is built upon the expertise and the results of research conducted by the founders: Dr. Martine Jandrot-Perrus at INSERM Paris and Pr. Philippe Billiald at Paris-Sud University.

Acticor Biotech is a partner in the BOOSTER consortium, dedicated to the management and new treatments of cerebrovascular accidents (CVA) in emergency situations.

Acticor Biotech is backed by a syndicate of European and International investors: Karista, Go Capital, Newton Biocapital, CMS Ventures, Mirae Asset Capital, Anaxago, Primer Capital & Armesa Foundation.

For more information, go to: https://acticor-biotech.com/

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