CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts and BARCELONA, Spain, January 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
Oryzon Genomics SA, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing therapeutics in oncology and CNS diseases based on its proprietary epigenetics technology platform, today announced the appointment of Gregory L. Weaver as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective January 12, 2015. Weaver brings more than 30 years of experience to Oryzon, including extensive financial and operational experience with publicly- and privately-held biotechnology companies. Weaver will report directly to Carlos Buesa, President and Chief Executive Officer of Oryzon, and will be based at Oryzon's U.S. headquarters, located at 245 First Street in Cambridge, MA.
Weaver has served as CFO of several public biotech companies in the US, most recently Fibrocell Science. Previous to Fibrocell, Weaver was CFO at Celsion Corp, Poniard Pharmaceuticals and Sirna Therapeutics. He also currently serves as non executive director of Egalet Corporation (Nasdaq: EGLT) and Atossa Genetics (Nasdaq: ATOS).
"I am very pleased to welcome Greg to the Oryzon management team. I had the pleasure of working with Greg as a Director of Oryzon and have highly valued his contribution to the Company thus far. Greg brings a very strong skill set and experience base to Oryzon," said Carlos Buesa, President and Chief Executive Officer of Oryzon. "He is a highly experienced international CFO and his significant experience with US listed biotech companies will be very valuable to our executive team as we drive our strategic and financial business forward with particular focus on the US."
Commenting on his appointment, Mr. Weaver said: "This is a very exciting time to be joining Oryzon. The Company has made tremendous progress under Carlos Buesa's leadership. Oryzon is approaching several key inflection points that represent exciting opportunities for value creation. I look forward to working with this talented team to position the Company for its next phase of growth."
Weaver earned his MBA from Boston College Graduate School of Business, his BSc in Accounting from Trinity University, and his CPA was licensed in Texas and Massachusetts.
Oryzon's Mr. Enric Rello will remain as CFO in Spain and will continue as part of Oryzon's senior management team to support the Company's financial operations in Spain.
ORYZON closed, in April 2014, a global deal with ROCHE on its first asset, ORY-1001 a LSD1 inhibitor for the treatment of leukemia and other malignancies, currently in Phase I/IIA. Under the terms of the agreement, Oryzon received an upfront payment and near-term milestones totalling $21 million, plus potential development, commercial and sales milestone payments across haematology, cancer and non-malignant indications that could exceed $500 million, together with tiered royalties on sales which range up to mid-double digits. The company is expecting to move a second epigenetic molecule, ORY-2001 a dual LSD1-MAOB inhibitor for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, into clinic this year.
ABOUT ORYZON
Founded in 2000 in Barcelona, Spain, Oryzon (http://www.oryzon.com) is a privately held, clinical stage biopharmaceutical company considered as the European champion in Epigenetics with one of the strongest portfolios in the field. Its LSD1 program is currently covered by 18 patent families. The company has also a strong technological platform for biomarker identification. The company performs biomarker and target validation for a variety of malignant and neurodegenerative diseases. Oryzon's strategy is to develop first in class compounds against novel epigenetic targets through Phase II clinical trials, at which point we decide on a case-by-case basis to either keep the development in-house or to partner or out-license the compound for late stage development and commercialization. In October 2014, ORYZON announced the opening of U.S. operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts through its U.S. affiliate, Oryzon Corp.
CONTACTS:
Carlos Buesa
President & CEO
cbuesa@oryzon.com
W: +34-93-515-1313
Greg Weaver
Executive V.P. and Global CFO
gweaver@oryzon.com
W: +1-617-444-8786
Tim Opler
Torreya Partners
Managing Partner
tim.opler@torreyapartners.com
W: +1-212-331-7843