Reconfigures Board and Strengthens Executive Team

RNS Number : 0897J

ReNeuron Group plc

01 April 2015

 



1 April 2015

AIM: RENE

ReNeuron Group plc

("ReNeuron" or "the Company")

ReNeuron reconfigures Board and further strengthens executive management for next phase of development  

Guildford, UK, 1 April 2015: ReNeuron Group plc (AIM: RENE), a leading UK-based stem cell therapy company, today announces a number of Board and senior management changes as the Company prepares for its next phase of development.

The changes announced today are part of an ongoing, phased restructuring of the executive and non-executive teams as the Company evolves and transitions into its next stage of development. In this regard, the Board of the Company has decided to further strengthen the executive management of the business, with a commensurate reduction in size of the non-executive Board.

At senior management level, the following appointments are being made:

Sharon Grimster has been appointed as General Manager, Wales.  Ms Grimster has been working in the business for a period of time in a senior development role and will take on further responsibility for development of ReNeuron's in house manufacturing capability when the business relocates its operations to South Wales later this year.  She has many years' experience of advanced biologics development, having served in senior development roles at businesses including F-star, Antisoma and Celltech.

Dr Randolph Corteling, a senior member of ReNeuron's research team since 2007, is being promoted to Head of Research with immediate effect, from his current role of Head of Cell Biology.  In his new role, Dr Corteling will have day-to-day responsibility for all of the Company's research activities, including development of the Company's exciting exosome therapeutic platform.

The Company is also finalising the appointment of two further new positions in the senior management team, that of Chief Medical Officer and Head of Regulatory Affairs.  Candidates for both of these roles have been identified and the Company will make a further announcement concerning their appointments shortly.

The following changes are being made to the Board of the Company:

Bryan Morton, having served on the Board of the Company as a non-executive director since 2008 and as Chairman since 2011, has stepped down from the Board.  John Berriman, a non-executive director of the Company since 2011, has taken on the role of Chairman.

Mark Docherty, a non-executive director of the business since the Company's flotation on AIM in 2005, will step down from the Board at the next Annual General Meeting of the Company in September of this year.

Dr John Sinden, Chief Scientific Officer, a co-founder of ReNeuron and a Board member since the inception of the business, will also step down from the Board at the next Annual General Meeting of the Company.  His continuing role as Chief Scientific Officer at ReNeuron will focus on the Company's third party research collaborations and other externally facing activities as Dr Corteling takes on the day-to-day management of the Company's in-house research function.

Olav Hellebø, Chief Executive Officer of ReNeuron, commented:

"I am delighted to welcome Sharon Grimster and Randolph Corteling to the senior management team at ReNeuron.  Their skills and experience will be invaluable as ReNeuron continues its transition into a fully fledged clinical development business with in-house cell manufacturing capability at its new, state-of-the-art research and manufacturing facility in South Wales.  The Company's research activities remain key to the ongoing success of the business and, to this extent, I am delighted that we have been able to promote Randolph Corteling from within the business while continuing to benefit from John Sinden's deep knowledge, expertise and scientific contacts across the stem cell field.

"I would also like to thank Bryan Morton and Mark Docherty for the immense contribution they have both made to the Company's success over their respective long tenures on the Board and to welcome John Berriman to the role of Chairman."

Enquiries:

ReNeuron	[phone]
Olav Hellebø , Chief Executive Officer
Michael Hunt, Chief Financial Officer
Buchanan	[phone]
Mark Court, Sophie Cowles, Stephanie Watson
Cenkos Securities	[phone]
Stephen Keys, Dr Christopher Golden (NOMAD and Broker)
Russell Kerr (Sales)

About ReNeuron

ReNeuron is a leading, clinical-stage cell therapy development business.  Based in the UK, its primary objective is the development of novel cell-based therapies targeting areas of significant unmet or poorly met medical need.  

ReNeuron has used its unique stem cell technologies to develop cell-based therapies for significant disease conditions where the cells can be readily administered "off-the-shelf" to any eligible patient without the need for additional immunosuppressive drug treatments.  The Company's therapeutic candidates for stroke disability and critical limb ischaemia are in clinical development and its cell-based treatment for blindness-causing diseases of the retina is currently in pre-clinical development. 

ReNeuron is also advancing a proprietary platform technology to exploit nanoparticles (exosomes) secreted by stem cells as potential new drug candidates targeting a range of indications including cancer.

ReNeuron's shares are traded on the London AIM market under the symbol RENE.L.  Further information on ReNeuron and its products can be found at www.reneuron.com.

 

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